Saint Fridolin, otherwise Fridolin of Säckingen is a legendary Irish missionary, apostle of the Alamanni and founder of Säckingen Abbey on the Upper Rhine. He is also the patron saint of the Swisscanton of Glarus. His oldest Vita is dated to the 10th or 11th century. Later tradition places the beginning of his mission during the reign of Clovis I, and his death during the reign of Theudebert I. The date of his death is traditionally given as 6 March in either 538 or 540. Modern historiography has tended to place the founder of Säckingen Abbey in the 7th rather than 6th century, tentatively assuming the existence of a historical Saint Fridolin under Clovis II rather than Clovis I.
Legend
According to the Vita, Fridolin belonged to a noble family in Ireland, and at first was a missionary there. Afterwards crossing to France, he came to Poitiers, where in answer to a vision, he sought out the relics of Saint Hilarius, and built a church for them. Saint Hilarius subsequently appeared to him in a dream, and commanded him to proceed to an island in the Rhine, in the territories of the Alamanni. In obedience to this summons, Fridolin approached "emperor" Clovis, who granted him possession of the still unknown island, and thence proceeded through "Helion", Strasbourg and Coire, founding churches in every district in honour of Saint Hilarius. At last reaching the island of Säckingen in the Rhine, Fridolin recognized in it the island indicated in the dream, and prepared to build a church there. The inhabitants of the banks of the Rhine, however, who used the island as pasture for their cattle, mistook Fridolin for a cattle-robber and expelled him. On his production of Clovis's deed of gift, he was allowed to return, and to found a church and monastery on the island. He then resumed his missionary labours. He founded the "Scottish monastery" in Konstanz, and extended his mission to Augsburg. He died on 6 March, and was buried at Säckingen. Fridolin's connection to Glarus is based on a later legend, a 13th-century addition to Balther's Vita under the title de miraculis s. Fridolini. In this legend, he converted a landowner named Ursus. On his death Ursus left his lands in the Linth valley, to Fridolin, who founded numerous churches dedicated to Saint Hilarius. Ursus's brother Landolf refused to accept the legitimacy of the gift and brought Fridolin before a court at Rankweil to prove his title. Fridolin did so by summoning Ursus from the dead to confirm the gift in person, so terrifying Landolf that he gave his lands to Fridolin as well.
Fridolin's iconography is strongly influenced by the later Ursus legend, recorded in the 13th century, his attribute being the skeleton of Ursus. The veneration of Fridolin in Glarus can be traced to the valley having been owned by Säckingen Abbey, presumably since the 9th century.
