Willibrord (Willibrordus), Saint (VILLIBRORDO (UILLIBRORDUS), SANTO)

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

VILLIBRORDO (Uillibrordus), saint. — Benedictine, apostle of the Frisians and first bishop of Utrecht, born in Northumbria in 658 of an Anglo-Saxon family, died at Echternach on 7 November 739.

While still a child, he was offered by his father, St. Vilgile, to the monastery of Ripon (York) as an oblate; he subsequently took the monastic habit there. Around 678 he went to Ireland, to the monastery of Ratmelsgij, where he remained for 12 years and was ordained a priest. In 690 he was sent with 11 companions to evangelize the Frisians, and was gladly received by Pipin of Héristal, who assigned them as their field of work western Frisia, conquered the previous year (689) from the duke Ratbodo, a zealous pagan. V., wishing to obtain a special approval from the Pope for his mission, made a first journey to Rome in 693, where Sergius I encouraged him and gave him relics for the future Catholic churches to be erected among the converted Frisians. He made a second journey in 695 and there, at Pipin’s request, received episcopal consecration as bishop of the Frisians from 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 supplant his family name. V. Utrecht, where he erected a Cathedral dedicated to the Most Holy Savior.

His apostolate met with excellent success and led him to extend his conquests beyond the borders of the part of Frisia dominated by the Franks, namely into the Frisia ruled by Ratbodo, Denmark, Heligoland, and Thuringia. Upon Pipin’s death in 714, Ratbodo reconquered the lost part of the territory, and V. had to withdraw to the monastery of Echternach (diocese of Trier), founded by him in 698 through the generosity of Pipin and of the abbess St. Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II. After Ratbodo’s death in 719, V. returned to his see and was assisted there for three years by St. Boniface, on his way to evangelize the Germans. V. was buried in the church of the abbey of Echternach. Even today, in his honor, a kind of “dancing procession” is held on Pentecost Tuesday. Feast: 7 November.

BIBL.: According to Theofrid, abbot of Echternach (MGH, Scriptores, XXIII [1874], p. 11), an early biography of V. is said to have been written in Irish by an unknown monk; but no trace of it has been found (cf. C. Prümmer, Bedae opera historica, II, Oxford 1896, p. 287; to the contrary, W. Levison and A. Poncelet). The earliest known biography is by Alcuin; it was written in prose, at the request of Beorred, abbot of Echternach, for public use in the church, and in verse for school use in the monastery schools (ed. by J. Jaffé, in Bibl. rerum Germanicarum, VI, 1873, p. 39 ff.; better ed. by W. Levison, in MGH, Scriptores rerum mensinigic., VII [1920], pp. 80–141 [only the prose life]). Another biography, in prose and verse and with new details, was composed by Theofrid, abbot of Echternach (published together with the prose life written by Alcuin, ed. by L. Weiland, in MGH, Scriptores, XXIII [1874], p. 13 ff.; the two works 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, Hist. ecclesiastica, I, V, chs. 10–11 (cf. Prümmer, op. cit., I, Oxford 1896, pp. 508–50), together with the explanatory notes, ibid., II (1896, pp. 287–94). On the “Calendarium” of St. V., in which there is a note in V.’s own hand concerning the date of his consecration (695), cf. H. A. Wilson, Calendar of s. Willibrord, London 1918, and A. Reiners, S. Willibrord, in Studien u. Mitteil. Ord. S. Baud., 6 (1885), pp. 163–73. On V.’s “testament,” cf. Van der Essen, Etude crit. et litt. sur les Vitae des saints mérovingiens de l'ancienne Belgique, Louvain 1907, pp. 427–34; F. Flaskam, Die Anfänge des friatischen u. rächsischen Christentums, Hildesheim 1929; G. H. Verbiest, St. Willibrord apôtre des Pays-Bas et fondateur d'Echternach, Bruges 1939; M. A. Erens, Sint W., Apostel der Nederlandern, Tongerloo 1939; N. Goetzinger, Willibrordus. Echternacher. Festschr. zur XII. Jahrhundertfeier des Todes des hl. W., Luxembourg 1940. Celestino Testore