HARTMANN OF BRIXEN, BL.

Abbot and bishop; b. Polling, near Passau, Germany, c. 1090; d. Brixen (Bressanone), Italy, Dec. 23, 1164. Hartmann was educated in Sankt Nikola in Passau, the first augustinian settlement in that area and an important center of reform. When Abp. Conrad of Salzburg decided in 1122 to reform his cathedral clergy according to the Rule of St. augustine, he chose Hartmann to lead the new community. In 1128 Hartmann became prior of the Augustinian house at Herren-Chiemsee, also reformed by Conrad, and in 1133 Margrave leopold iii of austria called him to head the new Augustinian community of klosterneuburg. Because of his apostolic zeal and saintly life, he was made bishop of Brixen in 1140 or 1141. To renew the spiritual life in his diocese he founded an Augustinian priory at Neustift near Brixen in 1142 and obtained an imperial privilege for it in 1157. Although he always remained loyal to Pope alexander iii and to his metropolitan, Eberhard of Salzburg, freder ic i barbarossa respected him for his learning and sanctity. Since 1784 his veneration is permitted in the Diocese of Brixen.

Feast: Dec. 23.

Bibliography: j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheueux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by The Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56) 12:621–622. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 4:601–602. a. sparber, Leben und Wirken des seligen Hartmann, Bischofs von Brixen, 1140–1164 (Klosterneuburg 1957); Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 5:19.

[a. a. schacher]