Saint Willibald came to my attention the other day when I was teaching Religion to some 8th graders. His feast day coincided with someone’s birthday. Saint Willibald is absolutely fascinating, for someone I never heard of before. And, though he was not himself a writer, he gave (at least one and probably many) talk(s) about his pilgrimages all over Europe. A young nun transcribed these talks, and her manuscript was copied and shared, quite widely in its time. The manuscript can be found here and it’s easy to see where lots of information about him came from. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/willibald.asp

One of the stories she relates is that when Willibald was three he became very ill. His parents rushed him to a cross that was set up somewhere in the countryside, fell on their knees and prayed that his life would be spared. He got better and they sent him to live in a monastery when he was five, after explaining things to him. He was considered a lovely addition to the brothers.

New Advent** gives dates for his life, a brother, a sister, and a parent.
Saint Willibald (700 to 787) and Saint Winnibald (702 to 761) were sons of Saint Richard about whom very little is known. *** Saint Richard was some kind of a king, or tribal leader, in Wessex, in southern England. He had either one or two wives (Una and/or Wuna, and maybe she was a saint, or maybe not), but he definitely had three children, the two listed above and Saint Walburga, their sister. Also, Saint Boniface was related to one or the other of those two wives (if there were two) but the sources don’t agree on the exact form of the relationship, at all.

Willibald traveled to Rome from Wessex, then to the Holy Land, then to Constantinople, then back to Rome. At that point Pope Gregory III sent him to Germany to work with Saint Boniface, who promptly ordained him as a priest and then as a bishop a year later. Boniface sent Willibald to Eichstatt (in Bavaria.

Winnibald, the other brother, remained in a Roman monastery while Willibald was roaming the continent. Eventually he returned to England looking for more vocations to the monastery. Somehow, he was then promised to the German mission, and upon his arrival, he also was immediately ordained by Saint Boniface. Winnibald ended as abbot of the Benedictine monastery set up there in Eichstatt, and his sister, Saint Walburga, became the abbess, after she was brought over from England. I wrote about her earlier. ****

I’ve never thought much about missionary work from England. It’s more common in my circles to think of the Irish missionaries. On the other hand, Saint Boniface was a particular favorite of one of my pastors; somehow I never internalized that he came from England. I just knew he went to Germany.

Rabbit Hole: In the general tangle of these familial saints, next up is Saint Lioba. She was head of another monastery in Germany, under Boniface. She also received her education and training in England. The stories about her agree that she was related to Boniface, deriving this information from a letter she wrote to him claiming this kinship. She was a friend of Charlemagne’s wife, Hildegarde and a good influence on her and the court.

Charlemagne had four wives. Or possibly five. He married Hildegarde in 771, when she was either 13 or 17. She died in 783 and Lioba died in 782. Hildegarde was regarded, at least as saintly, in many Germanic lands. Missionary work in Germany was assisted both by Charles Martel, his sons, Pepin and Carloman, and his grandson, Charlemagne. Since various tribes practiced human sacrifice, I am in favor of teaching them not to do this.

Another Rabbit Hole: Essex also had Saint Ethelbert, king of some Saxons, married to Bertha, a Christian. He allowed her to practice her religion, and when Saint Augustine arrived in Kent Ethelbert greeted him kindly because of Bertha. Ultimately, Ethelbert was himself baptized in 597. He rebuilt churches in many ancient ruins from earlier Christian Briton.

**https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15644c.htm

***This is probably the best thing I found on Saint Richard ( https://celticsaints.org/2011/0207b.html ).

**** Two earlier posts that discuss Saint Walburga and stuff…
https://wordpress.com/post/catholicfictioncatholicscience.com/2451
https://wordpress.com/post/catholicfictioncatholicscience.com/2225