Fridolin was born into a noble Irish family in the middle of the fifth century and from childhood absorbed a love for Christianity. This love was so strong and bright that upon reaching adolescence, the future saint desired to become a missionary and preacher in distant barbaric countries. His family was not against it, and after receiving sufficient religious education in his homeland, he went to the mainland.
Here he witnessed the baptism of the Frankish king Clovis I. The event made an indelible impression on Fridolin. The baptism took place in the famous Reims Cathedral, and the significance of the baptism of the first king of the Franks for Europe can only be compared with the significance of the baptism of St. Constantine for the fate of the Roman Empire and, subsequently, with the baptism of St. Prince Vladimir for Russia.
Fridolin became close first to the king's wife Clotilde, who had long been a devout Christian, and then to the king himself. Throughout his later life, Fridolin was on excellent terms with Clovis I and, in cases of need, resorted to the help of the royal family.
One day, St. Hilary of Gaul appeared to Fridolin in a dream vision and asked the preacher to go to Poitiers and find his relics buried under the ruins of a local temple destroyed by the Visigoth invasion.
Fridolin completed the path ordained by the Lord and, indeed, found the relics of the saint. Since then, he began to revere St. Hilary as his spiritual teacher and mentor. With the help of God and Clovis, the church of St. Hilary and the monastery attached to it were restored, and for these efforts, the Bishop of Poitiers appointed Fridolin abbot of the monastery.
But he did not have to serve God for long in the holy land of Poitiers. St. Hilary appeared again in a dream vision and pointed out that God had ordained Fridolin for another purpose, namely to become an apostle of Christianity to the tribes inhabiting the upper Rhine. After fervently praying before the holy relics of Hilary, Fridolin set off on a long and dangerous journey. First, he passed through the Moselle valley and built churches everywhere in honor and memory of St. Hilary, went out onto the Rhine and began to climb upstream. Upon reaching the foothills of the Alps, Fridolin was granted a third dream vision by the Lord, according to which he was to establish a monastery on an island in the middle of the river, from which many monks would come out to preach and convert the local pagan population of Alemans to Christ.
St. Fridolin quickly found the island he had seen in his dream and settled on it. The town of Bad Zackingen is now located on this site. But the population met him with hostility and began to frighten and drive him away, considering the saint to be a thief. Fridolin again turned to Clovis for help, who granted him the island's land for a monastery. But for a long time, the Alemans treated the man of God with wariness and distrust. I had to apply all my prayer and teaching experience to win the hearts of the residents to myself and God. It also helped that he taught the pagans how to plant fruit trees, and soon orchards bloomed on the upper Rhine.
But there is also a more detailed legend that tells how difficult it was for the saint to take his first steps on the island of Zackingen. It says that most of the land belonged to the wealthy brothers Urzo and Landolf. The brothers were completely different: Urzo was reputed to be decent, and Landolf was envious and treacherous. It so happened that it was Urzo who donated additional land to the monastery for new construction, a deed of gift and all the necessary documents were drawn up, but after a while Urzo went to the Lord, and his lands donated to the monastery were forcibly seized by Landolf.
St. Fridolin understood that only the judgment of God could resolve the offense, but first he turned to the earthly court. The judge, bought by Landolf, listened to him with contempt and ridicule and said that he should bring the deceased Urzo for testimony, only in this case the case would be considered. The injustice was happening in the territory of the modern Swiss village of Rankweil.
After that, St. Fridolin prayed to the Lord. He ascended the mountain, knelt down and began his prayer feat. Night came, but the saint continued to pray, even despite the pain in his knees, which rested on the stone. In the morning, a voice was heard shouting that Fridolin should go to Urzo's coffin and bring him to trial. This miracle was accompanied by the simultaneous growth of the stone and its softening, so that Fridolin's body began to enter the stone like oil. Only after the saint rose from his knees did the stone stop growing and solidified, leaving the saint's hand and footprints on its surface. And to this day, this stone is kept and deeply revered in Rankvale.
Grave grave of Urzo, and at his prayer, the deceased rose from the grave and went to court with Fridolin on his arm. The phenomenon was so terrifying that everything was resolved instantly. After that, the saint took Urzo back to the grave...
Saint Fridolin managed to make the monastery on the island of Zackingen double, which rarely happens at all. Both monks and nuns lived under its roof, separated from each other by a blank wall. With the preaching of Christianity, Fridolin reached Augsburg, founding several more churches and a monastery in Constance.
The monk departed to the Lord on March 6, 538, and his relics rest peacefully in the cathedral church of the city of Zackingen.
St. Fridolin is depicted with a staff and a book, thereby symbolizing his feat before the Lord as an educator and pilgrim.
On May 14, 2018, at a meeting of the Holy Synod, it was decided to include the name of St. Fridolin of Zeckingen in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.