St. Corbinian (670-730)

Saint Corbinian was a missionary bishop who evangelized Bavaria.

He grew up in Chartres and became a hermit. While on pilgrimage to Rome, Pope Gregory II asked him to use his talents to evangelize the people of Bavaria. Corbinian agreed and set up a Benedictine monastery in Freising. He was exiled for several years after confronting a nobleman over his incestuous marriage, but later returned to Freising and died there in 730.

Corbinian is best known for the story of the bear. When he was traveling to Rome, a bear attacked and killed his pack horse. Corbinian ordered the bear to take the place of the horse and carry Corbinian’s supplies to Rome. The bear became docile and submitted. 

A bear carrying a pack has remained a traditional symbol of today’s Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, which was led by Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger in 1977-82. The future Pope Benedict XVI made the bear a part of his coat of arms, explaining, “The bear with the pack, which replaced the horse or, more probably, St. Corbinian’s mule, becoming, against his will, his pack animal, was that not, and is it not an image of what I should be, and of what I am?”