Wolfgang of Regensburg - Education and Ordination

Education and Ordination

Wolfgang was descended from the family of the Swabian Counts of Pfullingen (Mon. Germ. His.: Script., X, 53). When seven years old he had an ecclesiastic as tutor at home; later he attended the celebrated monastic school at Reichenau Abbey.

Here he formed a strong friendship with Henry of Babenberg, brother of Bishop Poppo of Würzburg, whom he followed to Würzburg in order to attend the lectures of the noted Italian grammarian, Stephen of Novara, at the cathedral school.

After Henry was made Archbishop of Trier in 956, he summoned Wolfgang, who became a teacher in the cathedral school of Trier, and also laboured for the reform of the archdiocese, despite the hostility with which his efforts were met.

Wolfgang's residence at Trier greatly influenced his monastic and ascetic tendencies, as here he came into contact with the great reformatory monastery of the 10th century, St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier, where he made the acquaintance of Romuald, the teacher of Saint Adalbert of Prague.

After the death of Archbishop Henry of Trier in 964, Wolfgang entered the Benedictine order in the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln, Switzerland, and was ordained priest by Saint Ulrich in 968.