Saturday, October 13, 2007

Why St. Walburga

When I converted to Catholicism almost a decade ago, I took St. Walburga as my patron saint. We were living in Germany at the time. I had seen a triptych (Webster's 2 a: a picture (as an altarpiece) or carving in three panels side by side ) with a woman holding a bishop's crook in her hand. I was fascinated by who she could be.

1) She lived in the 8th century.
2) Born in England.
3) Became a nun then an abbess in Heidenheim in what is now Germany.
4) Abbots were equal to Bishops in the Church hierarcy and often depicted in paintings with bishop's crooks. St. Walburga became the Abbess of a dual (monks and nuns) upon the death of her brother, St. Wunibald, the Abbott.
5) She is also depicted with a book and a bottle of medicine. She was very learned and was the 8th century equivalent of a doctor of medicine.
6) She was known for gentleness, humility and charity.

I fell in love with her and took her as my patroness.

Prayer to St. Walburga
St. Walburga, by your blessed life of love,
God blessed you with the power to heal,
to make whole the soul as well as the body.
Beg for us what we cannot obtain for ourselves,
and heal our world of sickness and sorrow.
May God hear you, who lived so graciously for His glory,
and send us the healing grace we need,
through your powerful intercession.
Amen

I will be forming more of my blog and my thoughts as soon as time is available for me.
Construction will be complete soon, I hope.

2 comments:

Pilgrim said...

Hello! I'm so glad to be your very first comment!!
Very interesting about St. Walburga. I'd never heard of her. She reminds me of Hildegard of Bingen.

cathmom5 said...

Thanks pilgrim!
I plan to write more about St. Walburga. I chose her because she was a strong woman much like me. She submitted to God's plan for her life but was nobody's doormat.
:)