Pilgrim (2)
Pilgrim a German prelate of mediaeval times, flourished from 970 to 991. He was first engaged in missionary work among the Hungarians. He held different ecclesiastical positions, and at last was made bishop of Passau. In 974 he drew up for pope Benedict VI a remarkable report concerning the spread of Christianity in Hungary, but the paper was somewhat exaggerated and probably prepared by Pilgrim to further some particular interest of his own. The truth is that, like his predecessors, he was striving to assert his independence of the archbishopric of Salzburg; and he defended the dignity and rights of that ancient metropolis, the long since dilapidated city of Lorch (Laureacum), whose diocese stretched onward to Pannonia. "And so we may suppose," says Neander, "that in his efforts to convince the pope (from whom, in fact, he obtained the fulfillment of his wishes) how necessary the restoration of this metropolis was to Pannonia and to its subordinate bishoprics, he allowed himself to be betrayed into a somewhat exaggerated representation of this new sphere of labor in Hungary." See Neander, History of the Christian Church, 3, 331 sq.; Kurtz, Lehrbuch d. Kirchengesch. (7th ed.) 1, 294; Theolog. Univ. — Lex. s.v. (B. P.)
