Feast day: November 7

St. Willibrord

Bishop · 658–739

Patron of Luxembourg, the Netherlands

A Northumbrian monk who led the English mission to the pagan Frisians and Low Countries, became the first bishop of Utrecht, and is honored as the apostle of the Netherlands.

Willibrord was an English monk who became the apostle of the Frisians and the founder of the Church in the Low Countries. Born in Northumbria about 658, he was raised from boyhood in the monastery, studied under St. Wilfrid and then for years in the great monasteries of Ireland, and was ordained a priest, steeped in the learning and missionary zeal of the age.

About 690, with a small band of companions, he crossed the sea to Frisia — the marshy coastlands of the modern Netherlands — to preach to its still-pagan people. Backed by the Frankish ruler Pepin and commissioned by the pope, who consecrated him archbishop of the Frisians, he established his see at Utrecht, building churches and schools and slowly, against frequent setbacks, planting the faith.

His was patient, difficult work in a hostile land, sometimes undone by pagan reaction when his political protectors weakened, but he persevered for nearly half a century. He also founded, on land given him by a noblewoman, the great abbey of Echternach in Luxembourg, which became the centre of his mission and a renowned seat of learning and manuscript-making.

He died at Echternach in 739, full of years, and was venerated as a saint almost at once. Honoured as the apostle of the Netherlands and the patron of Luxembourg, his tomb at Echternach remains a place of pilgrimage, famous for the ancient dancing procession held there each year in his honour.

His feast is still kept in Luxembourg with a famous 'dancing procession' that hops its way to his tomb — a tradition centuries old.

Image: artist unknown (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/15645a.htm