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SAINT WILLERICH, BISHOP OF BREMEN - 4 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 4th of May

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SAINT WILLERICH, BISHOP OF BREMEN

[Saint Willerich] (Willericus, Willicarlens) was the disciple and successor of St Willehad (Willehadus) in the episcopal See of Bremen since the year 789. He died on May 4, 837.

Immediately after the death of his holy teacher, the uprisings of the Saxons broke out again; he had to leave the mission and was only able to return in 804 after the Saxons had been completely subjugated. 

Now the establishment of the diocese of Bremen was finally to be completed: Charles the Great gave it a hundred hooves of land as a donation, Bremen became the episcopal seat with St Peter's Cathedral there. Around this time St Willerich received the episcopal consecration. 

His reign must generally be called a calm one, which was very favourable to the growth of the Bremen church. Christians, priests, places of worship and church properties multiplied rapidly. Our holy bishop was able to build a cathedral of solid stones in place of the wooden St Peter's Church, which is saying a lot for that time and that geographical region poor in natural stone. In addition, he consecrated a second church and a chapel in Bremen in honour of St Willehad, whose relics he brought there. In the political struggle of Louis the Pious with his sons we find him on the side of the former. He died in May 837 and is venerated - like his teacher - as a saint.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Willerich may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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