Conrad of Constance
Encyclopedia
Life
Conrad was a member of the powerful Welf family, son of Count Heinrich of AltdorfWeingarten (Württemberg)
Weingarten is a town with a population of 24,000 in Württemberg, in the District of Ravensburg, in the valley of the Schussen River. Together with the southern neighbour cities of Ravensburg and Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance , it forms one of 14 medium-sized infrastructural centres in...
. After an education at the cathedral school in Constance
Constance
Constance is a female given name that derives from Latin and means "constant." Variations of the name include Connie, Constancia, Constanze, Constanza, Stanzy, and Konstanze.Constance may refer to:-People:*Constance Bennett , American actress...
, he became provost of Constance Cathedral and in 934 was made Bishop of Constance.
It is counted as one of his achievements that he avoided becoming enmeshed in the politics of the day and reserved his energies for his episcopal duties. He was nevertheless close to Emperor Otto I
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
, whom he accompanied to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 962. Conrad made three pilgrimages to Jerusalem as well as a number to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. He founded a number of churches on the episcopal estates and the hospital at Kreuzlingen
Kreuzlingen
Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of over 18,000...
, named after a portion of the True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
which Conrad brought back from Jerusalem and presented to it.
Veneration
His cult was entirely due to the efforts of Bishop Ulrich I of Dillingen, Bishop of Constance (1111–1127). The Vita of Conrad was written in about 1120 by Udalschalk, a monk of St. Ulrich's and St. Afra's Abbey, AugsburgSt. Ulrich's and St. Afra's Abbey, Augsburg
St. Ulrich's and St. Afra's Abbey, Augsburg is a former Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Ulrich and Saint Afra in the south of the old city in Augsburg, Bavaria.- History :...
, of which he later became abbot (1124 or 1127 to c. 1150 or 1151). Its late date doubtless accounts for its lack of content, notwithstanding which, Conrad was canonised at the First Lateran Council in 1123.
Iconography
Saint Conrad is sometimes represented as a bishop holding a chalice with a spiderSpider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
in it or over it. This refers to a story that once when he was celebrating mass a spider fell into the chalice. Spiders were believed at that time to be deadly poisonous, but Conrad nevertheless drank the wine, with the spider in it, as a token of faith.
See Cultural depictions of spiders