Willibrord
Encyclopedia
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Willibrord was a Northumbria
n missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians
" in the modern Netherlands
. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg.
His father, Wilgils or St Hilgis, an Angle
or, as Alcuin
styles him, a Saxon
, of Northumbria
, withdrew from the world and constructed for himself a little oratory dedicated to St Andrew
. The king
and nobles of the district endowed him with estates until he was at last able to build a church, over which Alcuin afterwards ruled.
A disciple of St Wilfrid
, he was sent to the Abbey of Ripon
almost as soon as he was weaned. Later he joined the Benedictine
s. He spent the years between the ages of 20 and 32 in the Abbey of Rathmelsigi
which was a center of European learning in the 7th century. During this time he studied under Saint Egbert, who sent him and twelve companions to Christianize the pagan North Germanic tribes of Frisia, at the request of Pepin, Christian king of the Franks and nominal suzerain
over that region. At the request of Pepin he traveled twice, finally being consecrated Bishop of the Frisians in the Church of St. Cecilia
. It was 21 November 695 and he was given the name of Clement. He was also given the pallium
by the pope. He returned to Frisia to preach and to build numerous churches, among them a monastery at Utrecht, where he established his cathedral and is counted the first Bishop of Utrecht. In 698 he established an abbey at a Roman villa
of Echternach, in Luxemburg near Trier
, which was presented to him by Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II
, king of the Franks.
Willibrord returned to Fontenelle.
Willibrord tried this while on a Carolingian
-sponsored mission into Frisia with the express purpose of trying to convert the pagan Frisians
living there in the hope that, once they had converted to Christianity
, the Franks could gain control of the important trade port Dorestad
, which they had up to that point been unable to do.
In 716 the pagan
Radbod, king of the Frisians
, retook possession of Frisia, burning churches and killing many missionaries.
After the death of Radbod in 719, Willibrord returned to resume his work, aided by Boniface, and under the protection of Charles Martel
. His frequent visits to the Abbey of Echternach
resulted in his being interred there after his passing, and he was quickly judged to be a saint
. In the Roman Catholic Church his feast
is celebrated on 7 November outside England, but on 29 November in England, by order of Pope Leo XIII
. In the Church of England
, he is celebrated on 7 November.
Numerous miracles and relics have been attributed to him, and in one particularly memorable moment, the transport of his relics was celebrated thus "the Five bishops in full pontificals assisted; engaged in the dance were 2 Swiss guards, 16 standard-bearers, 3045 singers, 136 priests, 426 musicians, 15,085 dancers, and 2032 players" (Studien u. Mittheilungen, 1906, p. 551).
A Life was written by Alcuin
and dedicated to the Abbot of Echternach. Alcuin probably made use of an older one written by a British monk, which is now lost. Bede
also makes mention of Willibrord. Nothing written by Willibrord can be found save a marginal note in the Calendar of Echternach giving some chronological data. A copy of the Gospels (Bibliothèque National, Paris, 9389) under the name of Willibrord is an Irish codex
no doubt brought by Willibrord from Ireland.
In 752/753 Boniface
wrote a letter to Pope Stephen II
, in which is said Willibrord destroyed the Frisian pagan santuaries and temples. In the Life written by Alcuin are two texts about Willibrord and pagan places of worship. In one he arrived with his companions in Walcheren
in the Netherlands where he smashed an idol of the ancient superstition. In the second text passage Willibord arrived on an island called Fositesland (possibly Heligoland
) where a pagan god named Fosite
was worshipped. Here he despoiled this god of its sanctity by using the god's sacred well for baptisms and the sacred cattle for food.
Willibrord was a Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
n missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
" in the modern Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg.
His father, Wilgils or St Hilgis, an Angle
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
or, as Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
styles him, a Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, withdrew from the world and constructed for himself a little oratory dedicated to St Andrew
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of a given name and surname common in many countries. Alternatives include André, Andrey, Andrei, Andrej, András, Andrés, Andreas, Andreu, Anders and Endrew. ‘Andrew’ is a common name in English-speaking countries. In the 1990s it was among the top ten most popular names...
. The king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
and nobles of the district endowed him with estates until he was at last able to build a church, over which Alcuin afterwards ruled.
A disciple of St Wilfrid
Wilfrid
Wilfrid was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon...
, he was sent to the Abbey of Ripon
Ripon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
almost as soon as he was weaned. Later he joined the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
s. He spent the years between the ages of 20 and 32 in the Abbey of Rathmelsigi
Abbey of Rathmelsigi
The Abbey of Rathmelsigi or of Rath Melsigi, "in the language of the Scots" according to Bede was a prominent abbey in the seventh-century kingdom of Connaught, in Ireland...
which was a center of European learning in the 7th century. During this time he studied under Saint Egbert, who sent him and twelve companions to Christianize the pagan North Germanic tribes of Frisia, at the request of Pepin, Christian king of the Franks and nominal suzerain
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
over that region. At the request of Pepin he traveled twice, finally being consecrated Bishop of the Frisians in the Church of St. Cecilia
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th century church in Rome, Italy, devoted to Saint Cecilia, in the Trastevere rione.-History:The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the Roman martyr Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus...
. It was 21 November 695 and he was given the name of Clement. He was also given the pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
by the pope. He returned to Frisia to preach and to build numerous churches, among them a monastery at Utrecht, where he established his cathedral and is counted the first Bishop of Utrecht. In 698 he established an abbey at a Roman villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
of Echternach, in Luxemburg near Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
, which was presented to him by Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II
Dagobert II
Dagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...
, king of the Franks.
Willibrord returned to Fontenelle.
Willibrord tried this while on a Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
-sponsored mission into Frisia with the express purpose of trying to convert the pagan Frisians
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
living there in the hope that, once they had converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, the Franks could gain control of the important trade port Dorestad
Dorestad
In the Early Middle Ages, Dorestad was the largest settlement of northwestern Europe. It was a large, flourishing trading place, three kilometers long, situated where the rivers Rhine and Lek diverge southeast of Utrecht in the Netherlands near the modern town of Wijk bij Duurstede...
, which they had up to that point been unable to do.
In 716 the pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
Radbod, king of the Frisians
Radbod, King of the Frisians
Radbod was the king of Frisia from c. 680 until his death. He is often considered the last independent ruler of Frisia before Frankish domination. He defeated Charles Martel at Cologne. Eventually, however, Charles prevailed and compelled the Frisians to submit...
, retook possession of Frisia, burning churches and killing many missionaries.
After the death of Radbod in 719, Willibrord returned to resume his work, aided by Boniface, and under the protection of Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
. His frequent visits to the Abbey of Echternach
Abbey of Echternach
The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The Abbey was founded by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg, in the seventh century...
resulted in his being interred there after his passing, and he was quickly judged to be a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
. In the Roman Catholic Church his feast
Religious festival
A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar...
is celebrated on 7 November outside England, but on 29 November in England, by order of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
. In the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, he is celebrated on 7 November.
Numerous miracles and relics have been attributed to him, and in one particularly memorable moment, the transport of his relics was celebrated thus "the Five bishops in full pontificals assisted; engaged in the dance were 2 Swiss guards, 16 standard-bearers, 3045 singers, 136 priests, 426 musicians, 15,085 dancers, and 2032 players" (Studien u. Mittheilungen, 1906, p. 551).
A Life was written by Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
and dedicated to the Abbot of Echternach. Alcuin probably made use of an older one written by a British monk, which is now lost. Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
also makes mention of Willibrord. Nothing written by Willibrord can be found save a marginal note in the Calendar of Echternach giving some chronological data. A copy of the Gospels (Bibliothèque National, Paris, 9389) under the name of Willibrord is an Irish codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
no doubt brought by Willibrord from Ireland.
In 752/753 Boniface
Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
wrote a letter to Pope Stephen II
Pope Stephen II
Pope Stephen II was Pope from 752 to 757, succeeding Pope Zachary following the death of Pope-elect Stephen. Stephen II marks the historical delineation between the Byzantine Papacy and the Frankish Papacy.-Allegiance to Constantinople:...
, in which is said Willibrord destroyed the Frisian pagan santuaries and temples. In the Life written by Alcuin are two texts about Willibrord and pagan places of worship. In one he arrived with his companions in Walcheren
Walcheren
thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...
in the Netherlands where he smashed an idol of the ancient superstition. In the second text passage Willibord arrived on an island called Fositesland (possibly Heligoland
Heligoland
Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea...
) where a pagan god named Fosite
Forseti
Forseti is an Æsir god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians...
was worshipped. Here he despoiled this god of its sanctity by using the god's sacred well for baptisms and the sacred cattle for food.
See also
- Dancing procession of EchternachDancing procession of EchternachThe dancing procession of Echternach is an annual Roman Catholic dancing procession held at Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach's is the last traditional dancing procession in Europe....
- Anglo-Saxon missionAnglo-Saxon missionAnglo-Saxon missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish missionaries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity across the Frankish Empire as well as in Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England itself...
External links
- A reconstructed portrait of Willibrord, based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.
- Biography of St. Willibrord
- The Dancing Procession of Echternach