Saint Corbinian

Saint Corbinian
Saint Corbinian depicted in The Miracle of the Bear (1489) by Jan Polack. Diocesan Museum in Freising, Germany.
Bishop
Born	c. 670 Châtres, France
Died	8 September c. 730 Freising, Germany
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	8 September and 20 November
Attributes	bear; bishop making a bear carry his luggage because it has eaten his mule; bishop with a bear and mule in the background; bishop with Duke Grimoald at his feet
Patronage	Freising, Germany; archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Germany

Saint Corbinian (c. 670 – 8 September c. 730) was a Frankish bishop. After living as a hermit near Chartres for fourteen years, he made a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Gregory II sent him to Bavaria. His opposition to the marriage of Duke Grimoald to his brother's widow, Biltrudis, caused Corbinian to go into exile for a time. His feast day is 8 September. The commemoration of the translation of his relics is 20 November.

Corbinian was born and baptized as Waldegiso at Châtres, near Melun, in Frankish territory. He was named after his father, who may have died when Corbinian was an infant. Soon after his father's death, his mother Corbiniana soon renamed Waldegiso to "Corbinian," after herself. Nothing else is known of his childhood. The early source for Corbinian's life is the Vita Corbiniani of Bishop Arbeo of Freising.

He lived in Châtres on the road to Orléans as a hermit for fourteen years, near a church dedicated to Saint Germain. His reputation attracted students to him, which distracted him from his hermitage. His devotion to Saint Peter the Apostle prompted a decision to make a journey to Rome, accompanied by some of the disciples. While in Rome, Pope Gregory II admonished him to use his talents to evangelize Bavaria. Corbinian, who may already have been a bishop or who was so consecrated by Gregory, was sent to minister to Grimoald, the Frankish Duke of Bavaria. Corbinian probably arrived in Bavaria in 724.

On a mountain near Freising, where there was already a sanctuary, the saint erected a Benedictine monastery and a school, which came to be governed by his brother Erembert, after his death. In 738, when Saint Boniface regulated the structure in the Duchy of Bavaria by creating four dioceses to be governed by the archbishop of Mainz, Erembert was chosen first Bishop of Freising.