RUPERT (Hrodbert), ST, according to the Gesta Sancti Hrodberti, which dates from the 9th century, was a kinsman of the Merovingian house, and bishop of Worms under Childebert III. (695-711). At the invitation of the duke of Bavaria, Theodo II., Rupert went to Regensburg (Ratisbon), where he began his apostolate. He founded the church of St Peter near the Wallersee, and subsequently, at Salzburg, the church of St Peter, together with a monastery and a dwelling for the clerks, as well as a convent for women “in superiori castro luvavensium.” He died and was buried at Salzburg. He is regarded as the apostle of the Bavarians, not that the land was up to that time altogether heathen, but because of his services in the promotion and consolidation of its Christianity.
See Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina, (Brussels, 1899), n. 7390-7403; W. Levison, “Die älteste Lebensbeschreibung Ruperts von Salzburg” in Neues Archiv fur aeltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, xxviii. 283 seq.; Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (3rd ed.), i. 372 seq.
- (H. De.)