1019 - 1075

In 1057, Gundechar was consecrated bishop of his native city of Eichstatt, Germany. Distancing himself from the court of the troublesome emperor Henry IV, he totally devoted his life to the Church, motivated by a great zeal for the salvation of souls. Gundechar is credited with erecting over one hundred churches. Toward the end of his life, he undertook the compilation of a liturgical book later known as the Gundecharian Pontifical. Over two centuries after his death, many miracles began to occur at his tomb. A thirteen-year-old girl with a severe spinal curvature that left her hunchbacked and stooped to her knees was able to stand erect again. A boy blind in one eye for two years had his sight fully restored. A pectoral cross that Gundechar wore around his neck while celebrating Mass was preserved for many centuries afterward. It bore a series of inscriptions in honor of the cross of Christ: “O cross, be to me a refuge; O cross, be to me certain salvation.” One inscription testifies to its origin, as well as to the humility of its owner: “Gundechar the sinner ordered me to be made.”