Lives Of The Saints

October 31

St. Wolfgang

Quick answer

At a glance

What it is
St. Wolfgang: St. Wolfgang is remembered as balanced and strong.
Feast
October 31
Source
Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume IV (October-November-December), October 31, St Wolfgang, Bishop of Regensburg, Christian Classics 1990, pp. 230-231. Read the source standards.
Painting of Saint Wolfgang by Albrecht Durer

Saint Wolfgang, Albrecht Durer

Brief life

Wolfgang's life has a rare balance. He is monk, teacher, missionary, reformer, and bishop, and each role deepens rather than swallows the others. This life follows him from Reichenau and Trier to Einsiedeln, then into missionary labor among the Magyars, and finally to Regensburg.

There he becomes the kind of bishop the Church always needs: reforming clergy, restoring monastic life, caring for the poor, and working hard without letting action devour recollection. A strong desire for hidden monastic quiet never leaves him, yet he never uses it to flee the duties laid upon him. The result is a life of discipline, prayer, and pastoral vigor that feels solid instead of theatrical.

Historical note

For October 31, this page uses St. Wolfgang because he gives the date a fuller and firmer historical life than the much weaker legendary material attached to some other entries.

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