Saint Wolfgang of Ratisbon (now Regensburg) was born around 934 in Swabia, Germany. The son of a wealthy family, he was tutored in the home before he studied at the Monastery of Reichenau and Wurtzburg. In 956 he elected to go to Trier with his friend, Henry, who was appointed archbishop there. Wolfgang served as a teacher in the cathedral school at Trier.

After his friend’s death, he became a Benedictine monk joining a monastery in Augsburg. There he led the school which flourished under his hand and was ordained in 968. In 972 he was sent to be a missionary to the pagan Magyar tribes (Hungarian clans). The Christmas of 972 he was appointed Bishop of Regensburg, near Munich, by Emperor Otto II, the post he would hold until his death.

The new Bishop continued to wear his Benedictine habit and held to the austerities of monastic life. He preached and worked at reform and took such care of the poor he was called “the Great Almoner.” The saint also tutored the future Holy Roman Emperor, St. Henry II.

Saint Wolfgang died in 994 while traveling Austria, in the town of Puppingen near Linz. He was canonized in 1052.