Adalbert of Magdeburg

Adalbert of Magdeburg
Holy Card for St. Adalbert of Magdeburg
Archbishop of Magdeburg and Abbot of Wissembourg
Born	c. 910 Alsace or Lorraine, France
Died	20 June 981 Zscherben (contemporarily in (former) Geusa, in Merseburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church
Feast	20 June

Adalbert of Magdeburg, sometimes incorrectly shortened to "Albert" (c. 910 - 20 June 981), and known as the Apostle of the Slavs, was the first Archbishop of Magdeburg (from 968) and a successful missionary to the Polabian Slavs to the east of what is contemporarily Germany. He was later canonised and his liturgical feast day was assigned as 20 June.

Adalbert was born c. 910, possibly in Alsace or Lorraine, France. He was a German monk at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Maximinus in Trier, Germany. He was consecrated a Roman Catholic bishop and in 961 was sent to Kievan Rus. Princess Olga of Kiev had asked Emperor Otto I (the Great) to provide her a missionary from the Roman Catholic Church. Her son, Svyatoslav opposed her and stole her crown as soon as Adalbert arrived in Kievan Rus. Adalbert's missionary companions were slain and Adalbert barely escaped. Kievan Rus subsequently was converted by missionaries from Constantinople and became part of Byzantine Christianity.

Upon escaping Kievan Rus, Adalbert traveled to Mainz, Germany, where he became the Abbot of Wissembourg in Alsace. There he worked to improve the education of the monks. He later became the first Archbishop of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, in contemporary Germany.