Gotthard of Hildesheim

Gotthard of Hildesheim, known in Latin as Godehardus and in German as Gotthard or Godehard, was a Benedictine monk, abbot, and bishop of the late Ottonian period. He was born in 960 at Reichersdorf, a village near the abbey of Niederaltaich in the Duchy of Bavaria. His father Ratmund belonged to the circle of dependents associated with that monastery. From childhood Gotthard was educated in the monastic school of Niederaltaich under Abbot Erkanbert, receiving the liberal arts and theological training customary in a major Bavarian house. He entered the Benedictine community there, was ordained priest, and served as prior before being chosen abbot in 996. As abbot he restored regular observance along the lines of the Gorze reform then influential in the Empire, and he made Niederaltaich a noted centre of discipline and learning.

His reputation as a monastic restorer led Emperor Henry II, himself a Bavarian and a promoter of reform, to employ him at other royal and princely abbeys. Around the beginning of the eleventh century Gotthard was sent to Tegernsee, where he served as abbot and reimposed the Rule. A few years later he undertook a similar charge at Hersfeld in Hesse, a house whose monks had resisted earlier attempts at correction; after several years of firm government he returned to Niederaltaich. These successive abbacies established him throughout the German kingdom as a reliable agent of monastic renewal. When Saint Bernward of Hildesheim died in November 1022, Henry II nominated Gotthard to the vacant Saxon see. He was consecrated bishop of Hildesheim in December of that year and governed the diocese until his death.

As bishop he combined monastic austerity with the public duties of a prelate in a large Ottonian diocese. He completed and consecrated churches associated with his predecessor’s building programme, supported monastic and canonical life, and attended to the visitation of parishes, the training of clergy, and the relief of the poor. Contemporary notices stress his personal poverty, charity, and insistence on canonical discipline. He remained in office through the dynastic change that followed Henry II’s death in 1024 and retained the confidence of the first Salian king, Conrad II. Gotthard died in Hildesheim on 5 May 1038 and was buried in the cathedral.

A cult formed quickly around his tomb. Healings were reported, and devotion spread in Saxony and Bavaria. In 1131 Pope Innocent II canonized him at Reims; his relics were solemnly translated in Hildesheim the following year. His feast is kept on 5 May. Later centuries invoked him against hail, fever, gout, dropsy, and illnesses of children, and he became a patron of travellers. The Alpine pass between Uri and Ticino, together with the hospice later established there, took his name. He remains the principal patron of the city and diocese of Hildesheim.