Feast day: April 15

St. Hunna

— · d. c. 679

Patron of Laundresses

A noblewoman of Alsace who, not content to give alms, personally washed and cared for the poor of her region, earning the affectionate name 'the Holy Washerwoman.'

Hunna was a noblewoman of seventh-century Alsace, the wife of a nobleman of the region near Strasbourg, who has come down in tradition with the affectionate title of 'the Holy Washerwoman.' For all her rank, she devoted herself to the bodily service of the poor of her district.

Her particular charity was a humble one: she personally washed the clothes of the poor, the sick, and the infirm who could not care for themselves, taking on with her own hands a task her station would never have required of her. It is from this that she became the patron of laundresses and washerwomen.

She was a friend and disciple of St. Deodatus, the bishop who evangelized the Vosges, who is said to have baptized her son — himself later venerated as a saint. Her life was one of quiet, practical devotion rather than dramatic deeds.

She died about 679. Long honoured locally in Alsace, her cult was formally confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1877. She remains a gentle reminder that holiness can be found in the lowliest of services.

She is the patron saint of laundresses because, though a lady of rank, she insisted on washing the clothes of the sick and poor with her own hands.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/14313c.htm