Adalar, St.
ADALAR, ST.
Priest and martyr, also known as Adalher; d. Dokkum, Netherlands, June 5, 754. He was a companion of St. boniface and shared the martyrdom of that great missionary in Frisia. Little more is known of him, but there is an unsubstantiated tradition that he was the first bishop of Erfurt, consecrated by Boniface himself in 741. The Acta sanctorum, however, lists him as only a priest in its account of Boniface's last days. Adalar's relics were taken to Erfurt c. 756, and he was honored by special veneration in that city during the Middle Ages. His relics, along with those of St. eoban, rediscovered during the construction of a new church in 1154, were translated, and are now in the Erfurt cathedral.
Feast (of translation): April 20.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum June 1:450. m. oppermann, Der hl. Adelarius, Erfurts erster und einziger Bischof (Paderborn 1897). a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige, 4 v. (Metten 1933–38) 2:78–80. a. bigelmair, "Die Gründung der mitteldeutschen Bistümer," in Sankt Bonifatius: Gedenkgabe z. 1200. Todestag (Fulda 1954) 247–287, esp. 279. u. turck, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:119.
[b. j. comaskey]