Saint Gerfried

Saint Gerfried, also Gerfried (died September 12, 839, in Münster), was the second Bishop of Münster and the third abbot of the monasteries of Werden and Saint Ludger. Gerfried, whose name means "he who protects with the spear," was a nephew of Ludger. He came from the family of the Counts of Nottich. After the death of Ludger in 809, he was appointed Bishop of Münster as his successor. In 827, he assumed leadership of the Werden monastery following the death of his predecessor, Hildegrim I. Together with 36 other bishops, he participated in a reform council convened in Aachen in 836 by Emperor Louis the Pious. After his death on September 12, 839, his remains were buried in the crypt of the Werden monastery.