Ulric⁽¹⁾

Ulric, bishop of Augsburg (c.890–973). Born near Zurich, he was educated at the monastery of St. Gall. Delicate in health, he was placed by his father in the care of Adalbero, bishop of Augsburg, and his uncle. Eventually Ulric himself became bishop, an office he held for fifty years. In the disorders caused by Magyar raids and invasions Ulric built a small church, where he devoted himself to prayer and pastoral work as well as to almsgiving on a notable scale. The devastations of war made this all the more necessary, so too the regular visitation of his diocese, which he achieved every year. He founded religious houses and was outstanding for almsgiving. Towards the end of his life he wished to resign his see and return to St. Gall as a monk. In order to achieve this, he appointed his nephew, another Adalbero, in his place. But this was condemned as uncanonical by a synod of Ingelheim. If he could not live as a monk, he certainly died like one, on ashes strewn on the floor in the form of a cross. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and Pope John XV canonized him only twenty years after his death. This was the first recorded example of papal canonization. During the next 200 years the papacy was requested to intervene in a growing number of canonization causes, until this became obligatory in c.1200. Ulric's canonization took place at a council at the Lateran: the then bishop of Augsburg, Liutolf, presented a book of the life and miracles of Ulric. These were examined in turn by this council, and the pope promulgated the favourable decision. Another extrinsic celebrity attached to Ulric's memory is a letter, forged in his name, against clerical celibacy. This letter was much controverted in the Reformation period. Feast: 4 July.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• Lives in AA.SS. Iulii II (1721), 73–135 and in P.L., cxlii. 1183–1204; see also E. W. Kemp, Canonization and Authority in the Western Church (1948), pp. 56–8; Bibl. SS., xii. 796–8; B.L.S., vii. 29–30. Modern Lives by P. Dörfler (1995) and H. Kohl (1963)