Saint Walpurga
Encyclopedia
Saint Walpurga or Walburga , also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an English missionary
to the Frankish Empire
. She was canonized on 1 May ca. 870 by Pope Adrian II
. The "witches' sabbath" Walpurgis Night
occurs on the eve of her day, which coincides with May Day
.
and Franconia
) to assist Saint Boniface
, her mother's brother, in evangelizing among the still-pagan Germans. She had been well prepared for the call. She was educated by the nuns of Winborne Abbey, Dorset
, where she spent twenty-six years as a member of the community. Thanks to her rigorous training, she was later able to write St. Winibald's vita
and an account in Latin of St. Willibald's travels in Palestine, so that she is often credited with being the first female author of both England and Germany.
She became a nun and lived in the double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm near Eichstätt
, which was founded by her brother, Willibald
, who appointed her his successor; after his death in 751, she became abbess
. Walpurga died on 25 February 777 or 779 and was buried at Heidenheim; that day still carries her name in the Catholic
calendar. In the 870s, her remains were transferred to Eichstätt
, and in some places, e.g. Finland, Sweden, and Bavaria, her feast day commemorates the translation of her relics on 1 May.
, so that Walpurgis Night
is the eve of May Day
, celebrated in continental folklore with dancing.
At Eichstätt, her bones were placed in a rocky niche, which began to exude, it was said, a miraculously therapeutic oil, which drew pilgrims to her shrine.
The two earliest miracle narratives of Walpurga are the Miracula S. Walburgae Manheimensis by Wolfhard von Herrieden
, datable 895/96, and the late tenth-century Vita secunda linked with the name of Aselbod, bishop of Utrecht. In the fourteenth-century, Vita S. Walburgae of Phillipp von Rathsamhaüsen, bishop of Eichstätt (1306–22) the miracle of the tempest-tossed boat is introduced, which Peter Paul Rubens painted in 1610 for the altarpiece for the church of S. Walpurgis, Antwerp.
The earliest representation of Walpurga, in the early 11th-century Hitda Codex, executed in Cologne, depicts her holding stylized stalks of grain. In other images the object has been called a palm branch
, which is not possible, as Walpurga was not martyr
ed. The grain attribute has been interpreted as an instance where a Christian saint (Walpurga) came to be a stand-in for the older pagan concept of the Grain Mother; peasants fashioned her image in a corn dolly
at harvest time and told folk tales to explain Saint Walpurga's presence in the grain sheaf.
She is the patron saint of those affected by rabies.
Walpurga is the patroness of Eichstätt
, Antwerp, Oudenaarde
, Veurne, Groningen, Zutphen and other towns in the Low Countries
.
The Church of St. Walburge, Preston, a Roman Catholic church in Preston, Lancashire
, England
, is a particularly tall and beautiful church dedicated to her.
Her supposed father, Saint Richard the Pilgrim
, the English king of Wessex, was also the supposed father of Saints Winibald and Willibald; he is buried in the Basilica of San Frediano, Lucca, where he died on pilgrimage in 722. Richard was also called the Pilgrim, the Saxon, of Droitwich.
Anglo-Saxon mission
Anglo-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...
to the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
. She was canonized on 1 May ca. 870 by Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II , , pope from December 14, 867 to December 14, 872, was a member of a noble Roman family, and became pope in 867, at an advanced age....
. The "witches' sabbath" Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night is a traditional spring festival on 30 April or 1 May in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. It is often celebrated with dancing and with bonfires. It is exactly six months from All Hallows' Eve.-Name:...
occurs on the eve of her day, which coincides with May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
.
Life
Together with her brothers, Saint Willibald and Saint Winibald, she travelled to Francia (now WürttembergWürttemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
and Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
) to assist Saint 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...
, her mother's brother, in evangelizing among the still-pagan Germans. She had been well prepared for the call. She was educated by the nuns of Winborne Abbey, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, where she spent twenty-six years as a member of the community. Thanks to her rigorous training, she was later able to write St. Winibald's vita
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and an account in Latin of St. Willibald's travels in Palestine, so that she is often credited with being the first female author of both England and Germany.
She became a nun and lived in the double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm near Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
, which was founded by her brother, Willibald
Willibald
Saint Willibald was an 8th century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon of Saint Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun from Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm who knew Willibald and his brother personally...
, who appointed her his successor; after his death in 751, she became abbess
Abbess
An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
. Walpurga died on 25 February 777 or 779 and was buried at Heidenheim; that day still carries her name in the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
calendar. In the 870s, her remains were transferred to Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
, and in some places, e.g. Finland, Sweden, and Bavaria, her feast day commemorates the translation of her relics on 1 May.
Veneration
Walpurga's feast day is on 25 February, but the day of her canonization, 1 May (possibly in AD 870), was also celebrated during the high medieval period, especially in the 11th century under Anno II, Archbishop of CologneAnno II, Archbishop of Cologne
Saint Anno II was Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 to 1075.He was born around 1010, belonging to the Swabian family of the von Steusslingen, and was educated at Bamberg. He became confessor to the Emperor Henry III, who appointed him archbishop of Cologne in 1056...
, so that Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night is a traditional spring festival on 30 April or 1 May in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. It is often celebrated with dancing and with bonfires. It is exactly six months from All Hallows' Eve.-Name:...
is the eve of May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
, celebrated in continental folklore with dancing.
At Eichstätt, her bones were placed in a rocky niche, which began to exude, it was said, a miraculously therapeutic oil, which drew pilgrims to her shrine.
The two earliest miracle narratives of Walpurga are the Miracula S. Walburgae Manheimensis by Wolfhard von Herrieden
Herrieden
Herrieden is a town in the district of Ansbach and situated in the Middle Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It lies along the upper Altmühl river, about 9 km southwest of the city of Ansbach, 47 km southwest of the city of Nürnberg, 95 km east of Heilbronn and 144 km northwest of Munich...
, datable 895/96, and the late tenth-century Vita secunda linked with the name of Aselbod, bishop of Utrecht. In the fourteenth-century, Vita S. Walburgae of Phillipp von Rathsamhaüsen, bishop of Eichstätt (1306–22) the miracle of the tempest-tossed boat is introduced, which Peter Paul Rubens painted in 1610 for the altarpiece for the church of S. Walpurgis, Antwerp.
The earliest representation of Walpurga, in the early 11th-century Hitda Codex, executed in Cologne, depicts her holding stylized stalks of grain. In other images the object has been called a palm branch
Palm branch (symbol)
A palm branch , usually refers to the leaves of the Arecaceae ....
, which is not possible, as Walpurga was not martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed. The grain attribute has been interpreted as an instance where a Christian saint (Walpurga) came to be a stand-in for the older pagan concept of the Grain Mother; peasants fashioned her image in a corn dolly
Corn dolly
Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanization.Before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless...
at harvest time and told folk tales to explain Saint Walpurga's presence in the grain sheaf.
She is the patron saint of those affected by rabies.
Walpurga is the patroness of Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
, Antwerp, Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heurne, Leupegem, Mater, Melden, Mullem, Nederename, Welden, Volkegem and a part of Ooike.From the 15th to the 18th...
, Veurne, Groningen, Zutphen and other towns in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
.
The Church of St. Walburge, Preston, a Roman Catholic church in Preston, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, is a particularly tall and beautiful church dedicated to her.
Her supposed father, Saint Richard the Pilgrim
Richard the Pilgrim
Saint Richard the Pilgrim is a saint of the Christian Church. He was born in Wessex, England...
, the English king of Wessex, was also the supposed father of Saints Winibald and Willibald; he is buried in the Basilica of San Frediano, Lucca, where he died on pilgrimage in 722. Richard was also called the Pilgrim, the Saxon, of Droitwich.