WILBIRGIS, ANCHORESS

Wilbirgis (Wilbirg, Wilburgis), the daughter of a certain Heinrich, one of the best-off and most respected men in Upper Austria, was born around 1230. Her mother's name has not been handed down to us, but we know that Wilbirgis' governess was a pious woman called Adelheid.

A number of traumatic events marked her youth. Wilbirgis was engaged twice, but both grooms died before the marriage could take place. She then made a vow of perpetual virginity and shaved off her beautiful hair. Meanwhile, her father died on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Not long after, Wibirgis' mother followed him into the grave; she had become completely impoverished, so that she was unable to pass on any inheritance to her daughter other than her wedding ring. Wilbirgis, stripped of all earthly ties and possessions, did not keep for herself even what she had acquired through the work of her hands, but gave everything to the poor. However, God looked after her, and she never lacked the necessities of life.

A like-minded virgin named Mathilde, who had already made a pilgrimage to Rome and Marburg, suggested to her that she go on a pilgrimage to Compostella. This holy journey Wilbirgis undertook under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.

Having concluded her holy journey and returned to Austria, Wilbirgis proceeded to ask her spiritual director to become an anchoress. The enclosure took place on May 29, 1248. The provost of the local Saint Florian Monastery locked her up in the cell designed for this purpose. The entire convent and a large crowd were present on this solemn occasion.

From now on Wilbirgis led a life of prayer, contemplation, penance and mortification in her tiny dwelling. She did not even have a place to sleep in her cell, but leaned against the wall when she wanted to rest. On her body she wore a very hard cilium; on Fridays, and during Lent at least three times a week, as well as on the vigils of the Marian and Apostle festivals she consumed only water and bread. Never did she eat meat, rarely cooked food; she did not wear shoes or warm clothing, nor did she use embers or fire to warm her frozen limbs in winter. During the unrest of war in 1276, the provost unlocked her dwelling to take her to safety at a place called Enns, but she insisted on returning to her cell near Saint Florian Monastery once the fighting had stopped.

On December 11, 1289, Wilbirgis died in her enclosure with the reputation of being a saint. Her body was carried on the shoulders of the priests and lowered into a vault in front of the altar of Saint Cunigunde. Currently her remains rest in a stone coffin under the choir next to the tomb of Saint Florian.

(Information from S tadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882, pp. 787-88)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

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

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