St. Ulric of Zell

Cluniac monk born in Regensburg, Germany, 1029,  and died in Zell, Germany, July 14, 1093. He was a godson of Emperor Henry III, Ulric was trained and educated in the Abbey of Sankt Emmeram, served in the court chapel of the emperor, and came to be archdeacon and provost in Freising. Ulric took part in the emperor's march on Rome (1046) and then made a pilgrimage to Palestine. On his return he disposed of all his possessions and, after a second visit to Rome, became a monk at Cluny in 1061. After short terms of office as prior in three different monasteries, Ulric became in 1078, prior of the new foundation in Grüningen near Freiburg im Breisgau. He moved this abbey, today known as Sankt Ulrich, to a more advantageous location at Zell (1087), and it is here that he was buried. His feast has been celebrated since 1139. Between 1079 and 1087, Ulric composed, at the suggestion of William of Hirsau, the Antiquiores consuetudines monasterii Cluniacensis (Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, 217 v., indexes 4 v. [Paris 1878–90] 149:635–778), which gives an important insight into the internal organization of the Abbey of Cluny during this period, and treats the subject of the liturgy, the instruction of novices and the administration of the monastery..

Around 1300, the village of Zell was renamed St. Ulrich in honour of the monastery founder. Ulrich's memory is commemorated at the annual three-day festival in St. Ulrich with a varied programme.

His feast was celebrated for the first time on 14 July 1139, and 14 July remains his feast day.