From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
May 2nd - Saint Wiborada of Gall
(Also known as Guiborat, Viborada, Weibrath)
KLINGNAU, in the Swiss canton of Aargau, was the birthplace of St.
Wiborada, who is called in French Guiborat and in German Weibrath. Her
parents belonged to the Swabian nobility, and she led a retired life
in the house of her father and mother. After one of her brothers,
Hatto by name, had decided to be a priest she made his clothes and
also worked for the monastery of St. Gall, where he pursued his
studies. Many of the books in the abbey library were covered by her.
Upon the death of her parents, Wiborada joined this brother, who had
been made provost of the church of St. Magnus, and he taught her Latin
so that she could join him in saying the offices. Their house became a
kind of hospital to which Hatto would bring patients for Wiborada to
tend. After the brother and sister had made a pilgrimage to Rome,
Hatto resolved to take the habit at St. Gall, largely through
Wiborada's influence. She, on the other hand, remained for some yea=
rs
longer in the world, though not of it. It may have been at this
period--but more probably, as certain writers have argued, after she
became a recluse--that she came into touch with St. Ulric, who had
been sent, as a delicate little lad of 7, to the monastic school of
St. Gall. We read that she prophesied his future elevation to the
episcopate, and in after years he regarded her as his spiritual
mother.
According to some of the saint's biographers--but not the
earliest--she suffered so severely from calumnies against her
character that she underwent trial by ordeal at Constance to clear
herself of the charges. Whether the story be true or false, she
decided to withdraw into solitude that she might serve God without
distraction. At first she took up her abode in an anchorhold on a
mountain not far from St. Gall, but in 915 she occupied a cell beside
the church of St. Magnus; there she remained for the rest of her life, practising extraordinary mortifications. Many visitors came to see
her, attracted by the fame of her miracles and prophecies. Other
recluses settled near her, but only one of them was admitted to any
sort of companionship.
This was a woman called Rachildis, a niece of St. Notker Balbulus. She
was brought to St. Wiborada suffering from a disease which the doctors
had pronounced incurable. Having apparently been cured by the
ministrations of the recluse, she could never be induced to leave her benefactress. But after the death of the latter the malady returned
with so many complications that she seemed a second Job, owing to the multiplicity of her diseases and the patience with which she bore
them.
St. Wiborada foretold her own death at the hands of the invading
Hungarians, adding that Rachildis would be left unmolested. Her
warnings enabled the clergy of St. Magnus and the monks of St. Gall to
escape in time, but she herself refused to leave her cell. The
barbarians burnt the church and, having made an opening in the roof of
the hermitage, entered it as she knelt in prayer. They struck her on
the head with a hatchet and left her dying; Rachildis, however,
remained unharmed and survived her friend for 21 years. St. Wiborada
was canonized in 1047.
There is good evidence for most of the details given above. Hartmann,
a monk of St. Gall, who first wrote a sketch of her life--it is
printed by Mabillon and in the Acta Sanctorum,, May, vol. I--was
almost a contemporary. A later life by Hepidannus is less reliable.
But we have also other references to St. Wiborada, for example, in
Gerhard's Life of St. Ulric of Augsburg and in Ekkehard (iv), Cams =
S.
Galli. This last is printed by G. Meyer v. Knonau, St. Gallische Geschichtsquellen, iii. See also A. Schroder's valuable article in =
the
Historisches Jahrbuch, vol. xxii (1901), pp. 276-284, and A. Fah, Die
hl. Wiborada (1926).
Saint Quote:
Not only think of the road through which thou art traveling, but take
care never to lose sight of that blessed country in which thou art
shortly to arrive. Thou meetest here with passing sufferings, but wilt
soon enjoy everlasting rest. When thou lookest up to the recompense
everything thou dost or sufferest will appear light, and no more than
a shadow; it bears no proportion with what thou art to receive for it.
Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for such trifling pains.
-- St. Augustine
Bible Quote
But the God of all grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory in
Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will himself perfect
you, and confirm you, and establish you. 11 To him be glory and empire
for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)
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Music: Dominus dixit ad me
6th Century Old Roman Chant.
Psalm 2: 7: The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I
begotten thee.
Psalm 2: 1-5: Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain
things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together,
against the Lord and against his Christ. Let us break their bonds
asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in
heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall
he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)