GEBHARD II OF CONSTANCE, ST.

Bishop; b. 949; d. Aug. 27, 995. He was the son of Count Udalrich VI of Bregenz and was educated in Constance under Bp. conrad of constance. In 979 Emperor otto ii made him Conrad's second successor. Like Conrad he was concerned with monastic reform, and in 983 he founded the Abbey of petershausen opposite Constance. From Pope john xv he obtained relics of Pope St. gregory the great, under whose title he consecrated the abbey church in 992; however, since the church was modeled on st. peter's basilica in Rome, the abbey came to be known as Petershausen. Gebhard called an abbot and benedictine monks from einsiedeln, thus introducing the customs of that great reform center, but Petershausen never played the important role he had hoped for. Gebhard was buried in his foundation, and his cult is allowed in the former Diocese of Constance.

Feast: Aug. 27.

Bibliography: Vita (c. 1134), Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores, 10:582–594. See Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, bk. 1, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 20:627–639. Two Sequences in Analecta hymnica 54:61–64. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheurex selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fétes, by the Benedictines of Paris 8:518. a. m. zimmerman, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige 2:630. h. tÜchle, Kirchengeschichte Schwabens, 2 v. (Stuttgart 1950–54) 1:156–157. o. feger, Geschichte des Bodenseeraumes, 4 v. (Lindau 1956–) 1:205–211. a. m. zimmermann, Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche ² 4:555. k.schmid, Neue deutsche Biographie 6:114.

[a. a. schacher]