10 July - We will talk about two saints with the same name of Ulrich. The first: Ulrich was born in Regensburg around 1029 into a well-to-do family, whose parents were named Bernhold and Bucca. Ulrich was educated at the school of St. Emmeran's Abbey in Regensburg with the future abbot of Hirsau Abbey, Wilhelm (1030-1091), with whom he remained friends for the rest of his life.

However, in 1043 he had to join the court of Henry III, who was his godfather, as a page. Ulrich became page of Queen Agnès, whose family protected the foundations of the Abbey of Cluny.

After his service at the Court, Ulrich was ordained deacon by his uncle, Bishop of Freising, and later became archdeacon at Freising Cathedral. He is deeply impressed by the Cluny Reformation and decides to go on a pilgrimage to Rome to see more clearly in his vocation. On his return, he distributed his goods to the poor and this time he went even further, as he made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He returned to Regensburg via Rome, gathered his disciples, then went to Cluny, where he took the habit in 1061 under the abbey of St. Hughes. Ulrich was ordained a priest. He becomes spiritual director of the community of Mareigny, near Autun, then prior; but he loses the sight in one eye and must return to Cluny.

Later, Ulrich became prior of a Cluniac community in Payerne, but he was chased out by the bishop, a supporter of Emperor Henry IV, during the Querelle des Investitures. He returns to Cluny as advisor to the abbot, then decides in connection with the community to reform another priory in Rüeggisberg, near Bern. He was then asked to inspect an estate given to the monks near Breisach, but preferred another place in Zell in the Black Forest. He set up his community there in 1087, then around 1090 he founded the Bollschweil priory for nuns a few kilometres away. He died in Zell, later renamed St. Ulrich in the Black Forest, where he had become blind for the last two years of his life

Ulrich of Augsburg

Ulrich was born in 890 near Zurich. His family, responsible for the county of Dillingen-Kyburg, was originally from Swabia. Of a slender and frail nature, he was, by exception of noble blood, accepted as a novice and sparrow to study at the monastery of St. Gallen. He lived in simplicity and poverty.

At the end of his studies at the age of 16, he hesitated between the priesthood and the monastic life. He was then sent, in 909, to his uncle Adalberon, the powerful bishop of Augsburg, to serve as a chamberlain and to deepen his studies. He stayed there until the death of the bishop on April 28, 910, and returned to his parents, where he remained until the death of Bishop Hiltine on November 28, 923.

Thanks to the influence of his uncle Burchard or Burckart II, Duke of Alsace and Swabia, Ulrich was then appointed Bishop of Augsburg by Henry I of Germania and ordained on 28 December 923. In this position, he improved the condition of the clergy and strengthened the observance of the laws of the Church. He had many churches built, in order to make religion more present to the people, and made many pastoral visits.

While the Magyars invade the territories of Bavaria and Swabia, Bishop Ulrich defends his city of Augsburg, and has important fortifications and a network of castles built to prevent enemy attacks. During these attacks, many churches were destroyed and Ulrich had them rebuilt. He avoids an armed conflict between Emperor Otto I and his son, and remains loyal to him at all times. Otto I grants him the privilege of minting coins. Ulrich took part in numerous synods, in Ingelheim in 948, Augsburg in 952, Rome in 972 and again in Ingelheim in 972.

After his death in 973, he is buried in the Church of St. Frei, which he himself had rebuilt in Augsburg for his predecessors. Numerous miracles were observed at his grave.