Picture: Joseph Magges, Augsburg · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Alto of Altomünster

Irish monk

SaintResearchedIrelandBenedictinesPre-congregation

Feast: 9 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born

701

Died

760

verified

Beatified

—

not needed: before formal processes

Canonised

By tradition

recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Alto, probably an Irishman, lived for a time as a hermit in Bavaria, clearing the wild forest around him.

With a grant of land from King Pepin he founded a Benedictine monastery on the spot, now Altomünster in the diocese of Freising; St Boniface is said to have dedicated its church about 750.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

An Irish hermit and missionary who founded a monastery in the Bavarian forest.

Sources

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Alto
Wikidata Q324729 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
English Wikipedia — Alto of Altomünster (CC BY-SA)

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.