Arn of Würzburg

Arn (Arno of Endsee) was bishop of Würzburg from 855 until his death on 13 July 892. He was a pupil of Bishop Gozbald, who died on 20 September 855, in whose place he was elected bishop. He was a warrior prelate, recorded as fighting against almost every external foe of the Germans. He is regarded as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church; we have no Orthodox act of canonization. One source says he was canonized in the eighteenth century, another that he was honoured as a saint until the eighteenth century.

In his first year in office the cathedral of Würzburg was destroyed by lightning, and Arn had to rebuild it, in honour of Saint Kilian. He took an active part in the government of East Francia under Louis the German (who appointed him), Charles the Fat and Arnulf of Carinthia. In 871 Louis the German held an assembly at Frankfurt and from there sent Arn and Ruodolt, margrave of the Nordgau, to defend the border between the Duchy of Bavaria and Great Moravia, because he had heard that the Moravians were planning an invasion. The Moravians had built a very large circular wall to force the Germans through a very narrow opening and thus cut off their flight. But Arn, aware of the trap, caught off guard a Moravian army leading back a Bohemian bride and forced it into the trap. The Moravians were forced to abandon their horses and flee on foot. In 872, however, he assisted Carloman of Bavaria against Svatopluk of Moravia and was defeated.

In 884 Arn and Henry of Franconia led the forces of all East Francia against a Viking army invading Saxony and were victorious. One source gives the year 844 instead of 884, but at that time Arn was not yet of fighting age. In 892, on the advice of Poppo, duke of Thuringia, he undertook an expedition against the Wends and was killed, either during a mass on the Chemnitz near Frankenburg or, after withdrawing to Sandberg (perhaps Wiederau or Taurastein), in a decisive battle with the Slavs. Poppo was deposed from his office for his poor counsel and Arn was replaced by Rudolf, a member of the Conradine family. He was buried at Saint Giles in Colditz and was immediately reckoned a martyr. Around 1250 a chapel was built in his honour at Mittweida.