WILGEFORTIS, Saint. - She is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 20 July as a virgin and martyr.
The Bollandists, who were the first to concern themselves with her, stated that they did not know the origin of the legend (Acta SS. Iulii, V, Paris 1868, p. 70); in 1940, however, their successors were more decisive and wrote that W. nunquam extitit (Martyr. Romanum, p. 289).
Her cult, propagated especially in the countries near the North Sea from the end of the 14th century, is a typical example of how hagiographic legends were formed in the Middle Ages. The great veneration that the people of Lucca had for their miraculous Crucifix, the so-called "Volto santo", meant that wherever they found themselves in Europe, a confraternity of the Volto santo of Lucca arose there. Thus, for example, in Paris in the 15th century a place is indicated as "par le Vou de Lucques de la rue aux Lombars".
The northern peoples, who no longer knew the representation of Christ with open eyes, with a beard and a long tunic, saw in that figure a woman. From this a new legend was born. The woman on the cross was a martyr; in order to preserve her virginity and not be forced to marry the son of a pagan king of Sicily, she asked the Lord to take away all her beauty; God heard her and made a black beard grow on her. The origin of this legend has been fully demonstrated by G. Schnürer. A proof of this is found in the fact that the figure of the musician condemned to death for having stolen a silver shoe of the Volto santo and miraculously saved by the same Crucifix is always found in all the images of W. From the Low Countries the cult of the new Saint spread throughout Europe under the most diverse names, such as Ontcommer, Kümmernis, Regenfiedis and Liberata (v.). In Germany she became a holy martyr, by analogy with the Dutch virgin St. Ontcommer, that is, "she who frees from 'kommer'" (= worry). The title of the Crucifix of Lucca, moreover, that is "Adiutor", gave origin to the cult of a St. Helper, Hulpe, Hilfe, Gehülfe in Germany, and Helpert in the Low Countries.
From the folkloristic and iconographic point of view the veneration of W. is very important because it links Italy with almost all of Europe, from Spain to the countries of the North Sea and as far as those of the Baltic Sea.
Bibliography3 works
Maria P. van Buijtenen