Salzburg, August 27, 2024 (KAP) With a festival week, Salzburg is commemorating the appointment of Saint Erentrudis (650-718) as mother of the city and state 400 years ago. The appointment of the first abbess of Nonnberg Abbey by the then Archbishop Paris Lodron took place on September 4, 1624. To this day, Erentrudis is also the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. To mark this anniversary, the Benedictine Abbey of Nonnberg, the State of Salzburg and the Archdiocese of Salzburg are inviting people to their own festival week with concerts and church services from September 1 to 8, the Archdiocese of Salzburg announced in a press release.
The celebrations begin with an event from the series “Engelsmusicen”, the Nonnberg evening music on September 1st (5 p.m.), presented by the women’s ensemble of the Nonnberg Abbey Vocalists. A panel discussion will take place on September 4th. On September 7th, a solemn profession by Sr. M. Benedicta Gruber will follow. Archbishop Franz Lackner will celebrate the service in the Nonnberg Abbey Church (2 p.m.).
The festival week will conclude on September 8th with a festival day with a procession with the relics of the saints to the cathedral (start: 9.30 a.m.) and a subsequent festival service in the Salzburg Cathedral. After the service, the relics will be brought back to Nonntal in a procession. There the day will end with an “Erentrudis Festival” with music, culinary delights, a children’s program and other activities. In addition to Archbishop Lackner and Auxiliary Bishop Hansjörg Hofer, Governor Wilfried Haslauer will also take part in the festival day.
“Her work and the miracles attributed to her were and are a role model in the Christian faith for many people in the state,” said Governor Haslauer, according to the state correspondence, in recognition of the saint’s work. “Erentrudis has a very special place in our history and we would like to focus on this on September 8th.”
Saint Erentrudis was a nurse, carer for the poor, adult educator and teacher. She came from a royal family. There is hardly any written evidence from the beginning of her work in Salzburg. Around 714, Nonnberg Abbey was founded, the first and oldest women’s monastery in the German-speaking world that still exists today. Erentrudis was appointed abbess. The date of her death is usually given as June 30, 718.
The veneration of Erentrudis has been documented since 788. Archbishop Paris Lodron appointed Erentrudis as the city and state mother of Salzburg on September 4, 1624. Archbishop Karl Berg finally made her the patron saint of the dioceses in 1986 (alongside Rupert and Virgil as well as John Nepomuk). Her remains are now kept in a bust reliquary and in a reliquary in the cloister area of the monastery. The name Erentrudis comes from Old High German and means “eagle-strong” or “eagle-like seer”. (Information about the festival week: https://eds.at/erentrudisfest)
