San Ruperto Vescovo 27 marzo
Salisburgo, la bella città austriaca la cui fama è collegata con quella del suo figlio più illustre, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, trae il suo nome dalle vicine ricche miniere di salgemma: esso significa infatti "città del sale". Anche il suo primo vescovo e principale patrono, S. Ruperto, viene rappresentato con una saliera in mano (o con un barile, ricolmo appunto di sale e non di vino, come pensa qualche studioso non ben informato). Egli è l'unico santo locale festeggiato, oltre che nelle zone di lingua tedesca, anche nell'Irlanda: in realtà, fu anch'egli un tipico rappresentante dei " monaci irlandesi" itineranti.
S. Ruperto discendeva dai Robertini o Rupertini, un'importante famiglia che dominava col titolo di conte nella regione del medio e alto Reno. Da questa famiglia nacque anche un altro S. Ruperto (o Roberto), di Bingen, la cui vita venne scritta da S. Ildegarda. I Robertini erano imparentati con i Carolingi e centro della loro attività era Worms. Qui S. Ruperto ricevette la sua formazione di stampo monastico irlandese. Verso il 700, come i suoi maestri, si sentì spinto alla predicazione e alla testimonianza monastica itinerante e si recò perciò in Baviera, ottenendo buoni risultati a Regensburg e Lorch. Appoggiato dal conte Theodo di Baviera, sul lago Waller, 10 km a nord-est di Salisburgo, là dove ora è Seekirchen, fondò una chiesa, dedicata a S. Pietro. Ma il luogo non appariva adatto ai progetti di S. Ruperto che chiese al conte un altro territorio sul fiume Salzach, nei pressi dell'antica e cadente città romana di Juvavum.
Il monastero che vi costruì, dedicandolo a S. Pietro, è il più antico di tutta l'Austria e insieme il nucleo della nuova Salisburgo. Il suo sviluppo fu opera anche di dodici collaboratori che Ruperto fece venire dalla sua terra d'origine: tra essi Cunialdo e Gislero, onorati come santi. Non lontano dal monastero di S. Pietro, sorse pure un monastero femminile, affidato alla direzione dell'abbadessa Erentrude, nipote di Ruperto.
Fu questo manipolo di coraggiosi che fece sorgere la nuova Salisburgo, che a giusto titolo riconosce in Ruperto il proprio ri-fondatore: "La sua figura mostra come una personalità piena di forza e di sensibilità, affondando le radici nelle profondità dello spirito cristiano, è in grado di impedire con intelligenza e senza limiti geografici qualsiasi decadimento sia interiore che esterno " (J. Henning). S. Ruperto morì il giorno di Pasqua, e cioè il 27 marzo del 718. Le sue reliquie vengono conservate nella magnifica cattedrale di Salisburgo edificata nel sec. XVII.

Autore: Piero Bargellini

Saint Rupert de Salzbourg, ou Ruprecht, Hrodperht, Hrodpreht, Roudbertus, Rudbertus, Robert, (vers 660 - 710) est un saint de l'Église catholique et de l'Eglise Orthodoxe, qui fut évêque de Salzbourg en Autriche. Il est fêté le 27 mars dans les deux Eglises.
Apparenté selon la tradition aux mérovingiens, il était évêque de Worms (évêques du lieu) vers 697 quand il partit évangéliser la Bavière. Il y baptisa le duc Théodon de Bavière, ce qui lui permit de continuer à prêcher et à convertir les populations sur une large zone autour du Danube.
Il reçut en 699 en cadeau de la part du duc de Bavière les restes ruinés de la ville de Salzbourg, alors appelée Juvavum. Il y promut les mines de sel qui donnèrent à la ville son nouveau nom.
Il est considéré comme l'apôtre de la Bavière, de la Carinthie et de l'Autriche.
Il est l'oncle de sainte Érentrude (650-710).
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_de_Salzbourg

Heiliger Rupert von Salzburg
auch: Ruprecht, Hrodpert
Gedenktag katholisch: 27. März
nicht gebotener Gedenktag im deutschen Sprachgebiet: 24. September
Hochfest im Bistum Graz-Seckau und Salzburg: 24. September
gebotener Gedenktag im Bistum München-Freising: 24. September
Diözesankalender Gurk-Klagenfurt, Linz, Regensburg
Gedenktag evangelisch: 28. März
Name bedeutet: der ruhmreich Glänzende (althochdt.)
Bischof von Salzburg, Glaubensbote in Ostbayern und Salzburg
* in Worms in Rheinland-Pfalz(?)
† 27. März 716 (?) daselbst

Ludwig Hailer: Rupert tauft Herzog Theodo, 1839, Altarblatt im Dom in Regensburg
Rupert stammte wohl aus der fränkischen Hochadelsfamilie der Rupertiner, wird aber auch als iroschottischer Glaubensbote bezeichnet. Er war Bischof von Worms und profilierte sich dort vermutlich als Gegner der fränkischen Hausmaier. Herzog Theodo von Bayern, verheiratet mit Ruperts Verwandter Folchaid, berief ihn um 693 nach Bayern. Der Herzog unterstützte ihn dann bei seiner Missionsarbeit bzw. bei der Revitalisierung früherer Missionsversuche in der Gegend um Regensburg; dort hat er der Überlieferung nach Theodo getauft.
696 erhielt Rupert den Auftrag zur Mission in ganz Bayern. Rupert ging nach Lauriacum - das heutige Lorch an der Enns in Österreich - zur Mission bei den Awaren, scheiterte aber damit. Von Seekirchen am Wallersee aus verhandelte er mit Theodo und dessen Sohn und Mitregenten Theodbert, der auf dem Festungsberg der Stadt Juvavum - dem heutigen Salzburg - residierte. Die beiden schenkten Rupert die Salzquelle in (Bad) Reichenhall und die Stadt Juvavum, die eine durch die Völkerwanderung weithin verwüstete und verwaiste Ruinenstadt war. Rupert gründete hier nun das Kloster St. Peter, errichtete eine große Kirche an der Stelle des späteren Domes, bewirkte den Wiederaufbau der Stadt, förderte den Salzbergbau, wurde Abt im von ihm gegründeten Kloster St. Peter und erster Bischof der nun nach den Salzquellen Salzburg genannten Stadt.

Wandmalerei am Torbogen der Kirche St. Rupert in Gaden bei Waging in Bayern
In engem Zusammenwirken mit seinem Landesherrn Theodbert gründete Rupert 710 eine Klosterzelle im Pongau, aus der die Stadt Bischofshofen wuchs; sie war für ihn ein erster Stützpunkt für die geplante Slawenmission. Die Legende berichtet von einer gemeinsamen Schiffahrt des Bischofs mit seinem Herzog die Donau hinab, um an den Ufern entlang bis nach Ungarn das Christentum zu verbreiten. Dabei unterstützt wurde er demnach von Chunialdus und Gislarius. Die Mission in Noricum wurde unter Bischof Virgilius dann tatsächlich ein Erfolg.
Unterhalb der Burg des Herzogs in Salzburg gründete Rupert um 714 das Frauenkloster auf dem Nonnberg und setzte dort seine Nichte Erentrudis als Äbtissin ein; dies war das erste bayerische Herzogskloster, das eine wichtige Rolle bei der Versorgung der Töchter und Witwen des Herrscherhauses bekam.
Rupert kehrte zum Jahresende 715 an seinen Bischofssitz in Worms zurück. Zur Weihe des neuen Salzburger Domes durch Bischof Virgilius wurden die Reliquien 774 nach Salzburg überführt. Heute ruhen Reliquien im Dom und in der Abteikirche St. Peter, der 24. September ist der Tag der Überführung der Gebeine, der Herbstruperti gilt als Landesfeiertag in Salzburg. Ruperts Todestag, den das Martyrologium Romanum als Gedenktag aufführt, wird daneben als Rupert in den Fasten begangen. Bischof Virgilius veranlasste auch die erste über Rupert geschriebene Lebensgeschichte. Rupert wird auch als Apostel Bayerns besonders verehrt.

Barocke Figuren von Rupert (rechts) und seinem Nachfolger im Bischofsamt, Virgilius, in der Kirche St. Peter in Salzburg
Attribute: als Bischof, mit Salzfass
Patron der Bundesländer Salzburg und Kärnten, des Rupertiwinkels in Bayern, der Stadt Salzburg; des Salzbergbaus; der Salzarbeiter; der Hunde; der Diözese Salzburg, der Diözese Graz-Seckau, 2. Patron des Bistums Gurk-Klagenfurt
Bauernregel: Hält Ruprecht uns den Himmel rein / wird's auch so im Juni (andere Version: Juli) sein!
Stadlers Vollständiges Heiligenlexikon
Catholic Encyclopedia
www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienR/Rupert_von_Salz…

First Bishop of Salzburg, contemporary of Childebert III, king of the Franks (695-711), date of birth unknown; d. at Salzburg, Easter Sunday, 27 March, 718. According to an old tradition, he was a scion of the Frankish Merovingian family. The assumption of 660 as the year of his birth is merely legendary. According to the oldest short biographical notices in the "Mon. Germ. Script.", XI, 1-15, Rupert was noted for simplicity, prudence, and the fear of God; he was a lover of truth in his discourse, upright in opinion, cautious in counsel, energetic in action, far-seeing in his charity, and in all his conduct a glorious model of rectitude. While he was Bishop of Worms, the fame of his learning and piety drew many from far and wide. The report of the bishop's ability reached Duke Theodo II of Bavaria, who had placed himself at the head of the current ecclesiastical movement in Bavaria. Theodo sent Rupert messengers with the request that, he should come to Bavaria to revive, confirm, and propagate the spirit of Christianity there. Despite the work of early missionaries, Bavaria was only superficially Christian; its very Christianity was indeed to some extent Arian, while heathen customs and views were most closely interwoven with the external Christianity which it had retained. St. Rupert acceded to Theodo's request, after he had by messengers made himself familiar with the land and people of Bavaria. St. Rupert was received with great honour and ceremony by Theodo in the old residential town of Ratisbon (696). He entered immediately upon his apostolic labours, which extended from the territory of the Danube to the borders of Lower Pannonia, and upon his missionary journey came to Lorch. Thence he travelled to the lonely shores of the Wallersee, where he built a church in honour of Saint Peter, thereby laying the foundation of the present market-town of Seekirchen in the Newmarket district of Salzburg. From the Roman colony there Rupert obtained an account of the ancient Roman town of Juvavum, upon the site of which there still remained many more or less dilapidated buildings, overgrown with briars and brushwood.
Having personally verified the accuracy of this account concerning the place and position, Rupert requested Theodo, in the interests of his apostolic mission to the country, to give him the territory of Juvavum (which was still a place of considerable commerce) for the erection of a monastery and an episcopal see. The duke granted this petition, bequeathing the territory of Juvavum (the modern Salzburg), two square miles in area, to St. Rupert and his successors. At the foot of the precipice of the Monchberg, where once St. Maximus, a disciple of St. Severin, had suffered martyrdom with his companions (476), St. Rupert erected the first church in Salzburg, the Church of St. Peter, in honour of the Prince of the Apostles, as well as a monastery. Upon the lofty prominences (Nonnberg) to the southeast of the town, where the old Roman fortress once towered, he established a convent of nuns which, like the monastery of the Mönchberg, he placed under the protection and Rule of St. Benedict. To set his institutions upon a solid basis, Rupert repaired home, and returned with twelve companions besides his niece Ehrentraud (Erindruda), whom he made abbess over the Benedictine Convent of Nonnberg, while he with his twelve companions formed the first congregation of the famous Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter at Salzburg, which remains to the present day. St. Rupert thenceforth devoted himself entirely to the work of salvation and conversion which he had already begun, founding in connection therewith many churches and monasteries — e.g., Maxglan, near Salzburg, Maximilianszelle (now Bischofshofen in Pongau), Altotting, and others. After a life of extraordinarily successful activity, he died at Salzburg, aided by the prayers of his brethren in the order; his body reposed in the St. Peterskirche until 24 Sept., 774, when his disciple and successor, Abbot-Bishop St. Virgil, had a portion of his remains removed to the cathedral. On 24 Sept., 1628, these relics were interred by Archbishop Paris von Ladron (1619-54) under the high altar of the new cathedral. Since then the town and district of Salzburg solemnize the feast of St. Rupert, Apostle of Bavaria and Carlnthia, on 24 September.
In Christian art St. Rupert is portrayed with a vessel of salt in his hand, symbolizing the universal tradition according to which Rupert inaugurated salt-mining at Salzburg; this portrayal of St. Rupert is generally found upon the coins of the Duchy of Salzburg and Carinthia. St. Rupert is also represented baptizing Duke Theodo; this scene has no historical foundation. St. Rupert was the first Abbot-Bishop of Salzburg, for, as he established his foundations after the manner of the Irish monks, he combined in his own person the dignities of abbot and bishop. A similar combination of dignities existed also in Ratisbon and Freising. This twofold character of the bishop continued in Salzburg for nearly 300 years until the separation of the dignities was effected in 987 by Archbishop Friedrich I of Salzburg, Count of Chiemgau, the twenty-first Abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter. The period of St. Rupert's activity was until very lately a matter of great discussion. Formerly the opinion was held that the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries was the age of his missionary work, but, according to the most exhaustive and reliable investigations, the late seventh and early eighth centuries formed the period of his activity. This fact is established especially by the "Breves notitiae Salzburgenses", a catalogue of the donations made to the Church of Salzburg, with notices from the ninth century. In these latter Bishop St. Virgil, whose ministry is referred to 745-84, appears as a direct disciple of St. Rupert. It is forthwith evident that the assumption of the end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh centuries as the period of Rupert's activity is extremely doubtful, even apart from the fact that this view also involves the rejection of the catalogue of the bishops of Salzburg and of Easter Sunday as the day of Rupert's death. Many churches and places bearing Rupert's name, serve as surviving memorials of his missionary activity. A successor of St. Rupert, the present scholarly Abbot of St. Peters in Salzburg, Willibald Hauthaler, has written an interesting work upon this subject entitled "Die dem hl. Rupertus Apostel von Bayern geweihten Kirchen und Kapellen" (with map, Salzburg, 1885).
www.newadvent.org/cathen/13229a.htm