Feast of St. Walburga, February 25

St. Walburga – Benedictine Nun & Missionary 710 – 779A.D.

St. Walburga was born in 710 A.D, the daughter of Richard, an under-king of the West Saxons of Britain.  She went to school at Wimborne Monastery, Dorset, England, and later became a nun there.  At the request of her uncle, Saint Boniface, the “Apostle of Germany”’ the Wimborne Monastery sent St. Walburga and other nuns to form monasteries in Germany as examples of Catholic devotional life.

In Germany, St. Walburga spent four years in the monastery of Bischofsheim and later became abbess of the monastery of Heidenheim.  Under her direction the most important work of the monastery was praying the Diving Office, the prayer of the Church.  Additionally, children were educated in the spirit of Saint Benedict and the poor and sick were helped and comforted.

St. Walburga was a holy and able woman leader during the early Christian years of the Germanic peoples.  She is the patron saint of the diocese of Plymouth, England.  The feast of St. Walburga is celebrated on the date of her death, February 25th.

Beginning in 893A.D. a liquid to which many cures are attributed began to flow from St. Walburga’s tomb yearly between October 12th and February 25th.  The flow of liquid has stopped during times of disorder and upheaval.  In 1835 the oil suddenly started to flow in June when King Ludwig of Bavaria reopened the monastery of St. Walburga after it had been condemned to extinction by the 1806 civil secularization.

St. Walburga was a great Benedictine saint whose remarkable life reminds all of us how one person, carefully listening with the “ear of her heart” can continue to build the Kingdom throughout the centuries.