Saint Godehard

It soon appeared that the grace of ordination had given him new strength to fulfill the functions of his new ministry, which he discharged with the greatest zeal, the most enlightened prudence, and a rare trust in the help of God. He established a very regular discipline in the Chapter of his cathedral, to the point that he formed it into a true monastery. He instituted schools to train the youth in virtue as well as in letters, and watched over those he had chosen from among the others himself, and whom he raised in his seminary for the ministry of the altars. He did not neglect the external worship of God either; he repaired churches, built new ones, and took care of the fabrics, ecclesiastical revenues, and the ornaments of the temples. He had the church demolished that Otwin, the tenth bishop of Hildesheim, had raised in honor of Saint Mary and Saint Epiphanius, and which had entirely fallen into ruins; he had a convent built in the same place, which was completed in the third year of his government. There was at the edge of his episcopal city a marsh that popular terror claimed was haunted by evil spirits and ghosts. Our Saint had it drained and went to pitch his tent there: it was also there that he raised a vast hospital where all miseries and all necessities found relief: strangers were welcomed there just like the local people.

In 1023, the Archbishop o f Mainz convened a national synod to which our Saint was also summoned. While traveling there, in the vicinity of Grüns castle, he delivered a possessed man who was generally reputed as such. This miracle, which eyewitnesses spread everywhere despite his prohibition, gave new luster to his holiness:

But this was the least of his miracles: he performed countless others before and after his death. One, among others, struck the imagination of the masses more vividly and served to characterize him in prints and bas-reliefs. He had excommunicated certain of his diocesans: now, one day as he was preparing to celebrate the holy mysteries, he saw them enter the church, in spite of the excommunication. Invoking the power of God, he ordered the dead to rise from their tombs and set an example of obedience to the transgressors of his ordinances: the former lifted the lids of their sepulchers, organized a procession, and exited the church.

He died on May 4, 1038, and was canonized in 1131 by Innocent II . Several churches in Germany honor him as their patron. He left behind letters that breathe piety and prove that he was one of the most learned men of his century.

In the year 1132, which followed his canonization and the translation of his relics, the construction of a monastery of the Order of Sai nt Benedict began, un der the invocation of Saint Gothard, and two altars were consecrated to him in the cathedral. In the 16th century, a chasuble that had belonged to h im and s everal other relics were kept in the latter, which still attracted the veneration not only of Catholics but also of Protestants: pregnant women in particular had recourse to the Saint.