Almost True Stories: Corbinian and the Bear

“You there, servant, muzzle that bear and put this pack on it.”    I would not want to be Corbinian’s servant (more likely slave).

And, didn’t that bear have an amazing sense of direction to travel from Rome to Bavaria?

September 8:   St. Corbinian – Bishop of Bavaria (+725)

Corbinian's symbol is the saddled bear. According to his hagiography, a bear killed Corbinian's pack horse in the Alps when he was on the way to Rome, and so the saint commanded his servant to harness the bear and load it with the pack his horse (or more likely mule) had been carrying. Once he arrived in Rome, however, he let the bear go, and it lumbered back to its native forest.   Pope Saint Gregory II then instructed Corbinian to evangelize Bavaria.

Both the heraldic element and the legend itself carry significant symbolism. One interpretation is that the bear tamed by God's grace is the Bishop of Freising himself and the pack saddle is the burden of his episcopate.

The bear's submission and retreat can also be interpreted as Christianity's "taming" and "domestication" of the ferocity of paganism and, consequentially, the laying of a "[foundation] for a great civilization in the Duchy of Bavaria.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict’s papal coat depicts Corbinian’s bear (and don’t ask about the black-faced Moorish king also on the shield – not politically correct).