Saint Sturm

Saint Sturm
Abbot
Born	c. 705 Lorch,March of Styria
Died	17 December 779 Fulda,Abbey of Fulda
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy
Canonized	1139 byPope Innocent II
Feast	17 December

Sturm(c. 705– 17 December 779), also calledSturmiusorSturmi,was a disciple ofBonifaceand founder and first abbot of theBenedictinemonastery and abbey of Fuldain 742 or 744. Sturm's tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 779.

Life

Sturm was bornc. 705inLorch,Austria,and was most likely related to theAgilolfingdukes ofBavaria.His parents placed him under the care of Boniface, who was carrying out the church reorganization in Bavaria and Austria (founding the bishoprics ofSalzburg,RegensburgandWürzburg).He was educated in the Benedictine monastery ofFritzlarby abbotWigbert.

He was then active as a missionary in northernHesse,where in 736 he established a monastic settlement inHaerulfisfeld(Hersfeld). Ordained in 740 as priest in Fritzlar. Boniface sent him to work for three years as a missionary in Westphalia. He then was a hermit at Hersfeld, until raiding Saxons drove him from his unprotected hermitage.

Sturm was instructed by Boniface in 744 to establish amonasteryin the region of Eichloha, which had been granted to Boniface by the FrankishMayor of the PalaceCarloman.In the ruins of a 6th-centuryMerovingianroyal camp, destroyed 50 years earlier by theSaxons,at a ford on theFulda River,Sturm established the monastery and was named first abbot of Fulda by Boniface.

Around 748, Sturm and two other monks went to study Benedictine life as practiced atMonte Cassinoand establish it at Fulda. They spent a year visiting Benedictine abbeys learning how the monks lived. Before returning to Fulda, Sturm met withPope Zachary,who placed the monastery under the jurisdiction of the Vatican, rather than under the bishop.After the death of Boniface, this led to serious conflicts between Lullus, thenarchbishop of Mainz,and abbot Sturm. Nevertheless, Sturm prevailed over the bishops of Mainz andUtrechtin having Boniface, so-called Apostle of the Germans, buried in Fulda after his assassination in 754 nearDokkuminFrisia.This made Fulda a major place ofpilgrimagefor many peoples, includingAnglo-Saxons,and brought much prestige and a stream of gifts and donations to Fulda.

Building on this success, Sturm was able to fend off efforts by the bishops of Mainz and Würzburg to invalidate the abbey's exemption. In 763, Lull convincedPippin the Youngerto banish Sturm from Fulda toJumièges(Normandy). Lull named a new abbot, whom the monks refused to accept. Eventually, Lull allowed them to elect their own abbot and within two years they convinced Pepin to allow Sturm to return to Fulda.During his exile, he spent time with the common people of Germany, by the time he was rehabilitated, he had developed a much humbler demeanour, leading to him being known by the commoners as the "Quaint Saint".

In 774, the Abbey of Fulda received royal protection fromCharlemagne.In the same year, Fulda was assigned missionary territories in heathenSaxony,thereby becoming a bridgehead in the Frankish political efforts to seize the Saxons' lands and forcibly impose Christianity on them. Sturm established the abbey of St. Boniface atHamelin.When Charlemagne left the area to battle the Moors in Spain, the Saxons revolted and drove out the monks. In 779, he accompanied Charlemagne into Saxony,but fell ill and died soon after returning to Fulda on 17 December 779, where he was buried in the cathedral.

Veneration

Sturm was recognised as a saint prior to theEast–West Schismin 1054, hence the Orthodox Church continues to honour him. The post-1054 Roman Papacy did not accept all pre-Schism saints, sometimes reviewing their status. He was accordingly formally canonized in 1139 byPope Innocent II.His life was recorded in theVita Sturmiby the fourth abbot of Fulda,Eigil of Fulda(d. 822),a relative of his who had been a monk in Fulda for over 20 years under abbot Sturm.

Saint Sturm's Fountain is located in Fulda in front of the old town hall. It depicts Benedict, Boniface, and Sturm.

External links

• Nicolaus Heutger (1996). "Sturmius". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 11. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 149–150.ISBN3-88309-064-6.
• English translation of Eigil's Life of Saint Sturm