Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/90

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BURCHARD


64


BURCKMAIR


at Erlach in the neighbourhood of his ancestral castle. In spite of his attachment to Henry IV he died fully reconciled with the pope.

Trouillat, Monument* de I'histoire de Vancien rvechc de Bdle (Porrentruy, 18521; Bi.osch. Zicei bernische Bischofe in Berner Taschenbuch (Bern. 1SS1); Giesebrecht, Gesch. der deutschen Kaiserzeit (Leipzig, 1890), III; Fiala in Kirchenlez., II, 1514-19.

Francis J. Schaefer.

Burchard of Worms, Bishop of that see, b. of noble parents in Hesse, Germany, after the middle of the tenth century; d. 20 August, 1025. He received his education in Coblenz and other places, and ulti- mately entered the service of Archbishop Willigis of Mainz (975-1011), by whom he was ordained dea- con. He rose gradually in ecclesiastical rank and was finally appointed by Willigis first chamberlain, and primate or judge of the city. In these offices he showed so much discretion and impartiality, that his reputation reached Emperor Otto III. During a per- sonal interview with his imperial master (1000) he was appointed to the vacant Bishopric of Worms; a few days later he was advanced to the priesthood and the episcopal dignity by Willigis at Heiligenstadt. Thenceforth he laboured unceasingly for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his subjects. He rebuilt the walls of Worms and with the approval of Henry II tore down the stronghold of a certain Duke Otto, which served as a place of refuge to criminals and malefactors. Between 1023 and 1025 he promul- gated a celebrated body of laws, the "Leges et Statuta familise S. Petri Wormatiensis", with the purpose of insuring the impartial administration of justice. (Boos, in Urkundenbuch der Stadt Worms, I, 1SS6; Weiland, in Mon. Ger. Hist.: Leges, IV, 1.) Many monasteries and churches were erected by him. On the site of the aforesaid Otto's castle he built a monastery in honour of St. Paul; his sister Mathilda was placed in charge of a community of religious women, whose home was practically rebuilt; the cathedral of St. Peter at Worms was reconstructed and dedicated in 1016. He also devoted himself to the formation of ecclesiastical students in his cathe- dral school and to the instruction of ecclesiastics generally. To stimulate their zeal he would at times answer difficult questions submitted to him. The prevalent evils he tried to reform through visitations and synods.

For the sake of uniformity in all church matters he drew up a manual for the instruction and guidance of young ecclesiastics, this is his well-known "Col- lectarium canonum"or "Decretum"in twenty books, a compilation of ecclesiastical law and moral theology, drawn from previous similar collections, the peniten- tial books, the writings of the Fathers, the decrees of councils and popes, and the Sacred Scriptures. For more than a century, until the publication of the "Deeretum" of Gratian (c. 1150), this was a widely used practical guide of the clergy, often quoted as "Brocardus". The nineteenth book, known as "Cor- rector, seu medicus", was circulated frequently as a separate work and was esteemed as a practical con- fessor's guide. (Von Scherer, Kirchenrecht, I, 238.) The work was undertaken at the suggestion of Bru- nicho, the provost of the Worms Cathedral, and was executed with the help of Bishop Walter of Speyer and Abbot Olbert of Gembloux (ed. Foucher, Paris, 1549; Migne, P. L., CXL, Paris, 1853). Burchard en- joyed the special esteem of his imperial masters. With Otto III he was on the most intimate terms; Henry II and Conrad II made visits to him in 1009 and 1025 respectively. Personally Burchard was a saintly man. His biographer, probably an ecclesias- tic, praises his devotion to prayer, his mortification, his fairness and charity towards others.

Vita Burchardi Kpiscopi in Mon. <!t rm. 11 Lit.: Script., IV; also in P. L. (Paris. 18531. CXL; (lit,,-, n. Bur, hard 1 Bischof ni Worms (.lena, 18901; Hauck, Kirchengisch. Deutschlands (Leip- zig, 1890), III; Von Scherer in Kirchenlex., U; Hauck in


Herzog, Realencyc. (Leipzig. 1897), III; Gietl, Hist.Jahrb. (1895), XVI, 116-119; Wattf.nbach, Deutschl. Geschichts- quellen (6th ed., 1893), I, 392; Conrat, Gesch. d. Quellen des ram. Rechts im M. A., 1, 261.

Francis J. Schaefer.

Burchard of Wurzburg, Saint, first Bishop of Wurzburg, b. in England of Anglo-Saxon parents, date unknown; d. in Germany most probably in 7.54. After the death of his father and mother he left home to go as a missionary to Germany, being drawn to this life by the great reputation of his countryman, St. Boniface, to whom he offered himself as an as- sistant. As Boniface was at this time an archbishop it must have been after the year 732 that Burchard began missionary work on German soil. He soon showed himself a competent and zealous messenger of the Faith and was consecrated Bishop of the new See of Wurzburg by St. Boniface when the latter erected the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the mission territory of Thuringia. The date is probably 741, for on 22 October, 741 . Burchard and Witta of Biira- burg took part as bishops in the consecration of St. Willibald as Bishop of Eichstatt. In a letter to St. Boniface, 1 April, 743, Pope Zachary confirmed the founding of the new diocese. But a year before this (April, 742) Burchard had been a member of the first German synod. He now devoted himself to spreading and confirming Christianity in the new bishopric. In the spring of 74S he went to Rome to make a report on the condition of the Church in Franconia and to submit various questions for de- cision. Burchard was held in high esteem by Pepin the Short. When the latter, in 749, appointed an embassy to lay before Pope Zachary the question who should be King of the Franks, he placed Burchard and Abbot Fulrad of St. Denis at its head. After his return from Rome Burchard was not able to con- tinue his apostolic activity for any great space of time and died before St. Boniface. One of his suc- cessors, Hugo (984-990), had Burchard 's remains dug up and solemnly buried on 14 October. This day has remained the feast-day of the saint.

Vita S. Burchardi in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XV, 47-50 (unreliable account of ninth and tenth centuries); Vita S. Burchardi, in Acta SS., Oct., IV. 575 sqq. (account of twelfth century); Nurnberger, Aus der litterar. Hinterlassenschafi des hi. Bonifatius und des hi. Burchardus (Neisse, 1888); Ul- rica", Der hi. Burchardus, erster Bischof von Wurzburg (Wiirz- burg, 1877); Hauck, Kirchengesch. (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1898- 1900), I, II, passim.

J. P. KlRSCH.

Burckmair (or Burgkmair), Hans, a painter of the Swabian school, b. at Augsburg in 1473; d. in 1531. He was the son of Toman, or Thomas Burck- mair, and received his first lessons in art from his father, then went, it appears, to Schongauer in Al- sace, and afterwards to Italy. In company with the elder Holbein he painted, between the years 1501 and 1504, the seven great churches of Rome on panels in the monastery of St. Catherine at Augsburg. To Burckmair belong, among these, the basilica of St. Peter, the basilica of the Lateran, and the church of Santa Croee. The building itself is represented in the main compartment of each picture; above are, respectively, Christ's prayer in the Garden of Geth- semane, the Scourging, and the Crucifixion. Follow- ing the titles of t lie churches there are, in the first picture. St. Peter enthroned and accompanied by the Fourteen Holy Martyrs; in the second, the legend of St. John the Evangelist, and in the third, the mar- tyrdom of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. Several fine figures in the paintings show Italian influence. Not much later in date is the painting of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, the latter wearing a crown; most charming figures of angels anil three groups of saints are depicted on the win^s :is surrounding the central personages. The pictures just mentioned are in Augsburg. Among the Madonnas at Nuremburg, the Madonna with the bunch of grapes is especially