WILLIBALD (Willibaldus), Saint. - Benedictine, bishop of Eichstätt, b. 22 Oct. 700 into a noble Anglo-Saxon family, d. there 7 July c. 787.

Having entered the abbey of Waltham (Hampshire) at the age of 5 to be educated there, in 720 he made a pilgrimage with his father and his brother Wunibald to Rome, and from Rome, in 724, with two companions, to the Holy Land, arriving in Jerusalem on 11 Nov. 725. On the return journey he stopped at Montecassino, where he lived as a monk for 10 years (730-40); then in 740 he was again in Rome, whence he was sent by Gregory III to Germany to cooperate in the conversion of the Germans with St. Boniface, who ordained him priest on 22 July 740 at Eichstätt, and bishop on 20 Oct. 741, at Sulzenbrucken, entrusting him with the government of the newly created diocese, with its seat at Eichstätt. There V. labored with all zeal, built a monastery and the Cathedral, and made the city a center of influence especially for the Bavarian part of his diocese. In 751-52 he founded a double monastery at Heidenheim, placing his brother Wunibald as abbot over the male house, and his sister Walburga as abbess over the female house. He also took part in the German Council of 742, in the Synod of Laptina of 743, and subscribed to Pepin's donation to Fulda in 753. His feast in the Roman Martyrology is on 7 July.

Bibliography9 works

BIBL.: by V. there is an account of the journey to Palestine, the Hodoeporicon or Itinerarium, in a double redaction: one in an anonymous Vita s. Willibaldi of the 11th century, which is rather an extract of the Itinerarium (Acta SS. Julii, II, Paris 1867, pp. 512-17; T. Tobler, Descriptions Terrae Sanctae, Leipzig 1874, pp. 56-76; T. Tobler-A. Molinier, Itinera Hierosolimit. latina, I, Geneva 1877, pp. 283-97); the other in the Vita s. Willibaldi, written by a nun of Heidenheim, Hugebure (cf. on her Studien u. Mitteil. Ord. S. Benedicti, 49 [1931], pp. 387 ff.) and known under the proper name of Hodoeporicon or Itinerarium (in Acta SS. Julii, II, ed. cit., pp. 500-12; T. Tobler, op. cit., pp. 1-55 and notes, pp. 282-347; T. Tobler-A. Molinier, op. cit., pp. 241-81; J. Brückl, Hodoeporicon s. Willibaldi, Eichstätt 1882). For this and other lives, cf. A. Potthart, Bibl. hist. Medii Aevi, II, 2nd ed., Berlin 1890, pp. 1637-38; BHL, pp. 1288-89. Furthermore: A. Hauck, Kirchengesch. Deutschland, I, 3rd-4th ed., Leipzig 1906, p. 534 ff.; P. Heidingefelder, Regesten der Bischöfe von Eichstätt, Eichstätt 1915, pp. 1-15.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec12_villibaldo_willibaldus_santo, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Villibaldo (Willibaldus), santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1432}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/villibaldo-willibaldus-santo} }

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Willibald (Willibaldus), Saint

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