Virgil of Salzburg

Saint Virgil of Salzburg, hierarch, was an Irish priest and scholar, who settled in Francia, was bishop of Salzburg and died in 784. He was called the Apostle of Carinthia and the Geometer. He is commemorated on 27 November.

Beginnings

Virgil, called in Ireland Fergal or Feirgil, was of a noble Irish family and received his education, in some opinions, at the monastery of Iona. The annals mention an abbot of the same name at Aghaboe, called the Geometer for his knowledge of geography. Around 745 he left Ireland, intending to go to the Holy Land, but, like many of his countrymen, he stopped in Francia, where the later king, Pepin the Short, then mayor of the palace, received him kindly and took him as counsellor. After two years, at the invitation of Duke Odilo, he went to Bavaria, where he founded the monastery of Chiemsee and soon after became abbot of the monastery of Saint Peter at Salzburg.

The disputes with Boniface

As abbot, he had disputes with Saint Boniface. An ignorant priest baptized saying, in place of the baptismal formula, the wrong words “in the name of the fatherland and the daughter and the holy spirit”. Virgil judged the baptism valid, Boniface complained to Pope Zachary, but the pope decided in favour of Virgil. Later Boniface accused him of teaching about men who do not descend from Adam, that is, about the antipodes, which would be against Scripture. The pope decided that, if it were proved that Virgil maintains that there is beneath the earth another sun and another moon and other people, a council should be gathered and he deposed. The writing in which Virgil set out his teaching is lost, but it is certain that he succeeded in clearing himself. It is thought that Boniface, already displeased with him, misunderstood him. His teaching that the earth is round came from the ancient geographers.

Bishop and missionary

After the martyrdom of Boniface, Virgil was made bishop of Salzburg, in 766 or 767, and laboured successfully for the strengthening of the diocese and for the spread of Christianity in the nearby pagan lands, above all in Carinthia, where he brought the Alpine Slavs to the faith. He sent missionaries also to Hungary. Under his direction the cathedral of Salzburg was finished in 774, into which the relics of Saint Rupert were brought. He fell asleep in 784. He was numbered among the saints in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX. He is patron of Salzburg, together with Rupert, and a large marble statue of him stands at the doors of the cathedral.