Emmeran or Emmeram

Emmeran or Emmeram a bishop of Poitiers in the 7th century. He left his see for the purpose of missionary labors in Hungary, but is said to have stopped in Bavaria three years, at the request of duke Theodo, to purify the Christianity of that duchy, where it was sadly mixed with paganism. After this he continued his journey to Rome, and was waylaid and murdered by a son of the duke (September 22, 652), because the daughter of the latter, Uta, claimed to have been dishonored by Emmeran. After his death, a clergyman, Wulflaich by name, maintained the innocence of Emmeran, saying that the latter, shortly before his death, had told him that, in order to help Uta, he had allowed her to name him as seducer, though the real culprit was Sieghart, the son of a judge. This statement of Wulflaich is said to have induced Theodo to bury him with great honors, and to exile his son to Hungary. Emmeran was soon venerated as a saint, and became one of the patron saints of the city and diocese of Ratisbon. He is commemorated in the Church of Rome on the 22d of September. On pictures he is represented as a bishop with a ladder. The accounts of Emmeran are very confused and conflicting; the best one is given by Canisius, Lectiones Antique, 3:1. See Neander, Ch. Hist. 3:39; Herzog, Real-Encyclop. 3:779; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. 3:558.