return in 993. In 997 Pope Gregory V sent the decrees of a synod at Pavia to Willigis, "his vicar", for publication. He was on friendly terms with Rome, though the papacy stood at its nadir. These relations were somewhat disturbed by the dispute of Willigis with Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim about jurisdiction in the house of secular canonesses at Gandersheim Abbey. The immediate monastery established in 852 was originally situated at Brunshausen in the Diocese of Hildesheim, but was transferred to nearby Gandersheim within the territorial limits of the Archdiocese of Mainz. Both bishops claimed jurisdiction, until Pope Sylvester II finally declared in favour of Hildesheim, against Willigis' initial resistance. His protégé was the scholarly and just Burchard, who was appointed Bishop of Worms by Emperor Otto III in 1000. Upon the Emperor's early death, Archbishop Willigis on 7 June 1002 crowned the Duke of Bavaria Henry IV as King of the Romans at Mainz, after the assassination of his rival Margrave Eckard I of Meissen. Willigis presided at the 1007 synod at Frankfurt am Main, where thirty-five bishops signed the bull of Pope John XVIII for the erection of the Diocese of Bamberg. Though Willigis has never been canonized, Roman Catholics celebrate his feast on 23 February, the day of his death in 1011. It has also been alternatively given as 18 April. Builder In his diocese he laboured by building bridges, constructing roads, and fostering commerce. In Mainz he initiated the construction of the cathedral and consecrated it on 29 August 1009, dedicating it in honor of St. Martin of Tours, but on the same day, disastrously, it was destroyed by fire. Willigis immediately gave orders for reconstruction. Willigis greatly helped the restoration of the old collegiate church of St. Victor and built that of St. Stephan. He also built churches at Brunnen in Nassau and Seesbach. He showed great solicitude for the religious, and substantially aided the monasteries of St. Ferrutius at Bleidenstadt, of Disibodenberg, and of Jechaburg in Thuringia. Because the cathedral had not yet been rebuilt, he was buried in the Church of St Stephan. Works Officium et miracula Sancti Willigisi, ed. V. I. Guerrier (J. Deubner, 1869) See also Wheel of Mainz Notes External links Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Willigis 10th-century births 1011 deaths Archbishops of Mainz German Roman Catholic saints 10th-century archbishops 11th-century archbishops 11th-century Christian saints