Life
What we know of Emmeram comes to us second hand. Arbeo of Freising wrote a biography of Emmeram in 750, the Vita Sancti Emmerami, some 100 years after the saint's death. The literature tells the story of Emmeram, born into a noble family in Aquitaine. According to some, he became bishop of Poitiers, though his name does not appear on the rolls. There is speculation that he held the office briefly between the death of Dido and the ascension of Ansoaldus. Having heard of idolatry in Bavaria, he decided to journey to Ratisborn (Regensburg) some time after the year 649 to the court of the Agilofing, Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria. He supposedly journeyed up the Loire, crossed through the Black Forest and then followed the Danube to Regensburg. Theodo welcomed Emmeram to his court, where Emmeram labored for three years carrying out missionary work. During this time he gained a reputation as a pious man.
As the story goes, Uta (or Ota), the daughter of the duke, confided to Emmeram that she was expecting a child out of wedlock. According to Arbeo, the father was one Sigipaldus from her father's own court. Moved with compassion, Emmeram advised her to name himself, whom every one respected, hoping to mitigate some of her shame. Shortly thereafter, the legend goes, Emmeram abruptly went on a pilgrimage to Rome. At this point Uta named Emmeram as the father.
When Duke Theodo and his son Lantpert learned of Uta's pregnancy, Lantpert went after the bishop. Lantpert caught up to Emmeram in Helfendorf (now part of the Munich suburb of Aying) on the old Roman road between Salzburg and Augsburg on the Via Julia Augusta. Lantpert and his followers tied Emmeram to a ladder and proceeded to torture and cut Emmeram to pieces. The day of his martyrdom is also his name day, 22 September. His companions Vitalis and Wolflete found him still alive, lying in his own blood and tried to bring him quickly back to Aschheim, where at that time stood a walled church of the Apostle Peter.
Read more about this topic: Emmeram Of Regensburg
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