Altman (2)

Altman bishop OF PASSAU, was born at Westphalia between 1010 and 1020. He studied at Paris, and for a number of years he stood at the bead of the cathedral school at Paderborn. Here he became known to Henry III, who appointed him provost of Aix-la-Chapelle and made him one of his chaplains. In 1064 he accompanied the empress Agnes to Palestine, and succeeded Eigilbert, who died in 1065, in the bishopric of Passau. He entered upon his office in very troublesome times. Being one of the strongest promoters of the system of Gregory VII in Germany, and zealous for the glory of his Church, he built monasteries everywhere, and introduced ecclesiastical discipline. When in 1074 he published the papal bull concerning celibacy, he would have been killed by the married priests, were it not for the help of some of his servants who rescued him. This resistance, however, gave him the more courage, and he proceeded with inexorable severity against the disobedient ones, whom he deprived of their offices, and even excommunicated the cathedral provost Engilbert, who was at the head of the opponents. With Gebhard of Salzburg he fought for the cause of the pope, and they were the only ones of the bishops of South Germany who did not appear at Worms on Jan. 24, 1076, where the deposition of the pope was the subject of deliberation. He published the excommunication of the emperor, and was present at Ulm in 1076 as papal legate. In 1077 he was deposed by the emperor and driven away from his see. He went to Saxony and afterwards to Rome, where he reported to Gregory concerning the atrocities perpetrated at Passau by the king's adherents, and returned his bishopric to the pope because he had received it from the hands of the laity. The pope, however, confirmed him in his dignity, and invested him with full power for the election of an antiking. In 1081 he again occupied his see, for Liupolt of Austria allowed him his protection while Henry had crossed the Alps. When Liupolt was beaten by the Bohemians in 1082 at Mailberg, Altman was again obliged to leave Passau, and went to Gottweig, where he died, Aug. 8,1091. See Vita Altmanni, Monumenta Germanice, 12, 226; Wiedeman, Altmann von Passau (Augsburg, 1851); Stulz, Leben des Bischofs Altmann (Vienna, 1853); Holzwarth, in Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchen-Lexikon, s.v. (B. P.)