He founded Salzburg on Roman ruins and paid for his mission with salt.
Bishop of Worms, he was called around 696 by Theodo, duke of Bavaria, who wanted his lands evangelised. Rupert went down the Danube from Regensburg to Lorch, baptised the duke and part of his court, then looked for a lasting base. He found it at Juvavum, a half-ruined Roman town on the Salzach, which was given to him. There he built the church of St Peter and the monastery of the same name, installed his sister Erentrude at the head of a house of women on the Nonnberg — both still exist — and had the neighbouring salt mines reopened, whose revenues funded the mission and gave the town its name: Salzburg, the salt fortress. He died around 718. He is patron of the city and of the province of Salzburg.
A bishop holding a small barrel of salt — a late attribute, but the one that stuck — with crozier and sometimes a model church.