VILBURGA (Wildburgis), blessed. — A virgin recluse at St. Florian (Upper Austria), born of a pious and well-to-do family at the beginning of the thirteenth century near St. Florian, died on 11 Dec. 1289.
When her father died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, her mother entrusted her to the care of the widow Alaide. While still young, she made a vow of perpetual virginity and, with her companion Matilde, went on pilgrimage to St. James of Compostela. On her return, in 1248, after her mother’s death, she shut herself in a narrow cell near the church of St. Florian, where for forty-one years she led an angelic life. Invited to Prague by blessed Agnese, aunt of Ottocaro, king of Bohemia, she refused to leave her reclusory; nor did she yield to the insistent requests of Caterina, niece of blessed Gregorio X, to come and found a monastery in Italy. She corresponded with the well-known Cistercian of Heiligenkreuz, Gustolf. In the church of St. Florian, where her relics are entombed, she is commemorated on the feast day of St. Damaso, 11 Dec.