Saint Walburga

Painting by the
Master of Meßkirch,
c. 1535–40.

The 25th of February is the feast of Saint Walpurga (AD 710 – 25 February 777 or 779). She is also known as Walburga, Valderburg or Guibor. She is the patron saint of Eichstätt, Antwerp, sailors, mariners, and farmers, and against hydrophobia, famine, coughs, rabies, plague, and storms.

Saint Walpurga lived between 710 and 777. She born near Devonshire, England and was the daughter of Saint Richard the Pilgrim (a Saxon king) and the sister of Saints Willibald and Winebald. She was sent to a convent famed for its holiness when she was eleven, while her father and brothers went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She became a nun and lived there for twenty-six years. Saint Boniface was her uncle and he brought her to what is now Germany to assist him in evangelising the country and to establish the Church in the area. Her brothers also worked in the area as an abbot and the other a bishop. She became the first female author of England and Germany, documenting the travels of her brother and the work she did. She was a miracle worker and healer, both alive and after her death. Her relics exude oil which has healing properties.