September 6 - Saint Magnus of Füssen
Quick Facts
- Priest.
- Benedictine.
- Spiritual student of Saint Columban and Saint Gall at Arbon.
- Superior of his house following the death of Saint Gall.
- At the request of the bishop of Augsberg, he evagelized Eptaticus in the eastern part of Algäu.
- By the River Lech in Bavaria, in a place still known as Sant Mangstritt (footstep of Saint Magnus) he founded the monastery of Füssen.
- Some extraordinary stories grew around Magnus, often involving animals.
- In Kempten he dispersed a plague of snakes.
- At Füssen, he was forced to expel a dragon from the land he needed for the monastery; in one version of the story, he spared an infant dragon who helped local farmers by hunting rats, mice and other crop-damaging vermin.
- While on a walk in the woods near the monastery, he encountered a bear who showed him a vein of iron ore; he gave the bear some cake.
- The bear followed Magnus back to the abbey where the saint rounded up some tools and monks; the bear then led them all to several other iron ore sources in the nearby mountains, thus helping found the area's most lucrative industry.
