Pirmin

The Venerable Pirmin was a monk and missionary of the Merovingian age who founded or restored many monasteries in Alemannia, in Alsace and along the upper Rhine. He fell asleep on 3 November 753 in the monastery of Hornbach, where his tomb is.

His origin is uncertain: he is thought to have come from the area of Narbonne, perhaps of a Visigothic family that fled to Francia after the Arab conquest of Spain; other sources link him with Ireland, south-⁠western Gaul or Paris. From 718 he was abbot of a monastery at Antwerp. According to tradition he blessed a spring near Kaundorf, whose water is said to heal, and a chapel there is dedicated to him. A count, Rohingus, hosted him at his villa at Thommen in the Ardennes. He gained the favour of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace of Francia, who sent him to help rebuild Disentis abbey in what is now Switzerland. In 724 he was named abbot of Mittelzell on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance. Later, for political reasons, he was driven out to Alsace.

His mission took place mainly in Alsace and the valley of the upper Rhine and Danube. Besides preaching and baptising, he founded or restored the monasteries of Amorbach, Gengenbach, Murbach, Wissembourg, Marmoutier, Neuweiler and others. He obtained gifts from the local nobility: Duke Odilo of Bavaria helped found Niederaltaich abbey, and Count Werner the abbey of Hornbach, founded around 741, where he died.

His most important book is the Scarapsus (Dicta Abbatis Pirminii), a collection of quotations from the Holy Fathers and from Scripture, probably for the use of missionaries or for reading at the monks' meals. It was written between 710 and 724 and contains the earliest appearance of the present text of the Apostles' Creed.

As early as the second half of the eighth century a manuscript from Metz calls him a saint. His remains were moved in 1558 to Speyer and in 1575 to Innsbruck. After the grave at Hornbach was found in 1953, part of the relics were returned to Hornbach, Speyer and Pirmasens. His feast is on 3 November.