De sancto Conrado
The Election and Ministry of Conrad
Conrad is recognized for his integrity and chosen as bishop according to the apostolic standards of character.
Saint Conrad was born and raised in Alemannia to noble parents. Because he was a man of great integrity and character, Bishop Nothingus of Constance appointed him as an auditor of cases for the entire diocese, and in time, he was elected provost of the cathedral. When Bishop Nothingus went the way of all flesh, Saint Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg, was called in, and he buried the body of the deceased bishop. He ordered a three-day fast for the clergy and the people so that the kindness of God might give that church a leader pleasing to Him. On the appointed day, when the time came for the election—or rather, for the common inspiration regarding the provision of a bishop—Saint Ulrich described the provost, the blessed Conrad, as being the kind of man the Apostle described to Timothy and Titus: a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, orderly, prudent, modest, hospitable, a teacher, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy, managing his own household well, having children who are submissive in all purity. If a man does not know how to manage his own house, how will he care for the church of God? He must not be a recent convert, lest he become puffed up with pride and fall into the judgment of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil's trap. As he says to Timothy: a bishop must be above reproach, as God's steward, not arrogant, not quick-tempered, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, prudent, upright, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the faithful word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. When all these things were recited before the multitude by Saint Ulrich, everyone present agreed. Therefore, he was seized and dragged there, and though he resisted as much as he could, he was installed as bishop. Once raised to the cathedral dignity, Saint Conrad enriched the principal church of the Mother of God with precious relics and great adornment.
Devotion and Miraculous Signs
Conrad demonstrates his piety through building churches, pilgrimages, and miraculous interventions for the souls of the departed.
In addition, he built three churches: one in the city of Constance and two outside it. In one of these—the first church of Saint Maurice—he took great care to have a tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ built, very similar to the one in Jerusalem. There he also established twelve prebends in perpetuity for the clergy serving Christ in that place. He also increased the number of canons of the cathedral church with the endowment of his own patrimony. Desiring, like the Apostle, to discipline his body effectively, this same holy man traveled three times to the holy city of Jerusalem, where he visited the place of Christ's passion, burial, resurrection, and ascension with great devotion. Later, while staying at Laufen Castle with Saint Ulrich, he saw birds entering and emerging from the swirling, foaming waters of the rapids. The holy man understood in his spirit that these were souls undergoing their purgatory under the guise of those birds, due to the multitude of sins they had committed. Moved by the bowels of mercy, both of them did not delay in celebrating Mass for the dead: Ulrich celebrated the first, and Conrad, not being lazy, completed the second on the same day. Because of their devotion and the solemn offering of the altar, the appearance of those birds was never seen again. When Gebhard, an excellent young man, had accidentally sat on the episcopal throne, Conrad prophesied to him, saying, 'You have occupied my seat prematurely, Gebhard; the one who will succeed me is the one who will sit in this chair before you—namely, Gamelonus.' Saint Conrad also, during the solemnity of the Mass on Easter Sunday, after the consecration of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, faithfully consumed a spider that had fallen into the chalice with the Lord's Blood. When the Mass was finished as was fitting, he sat down to eat on that same day, having been weakened in body by the holy Lenten fast, and he did not eat. When asked by his own people why he did not eat, he said, 'I am waiting for a guest who is coming soon.' Then, bowing his head over the table, he offered the spider its exit with an open mouth. No one of sound mind is unaware of how much joy there was among all those present at such an arrival—or rather, such a miracle. He died.
The Passing of a Saint
The chapter concludes with the death of Bishop Conrad after a long and faithful life of service.
The blessed Bishop Conrad, after the exercises of many. He died on November 26th. It was the year of our Lord 966, and he was in the forty-first year of his episcopacy, an old man full of days.
Read the original Latin
Sanctus Conradus de nobilibus parentibus in Alemannia genitus et educatus est, Hic, quia vir multae honestatis et bonorum morum fnit, advocatus a Nothingo ecclesiaeConstantiensis episcopo toti episcopatui auditor praeficitar cansarum, Succedente autem tempore in praepositum majoris ecclesiae eligitur. Nothingo autem episcopo viam universae carnis ingresso vocatur sanctus Udalricus ecclesiae Augustensis episcopus et ab ipso corpus defuncti episcopi sepelitur, qui clero et populo triduanum indixit jejunium, ut benignitas Dei illi ecclesiae daret placentem sibi antistitem, Statuto igitar die, qno ad electionem vel potius coimmnnem inspirationem de episcopo providendum fuit, sanctus Tdalricus describit ipsum praepositum beatum Conradum talem esse, sicut apostolus ad Timotheum et Titun: oportet episcopum esse irreprehensibilem, unius uxoris virum, sobrium, ornatum, prudentem, pudicum, hospitalem, doctorem, non vinolentum, non percussorem, sed modestum, non litigiosum, non cupidum, suae domui bene praepositum, filios habentem subditos emn omni castitate, Si quis domi suae praeesse nescit, quomodo ecclesiae Dei diligentiam habebit! Non neophytun, non in superbiam elatum, ne in judicium decidat dyaboli, Oportet autem et testinonium habere bonum ab his, qui foris sunt, ut in opprobrium non incidat et in Jaqueum dyaboli, Tte ad Timotheum sic ait: oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse, sicut Dei dispensatorem, non superbum, non iracundum, non vinolentum, non percussorem, non turpis lucri cupidum, sed hospitalem, benignum, prudentem, sobrium, justum, sanctum, continentem, amplectentem eum, qui secenndwn doctrinam est, fidelem sermonem, nt potens sit exhortatione in doctrina sana et eos, qui contradicunt, arguere, His omnibus coram onultitudine a sancto Udalrico de ipso recitatis omnes ibidem consenserunt, Unde ibidem rapitur, trahitur et quain vis plurimum renitens episcopus instituitur, In cathedrali ergo infula sublimatus sanctus Conradus prinéipalem sanctae Dei genitricis ecclesiam ditavit reliqniis pretiosis el ornatu maximo. Insuper tres construxit ecclesias, nnam in civitate Constantiensi, duas extra, In quarn unà, videlicet in prima ecclesia sancti Manritii sepulchrum domini nostri Jesu Christi simillimum illi, quod est in Hierusalem, cum multa diligentia construi procuravit. Ubi etiam XII praebendas clericis ibidem Christo famulantibus in perpetuum instituit, auxit nihilominus canonicormm numerun majoris ecclesiae cum allodio proprii patrimonii, Cupiens etiam idem vir sanctus cum apostolo corpus suum efficaciter castigare, tribns vicibus transfretans Versus civitatem sanctam Hierusalem adiit, in qua locum passionis Christi et sepulturae et resurrectionis similiter et ascensionis in devotione maxima visilavit. Postmodum apud castrum Laufen cum sancto Udalrico exsistens, cum vidisset in ipsa turbine aquae procellis hinc inde spumantibus aves introeuntes mergi et exeuntes, intellexit vir sanctus in spiritu dnas animas fore sub specie illarum avium, quae ibidem ob scelerum suorum aliquando commissorun multitudinem suum purgatorium sustinerent, Itaque ambo visceribus misericordiae moti, Udalricus primam missam pro defunctis celebrare non distulit, Conradus autem ipsa die secundam missam similiter pro defunctis complere non pigritatns est, Et sic in eorum devotione et sollemni altaris oblatione illarum avium species amplius non viderunt, Gebhardo optimo adolescenti, qui casu super episcopalein sedem consederat, prophetat Conradus dicens: praemature sedem meam, Gebharde, occupasti, mihi succedet, qui prior te in hac cathedra sedebit, videlicet Gamelonus. Sanctus etiam Conradus infra missarum sollemnia post consecrationem corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi in die sancto paschae araneam Japsam in calicem cmn sanguine domini fiducialiter sumsit, cumque terminatis rite missarum sollemniis, prout dignissimum est, ipsa die ad prandium consedisset, attenuatus corpore per sanctam quadragesimam non comedit, Interrogatus a suis, cur non coimnederet, ait: exspecto hospitem in proximo venientem, et inclinato capite super mensam exitiun araneae praebet aperto ore, Quanta de tali adventu, quin potius miraculo, inter cunctos ibidem exsistentes fuerit laetitia, nullus sanae mentis ignorat, Obiit autein. beatus Conradus épiscopus post multarwn exercitia.
virtutum VI cal, Decembr. anno domini nongentesimo LXVI, episcopatus vero XLI senex et plenus dierum,
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