Eberhard of Tüntenhausen, St.
EBERHARD OF TÜNTENHAUSEN, ST.
Shepherd; b. Freising; d. c. 1370. Eberhard is an uncanonized folk saint, buried under an altar to his honor in the church at Tüntenhausen (Bavaria, Germany). According to the testimony at hearings (1729–34) at which his cult was approved as immemorial, it was said that the faithful took earth from Eberhard's grave and used it as a medicine for sick cattle, yet the grave mound never diminished. Iron and wooden votive statues of animals were left at his grave, and reportedly live calves also were sacrificed. The first mention of his cult is in a letter of 1428. He is the patron of shepherds and domestic animals, invoked in cases of cattle sickness and for good weather.
Feast: Sept. 12, 28, and 29.
Bibliography: l. h. zolling, "Die Verehrung des heiligen Eberhard in Tüntenhausen," Frigisinga (1925) 427–432. l. heilmaier, Die Verehrung des heiligen Eberhard in Tüntenhausen (Freising 1926). r. kriss, Die Volkskunde der altbayrischen Gnadenstätten (Munich 1953) 1:23–24. j. staber, Volksfrömmigkeit und Wallfahrtswesen des Spätmittelalters im Bistum Freising (Hohenkirchen 1955) 45–46.
[d. andreini]