Adelhelm I, Bl.
ADELHELM I, BL.
Abbot; d. Feb. 25, 1131. A benedictine monk at the Abbey of sankt blasien, he was chosen c. 1122 to be the first abbot of Engelberg, near Stans in Switzerland, soon after its foundation by Conrad of Seldenbüren (d. 1125). He worked to secure the exemption of his abbey from outside controls and won royal and papal confirmation of its status in 1124. Although his life was reputed to have been a saintly one, and miracles and wonders were reported at his tomb, almost no details beyond his activity as abbot are known. Having been venerated from the middle of the 12th century, his relics were enshrined in a chapel at the abbey at Engelberg in 1744.
Feast: Feb. 25.
Bibliography: m. besson, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 1:528. a. m. zimmermann, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2 1:142. Acta Sanctorum Feb. 3 (1863) 490. l. burgener, Helvetia Sancta, 2 v. (New York 1860). h. mayer, Geschichte des Klosters Engelburg (Ei 1891). a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 1:252–254.
[j. l. grassi]