Magnus Of Füssen
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Magnus of Füssen, otherwise Magnoald or Mang, was a missionary saint in southern
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, also known as the Apostle of the
Allgäu The Allgäu (Standard ) is a region in Swabia in southern Germany. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia, southeastern Baden-Württemberg, and parts of Austria. The region stretches from the pre-alpine lands up to the Alps. The main rivers flo ...
. He is believed to have been a contemporary either of
Gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or war ...
(died 627) or of
Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church i ...
(died 754) and is venerated as the founder of St. Mang's Abbey, Füssen.


Legend

There is almost no reliable information about him. The only source is an old "Vita S. Magni", which however contains so many obvious
anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
s that little reliance can be placed on it. It relates that the two Irish missionaries
Columbanus Saint Columbanus (; 543 – 23 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in presen ...
and Gallus, spent some time with Willimar, a priest at
Arbon Arbon is a historic town and a municipality and district capital of the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Arbon is located on the southern shore of Lake Constance, on a railway line between Konstanz/Romanshorn and ...
. Here Gallus fell sick and was put in charge of Magnus and Theodore (Magnoald and Theodo), two clerics living with Willimar, while Columbanus proceeded to Italy and founded
Bobbio Abbey Bobbio Abbey (Italian: ''Abbazia di San Colombano'') is a monastery founded by Irish Saint Columbanus in 614, around which later grew up the town of Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is dedicated to Saint Columbanus. ...
. When Gallus had been miraculously informed of the death of Columbanus he sent Magnus to pray at his grave in
Bobbio Bobbio (Emilian language#Dialects, Bobbiese: ; ; ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a ...
. Magnus returned with the staff of Columbanus and thereafter they followed his rule. After the death of Gallus, Magnus succeeded him as superior of the cell.Ott, Michael. "St. Magnus." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 8 Nov. 2017
About this time a priest of the
Diocese of Augsburg Diocese of Augsburg () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich. History Early history The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as ''Damasia'', a stronghold of t ...
, named Tozzo or Toto, came as a pilgrim to the grave of Gall and invited Magnus to accompany him to the eastern part of the Allgäu. Magnus proceeded to ''Eptaticus'' (Epfach), where Wikterp,
Bishop of Augsburg Diocese of Augsburg () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich. History Early history The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as ''Damasia'', a stronghold of t ...
received him and entrusted him with the Christianization of the eastern
Allgäu The Allgäu (Standard ) is a region in Swabia in southern Germany. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia, southeastern Baden-Württemberg, and parts of Austria. The region stretches from the pre-alpine lands up to the Alps. The main rivers flo ...
. He penetrated into the wilderness, then crossed the river Lech at a place still known as St. Mangstritt ("footstep of Saint Magnus") and built a cell, where afterwards the monastery of Füssen was erected, and where he died. He was buried in the church he had constructed. In 851 he was reburied in the newly erected church. One of his bones was sent to
St Gallen St. Gallen is a Swiss city and the capital of the canton of St. Gallen. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 167,000 inhabitants in 2019) and rep ...
in Switzerland. Around the year 1100 all his bones were found to be missing. The burial place can be seen in the crypt of St Mang Basilica, Füssen. A tiny splinter of the breast bone was sent from St Gallen to Füssen and this is now located in a large glass cross hanging above the main altar. It also contains the staff, cross and chalice of the saint.


''Vita''

The "Life" was said to have been written by Theodore, the companion of Magnus, under whose head it was placed in the grave. When in 851 Bishop Lanto transferred the relics to the newly erected church of Füssen, this "Life" is said to have been found in a scarcely legible condition, and to have been emended and re-written by Ermenrich, a monk of Ellwangen. It was re-edited with worthless additions in 1070 by Otloh of St. Emmeram. A manuscript is preserved at the Abbey of St. Gall (Codex 565). The chief inconsistencies in the "Life" are the following: Magnus is made a disciple of Gall (died 627) and at the same time he is treated as a contemporary of Wichbert, the first historically established
bishop of Augsburg Diocese of Augsburg () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich. History Early history The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as ''Damasia'', a stronghold of t ...
(died about 749). Other manifest impossibilities have induced Mabillon and other authorities to reject the whole "Life" as a forgery of a much later date. Another school of thought howeverfirst put forward by Staichele and Baumann is that the second part of the "Life" was written in 851 in Ellwangen (although probably not by Ermenrich) when the relics of the saint were transferred there, while the first part, where Magnus is made a companion of Gall, is a later addition, which may incorporate the remains of the story of an earlier saint also called Magnus. This second view seems to have attracted greater support.


Life

In reality, Magnus was probably working on behalf of Bishop Wikterp together with Tozzo and Theodor from about 746 in
Ostallgäu Ostallgäu is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the ...
. He first worked with Theodor, and together they established an abbey dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Gordianus and Epimachus at Kempten, the first in the Allgäu region. While Theodor remained in Kempten, Magnus worked on the upper Lech and in 746 built a prayer house in Waltenhofen near Schwangau. He then founded a cell and oratory at Füssen from which a monastic community grew. Its location on the old
Via Claudia Augusta The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the Alp ...
from Augsburg to northern Italy gave it strategic importance, and the Abbey received support from
Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...
.Schäfer, Joachim. "Magnus von Füssen", Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon, September 12, 2006
/ref> Magnus is the patron saint of the Allgäu, von Füssen, and Kempten; and is invoked for the protection of cattle; and against eye diseases, snakebite, worms, rats, mice and field insects. His feast is celebrated on 6 September. The veneration of Saint Magnus was carried to the
New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
by the German Catholic peasant pioneers whom Francis Xavier Pierz had persuaded to settle in Central
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
following the
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux () was signed on July 23, 1851, at Traverse des Sioux in Minnesota Territory between the United States government and the Dakota people, Upper Dakota Sioux bands. In this land cession treaty, the Sisseton and Wahpe ...
in 1851. Magnus, whose intercession was credited with the defeat of the 1856-1857 Rocky Mountain locust plague, continued to be widely venerated in and around Stearns County, Minnesota, as a patron of good harvests and as the protector against lightning, hail, and plagues of vermin. Furthermore, his Feast Day on September 6 continued to be celebrated until well into the 1870s, both in and around Jacobs Prairie, Minnesota, as, "Grasshopper Day." (See also Assumption Chapel) The cult of Saint Magnus of Cuneo may have arisen as a result of the expansion of Magnus of Füssen's cult into
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, with Magnus of Cuneo mistakenly being considered a separate saint.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus Of Fussen Christian saints in unknown century Medieval German saints Year of birth unknown