SAINT PAULINA, RECLUSE - 14 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 14th of March

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SAINT PAULINA, RECLUSE

Saint Paulina was a recluse of noble birth at Thuringia (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt), who shone with countless miracles in life and after death. She died in A.D. 1107 and is called a "venerable and holy woman" by Trithemius (chron. Hirsaug.). 

As widow of the knight Udalrich she founded the monastery named after her (around the year 1100). Her biography, which existed earlier and was written by a certain Sigelot, has been lost. Only in the name Paulinzelle [Paulinzella], also called "Zelle" (cell) for short, a memory of her has been preserved. 

The place lies in a small, deep valley surrounded by woods, and still contains the ruins of the beautiful Benedictine abbey that used to exist here, together with a three-aisled church. Near this spot the saint was voluntarily locked up - perhaps she was confined at the so-called "nun's room". Several writers affirm that Paulina was canonised in 1150. The Reformation, however, and the secularisation all but wiped out her memory. The Bollandists* list her among the Praetermissi (II. 342).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Paulina 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.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org