Altfrid

Saint Altfrid (or Altfrid of Hildesheim) (died 15 August 874) was a leading figure in Germany in the ninth century. A Benedictine monk, he became Bishop of Hildesheim, and founded Essen Abbey. He was also a close royal adviser to the East Frankish King Louis the German.

He is a Roman Catholic saint. His feast day is celebrated on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, but also in Essen and Hildesheim on 16 August.

There is no contemporary biography of Altfrid. He is first mentioned by name on 3 October 852, when he took part in a council in Mainz as Bishop of Hildesheim.

According to the Hildesheim Chronicle Altfrid died "rich in days" in 874, from which a year of birth of around 800 is assumed. He owned land in the Harzvorland and in central Essen (Asnithi), which may have been inherited from his family, and it seems likely that he belonged to the Saxon nobility, and may have been connected to the Imperial family of the Liudolfings, who, however, had no influence in Altfrid's foundation Essen Abbey (Stift Essen) until after his death.

He was apparently a monk at Corvey Abbey before he was declared Bishop of Hildesheim in 851 in succession to Ebbo, who died on 20 March of that year. Since Ebbo had been installed and removed several times as Archbishop of Reims, Altfrid took the unusual step of repeating all consecrations and ordinations of his predecessor to avoid their invalidation.

In 864, Altfrid moved the relics of Saint Marsus from Auxerre to an unknown place in Saxony, most likely to Corvey Abbey. His sermon on the arrival of the relics survives. In addition, Altfrid laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral in Hildesheim in 852, a three-aisled cruciform church with a crossing and transept. It was completed in 872 and was consecrated on 1 November 872 in the presence of four bishops and the Abbot of Corvey.

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