LUDGERO, saint. - B. c. 744, probably at Zuylen on the Vecht in Frisia; d. 26 March 809 at Billerbeck in Westphalia; disciple of St. Gregorio of Utrecht and of Alcuino of York.
Having gone on mission to Frisia, especially to Deventer, he continued the apostolate of St. Lebuin. Ordained priest in 777, he worked for seven years at Dokkum. In 784, expelled by the Saxons, he went to Rome and Montecassino, where he took the monastic habit without pronouncing vows. Having returned to his homeland, Carlomagno entrusted to him the evangelization of five districts in north-eastern Frisia, assigning him as a base the abbey of Lotusa (= Zele, near Termonde). In 794 he was entrusted with the newly established bishopric of Mimigardefort (later Münster), but was consecrated only on 30 March 804. He erected many churches, including Münster cathedral, the convent of Nottuln, and the Benedictine abbeys of Helmstedt and Werden, where he was later buried. He organized his diocese into forty parishes, which he visited every year. For the education of the clergy he founded the Cathedral school. He was soon venerated as a saint; his feast, in the diocese of Münster, is 26 March.