VILLIBORDO (UUILLIBRODUS), SANTO - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. XII, p. 908

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

**WILLIBRORD (Uuillibrodus),** Saint. - Benedictine, apostle of the Frisians and first bishop of Utrecht, born in Northumbria in 658 to an Anglo-Saxon family, died at Echternach on 7 November 739.

Offered as a child by his father, St. Virgilius, to the monastery of Ripon (York) as an oblate, he later took the monastic habit there. Around 678 he went to Ireland, to the monastery of Ratmelsigi, where he remained for 12 years and was ordained a priest. In 690 he was sent with 11 companions to evangelize the Frisians, warmly welcomed by Pippin of Herstal, who assigned them as their field of work the western Frisia, conquered the previous year (689) from the pagan Duke Radbod. Willibrord, wishing to obtain special approval for his mission from the Pope, made a first journey to Rome in 693, where Sergius I encouraged him and granted him the pallium for the future Catholic churches to be erected among the converted Frisians. He made a second journey in 695, during which, at Pippin’s request, he was consecrated bishop of the Frisians by Sergius I himself in the church of St. Cecilia on 22 November, the feast of the saint, in 695. The Pope gave him the name Clement, which, however, did not prevail over his family name. Willibrord chose Utrecht as the episcopal see of the future ecclesiastical province and erected a cathedral there dedicated to the Most Holy Saviour.

His apostolate met with great success and led him to extend his labours beyond the borders of the Frankish-dominated Frisia, into the Frisia ruled by Radbod, Denmark, Heligoland, and Thuringia. At the death of Pippin in 714, Radbod reconquered the lost territory, and Willibrord was forced to retire to the monastery of Echternach (diocese of Trier), which he had founded in 698 through the generosity of Pippin and Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II. After Radbod’s death in 719, Willibrord returned to his see and was assisted for three years by St. Boniface, who was on his way to evangelize the Germans. Willibrord was buried in the church of the abbey of Echternach. Even today, in his honour, a notable dancing procession is held on the Tuesday after Pentecost. Feast day: 7 November.

Bibl.: A first biography of Willibrord, according to Theofrid, abbot of Echternach (MGH, *Scriptores*, XXIII [1874], p. 11), would have been written in Irish by an unknown monk; but no trace of it remains (cf. C. Prümmer, *Bedae opera historica*, II, Oxford 1896, p. 287; in contrast, W. Levison and A. Poncelet). The earliest known biography is that by Alcuin, written in prose at the request of Beornred, abbot of Echternach, for public use in the church, and in verse for school use in the monastery (ed. by J. Jaffé, in *Bibl. rerum Germanicarum*, VI, 1873, p. 39; better ed. by W. Levison, in MGH, *Scriptores rerum merovingie*, VII [1920], pp. 80-141 [only the prose life]). Another biography, in prose and verse, composed with new details by Theofrid, abbot of Echternach (published with the prose life written by Alcuin, ed. by L. Weiland, in MGH, *Scriptores*, XXIII [1874], p. 13; following: the two by Alcuin and Theofrid, ed. by A. Poncelet, in *Acta SS. Novembris*, III, Brussels 1910, pp. 426-500). A partial and brief biography is also given by Bede, *Ecclesiastical History*, I, V, chaps. 10-11 (cf. Prümmer, *op. cit.*, I, Oxford 1896, pp. 298-303 and the explanatory notes, ibid., II, 1871, p. 896, pp. 287-294). For the *Calendarium* of St. Willibrord, which contains a note in his own hand on the date of his consecration (693), cf. H. A. Wilson, *Calendarium of St. Willibrord*, London 1918, and A. Reiners, *S. Willibrord*, in *Studien u. Mitteilungen Ord. S. Bened.*, 6 (1885), pp. 163-173. For the *testament* of Willibrord, cf. Van der Essen, *Etude crit. et litt. sur les Vies des saints mérovingiens de l’ancienne Belgique*, Louvain 1907, pp. 427-34; F. Flaskamp, *Die Anfänge des friesischen u. sächsischen Christentums*, Hildesheim 1920; G. H. Verbiest, *St. Willibrord apôtre des Pays-Bas et fondateur d’Echternach*, Bruges 1939; M. A. Erens, *Sint W. Apostel der Nederlanden*, Tongerloo 1939; N. Goetzinger, *Willibrordus. Echternacher. Festschr. zur XII. Jahrhundertfeier des Todes des hl. W.*, Luxembourg 1940. Celestino Testore.