Attention, this is a terribly controversial subject, on which Alsace has been torn apart for a very long time. Today is Saint-Léon, and we commemorate the death of the only Alsatian pope today, April 19, 1054.
But where was he born, Bruno d’Eguisheim-Dabo of his real name, son of Count Hugues IV of Nordgau and Heilwige de Dabo, on this day of June 21, 1002. In the castle of Eguisheim? Or in that of Dabo, or in Walscheid, nearby? Big difference, in Eguisheim, it is an Alsatian pope, in Dabo, a pope from Lorraine.
The case is important. Because this man, Leo IX, was a great pope. First chaplain to Emperor Conrad II, his cousin, he became Bishop of Toul in 1026. During his episcopate, he developed a desire to reform the Church by refusing the Emperor’s interference in the spiritual domain.
It was he whom the Emperor appointed in 1048 to be the new Pope. His enthronement in 1049 marks a turning point in the history of Christianity. A remarkable traveler, he undertook visits to Germany, Lorraine, Alsace and southern Italy. He brought together many synods and councils to initiate the moral reform of the Church, the restoration of the power of the papacy by centralizing everything. Leo IX will be canonized shortly after his death in 1087 by Pope Victor III, his body rests in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Well, now the dilemma: Dabo or Eguisheim? Both places claim them, by the presence of churches, plaques and chapels. And no one agrees.
At the time of Bruno-Léon’s birth, Dabo was an Alsatian territory, since his mother, a Dabo, brought her county when she married Hugues IV of Nordgau. The Nordgau is roughly the current Bas-Rhin, minus Wissembourg and a few valleys. So, by marriage, Dabo is Alsatian, Léon IX is Alsatian, it doesn’t really matter where he was born.
Relief. Now comes the crux of the matter. In truth, it is impossible to say where this Alsatian pope was born, it is even surely false to say that he was born in one of these castles, which were only occupied during military operations, wars or sieges. The nobility of the time liked the comfort of their lowland castles, the princesses did not often give birth in a barracks, especially in view of the infant mortality of the time. We do not know and we will probably always ignore where Bruno d’Eguisheim-Dabo was born, but it is of no importance, because the aristocrats, just like the ordinary people of the time, had no homeland in the sense that we hear today. Moreover, when, like Leo IX, one is at the same time pope, cousin of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and of the king of France, one is well above these details. Even if the mystery of his birth remains whole, it does not prevent that he was a great man, and we can be proud that he is finally Alsatian.