Saint
Suitbert
A hierarch of the West, who reposed in 807.
Uncertain source. We are looking to verify this information as soon as we can.
- Era
- 9th century
- Order
- Hierarchs
Life
Suitbert (also Swibert or Swibrecht) is held by tradition to have been the first bishop of Verden in Saxony, who died around 800. No reliable news of him exists, and his existence is doubted.
He is said to have been an Anglo-Saxon and at first a monk of the monastery of Amorbach, and Charlemagne is said to have sent him in 786 as bishop to northern Eastphalia. His name appears in a charter attributed to Charlemagne, but that is a forgery of the 12th century. Bishop Hermann of Verden had a false early history of the diocese composed to ward off the claims of the archbishopric of Bremen. It is therefore possible that no such bishop existed.
He was honored as a saint also in the diocese of Osnabrück. His day of remembrance was 30 April, and later 11 May.
He is not to be confused with Saint Suitbert, the missionary of Kaiserswerth. He is a saint of the West; no Orthodox synodal canonization is known, and the source is uncertain.