1000th anniversary of death of St.Adalbert - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1997 - 100 Pfennig

On April 23, 1997, the 1,000th anniversary. Time the death of St. Adalbert. Adalbert came from a Bohemian-based noble family. He was born around 956 and christened Woitech (Vojtech). With about 15 years he came to the cathedral school Magdeburg, where he received a philosophical-theological training under the supervision of Archbishop Adalbert. The archbishop also gave him confirmation and gave him the name Adalbert. In 983 the young cleric became bishop of Prague; He was consecrated by Archbishop Willegis of Mainz, to whose ecclesiastical province Prague belonged. Resistance in the nobility and the population against his zeal for faith and his reform austerity induced Adalbert to leave Prague and go to Rome. Even after his return in 992, he failed to prevail in pagan customs and ways of life. On a missionary journey, he was killed by pagan Prussians on April 23, 997, after the celebration of the Holy Mass. Two years after his death Adalbert was canonized. In a politically troubled time, his particular concern was with the peoples of Europe, who were not or only superficially Christianized. With Emperor Otto III. he was bound by a close friendship; he had a formative influence on the Emperor and his missionary politics in the East. As a spiritual bridge-builder between East and West, he belongs to the great European saints and the creators of a common European cultural consciousness. (Text: Commissariat of German Bishops, Bonn)