Saint Walburga

Feast Day: February 25

St. Walburga (or Walpurga) was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, and of Winna, sister of St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany. She had two brothers: St. Willibald and St. Winibald. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then eleven years old, to the abbess of Wimborne. In the claustral school and as a member of the community, she spent twenty-six years preparing for the great work she was to accomplish in Germany. The monastery was famous for holiness and austere discipline. There was a high standard at Wimborne, and she was trained in solid learning and accomplishments suitable to her rank. Thanks to this, she was later able to write St. Winibald’s Life and an account in Latin of St. Willibald’s travels in Palestine. She is thus looked upon by many as the first female author of England and Germany.

Scarcely a year after her arrival, Walburga received tidings of her father’s death at Lucca. During this period St. Boniface was laying the foundations of the Church in Germany. Boniface was the first missionary to call women to his aid. In 748, in response to his appeal, Abbess Tetta sent over to Germany St. Lioba and St. Walburga, with many other nuns. They sailed with fair weather, but a terrible storm arose. Hereupon Walburga prayed, kneeling on the deck, and at once the sea became calm. On landing, the sailors proclaimed the miracle they had witnessed, so that Walburga was everywhere received with joy and veneration. There is a tradition in the Church of Antwerp that, on her way to Germany, Walburga made some stay there; and in that city’s most ancient church, which now bears the title of St. Walburga, there is pointed out a grotto in which she was wont to pray. This same church, before adopting the Roman Office, was accustomed to celebrate the feast of St. Walburga four times a year.

At Mainz she was welcomed by her uncle, St. Boniface, and by her brother, St. Willibald. After living some time under the rule of St. Lioba at Bischofsheim, she was appointed abbess of Heidenheim and was thus placed near her favorite brother St. Winibald, who governed an abbey there. After his death, she ruled over the monks’ monastery as well as her own. Her virtue, sweetness, and prudence, added to the gifts of grace and nature with which she was endowed, as well as the many miracles she wrought, endeared her to all.

On September 23, 776, she assisted at the translation of her brother St. Winibald’s body by St. Willibald, when it was found that time had left no trace upon the sacred remains. Shortly after this, she fell ill, and having been assisted in her last moments by St. Willibald, she expired. St. Willibald laid her to rest beside St. Winibald, and many wonders were wrought at both tombs. St. Willibald survived till 786, and after his death devotion to St. Walburga gradually declined, and her tomb was neglected.

About 870, Otkar, then Bishop of Eichstadt, determined to restore the church and monastery of Heidenheim, which were falling to ruin. The workmen having desecrated St. Walburga’s grave, she one night appeared to the bishop, reproaching and threatening him. This led to the solemn translation of the remains to Eichstadt on September 21st of the same year. They were placed in the Church of Holy Cross, now called St. Walburga’s.

In 893, Bishop Erchanbold, Otkar’s successor, opened the shrine to take out a portion of the relics for Liubula, Abbess of Monheim, and it was then that the body was first discovered to be immersed in a precious oil or dew, which from that day to this (save during a period when Eichstadt was laid under interdict, and when blood was shed in the church by robbers who seriously wounded the bell-ringer) has continued to flow from the sacred remains, especially the breast. This fact has caused St. Walburga to be reckoned among the Elaephori, or oil-yielding saints. Portions of St. Walburga’s relics have been taken to Cologne, Antwerp, Furnes, and elsewhere, whilst her oil has been carried to all quarters of the globe.

The various translations of St. Walburga’s relics have led to a diversity of feasts in her honor. In the Roman Martyrology, she is commemorated on May 1st, her name being linked with St. Asaph’s, on which day her chief festival is celebrated in Belgium and Bavaria.

Patronage
Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen

Source: Casanova, G. (1912). St. Walburga. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Birthplace

Born
AD 710
Dumnonia, Wessex (Devon, England)

Death
AD February 25, 777 (or 779)
Heidenheim (Germany)

Canonized
870 (Pope Adrian II)

Shrine/Relics/Tomb
Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany