Lullus - Monk To Archbishop

Monk To Archbishop

He was monk in the Benedictine monastery of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. During a pilgrimage to Rome in 737 he met Saint Boniface and decided to join him in his missionary work in northern Germany. In 738, Lullus joined the Benedictine order and the monastery of Fritzlar, founded by Boniface in 732, where abbot Saint Wigbert was his teacher. He became deacon in 740, and was ordained priest by Boniface in 747. In 752 he became auxiliary bishop under Saint Boniface. King Pippin confirmed him one year later as bishop of Mainz and in 754 he became archbishop, as Saint Boniface resigned and appointed Lullus his successor. Lullus became the first regular archbishop of Mainz when Pope Hadrian I granted him the pallium in about 781. He then greatly expanded his bishopric by absorbing those of Büraburg (near Fritzlar) and Erfurt.