As a son of the Swiss noble family of Seldenburen, Conrad, born near Zurich, devoted his inheritance to the founding of a Benedictine monastery at the head of the Swiss Alps' Nidwalden valley, as well as a convent for women religious. He is said to have experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in which she indicated to him the site for the monastery, known as Engelberg. The abbey was dedicated to "Mary of the Holy Angels," a title attributed to a tradition that a choir of angels was frequently heard singing at the site. Conrad thereafter entered the Engelberg monastery as a lay brother without ever becoming its abbot. He steadily progressed in the virtues, excelling particularly in humility and obedience. At the request of his abbot, Conrad journeyed to Zurich to resolve a dispute instigated by several individuals contesting a portion of his original donation to the monastery. These men ambushed the unsuspecting monk and murdered him. Conrad's body, interred in the Engelberg monastery, remained incorrupt for six centuries until a fire destroyed the abbey in 1729.
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