May 4
Gotthard (960–1039)
Benedictine abbot
Practical advice
In the midst of your ordinary work, attend first to those who need your time most, putting the result in God's hands.
Biography
This Bavarian saint was a Benedictine monk in Nieder Altaich, Germany, near the place where he was born. He was elected abbot of this monastery in which he restored all the original purity to the rule of Saint Benedict, somewhat relaxed in many communities, which is why he was later entrusted with the reform of other monasteries. He ended up succeeding Saint Bernard of Hildesheim in his diocese, already very far from his native Bavaria. He has many devotees in Austria and Prussia, and is invoked against gout and rheumatism, but he has gone down in history above all as a great bishop, builder of churches and poorhouses.