Morandus, St.
MORANDUS, ST.
Benedictine prior; b. near Worms, Germany; d. Altkirch, Alsace, France, c. 1115. Born of noble parents in the upper Rhine region, he was trained in the episcopal school at worms and ordained there. On his return from a pilgrimage to santiago de compostela in Spain, he visited cluny and became a monk there. Because of his exemplary life, hugh of cluny made him prior of a monastery in the Auvergne and then established him in the same office in a new foundation at Altkirch in Alsace. Because of his pastoral zeal he was called the "apostle of the Sundgau." He was buried in the monastery church at Altkirch, and his tomb became the object of pilgrimage. Under Archduke Rudolph IV of Hapbsurg (1339–65) a part of his head was taken as a relic to Vienna for the new Cathedral of St. Stephen. Morandus is represented in art as a monk or pilgrim, and with a bunch of grapes and a pruning knife.
Feast: June 3.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum June 1:332–351. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis 2:6019–20. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 2:262–263.
[m. r. p. mcguire]