Saint Hedwig, Widow (1962 Roman Calendar)

Q: When is the feast of Saint Hedwig?

Her feast is kept on 16 October in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes her on 16 October, as an optional memorial.

Saint Hedwig was born about the year 1174, of a noble family of Bavaria, and while still young was given in marriage to Henry, Duke of Silesia, in Poland. As wife and mother, and as a duchess bearing the responsibilities of her station, she ordered her life by piety and devotion, and was to her husband a faithful companion and to her people a mother of mercy. Together with Duke Henry she founded and endowed monasteries, hospitals, and houses of charity, among them the great Cistercian abbey of Trebnitz, which became dear to her heart.

A mother of the poor

Saint Hedwig was renowned above all for her charity and her humility. Though a princess, she lived austerely, given to fasting, prayer, and penance, and she loved to serve the poor, the sick, and the suffering with her own hands, esteeming them as the members of Christ. She cared for lepers whom others shunned, fed the hungry, ransomed captives, and bore patiently the trials and sorrows that came upon her house, including grief over the strife of her kinsmen and the loss of her children. In all things she sought to follow the lowliness of the Cross.

After the death of her husband, Saint Hedwig withdrew to the abbey of Trebnitz, where her daughter was abbess, and there she gave herself entirely to God in prayer, humility, and works of mercy, living among the religious in a spirit of penance and self-denial, though she did not herself take the full vows of the Order. The closing years of her life were spent in this hidden service of God, and she was favoured, it is related, with a spirit of prayer and a reputation for holiness that drew many to seek her counsel.

Her death and veneration

Saint Hedwig died at Trebnitz on the fifteenth of October, 1243, and miracles were soon reported at her tomb. She was canonised within a generation, and is venerated as a patroness of Silesia and of Poland, and indeed of all the lands where her charity was known. The collect of her feast recalls how God taught blessed Hedwig to pass with her whole heart from the pomp of the world to the humble following of his Cross, and asks that by her merits and example we too may learn to tread underfoot the fading delights of the world.

In Saint Hedwig the Church honours a noblewoman who used her rank for the relief of the poor, a wife and widow faithful in every state of life, and a soul that found in the humility of the Cross the path to God.

The Collect

O God, who didst teach blessed Hedwig to pass with her whole heart from the pomp of the world to the humble following of thy Cross: grant that by her merits and example we may learn to tread underfoot the perishable delights of the world, and by embracing thy Cross to overcome all things that are against us.

Deus, qui beátam Hedwígem a sæculi pompa ad húmilem tuæ Crucis sequélam toto corde transíre docuísti: concéde; ut eius méritis et exémplo discámus peritúras mundi calcáre delícias, et in ampléxu tuæ Crucis ómnia nobis adversántia superáre.

Patronage

She is venerated as a patroness of Silesia and of Poland, and is honoured among the holy widows; she is invoked by the poor, the sick, and those who labour in works of charity.

In the Modern Calendar

In the modern calendar her memorial is observed on the same day, 16 October, as an optional memorial.

Common Questions

When is the feast of Saint Hedwig?

Her feast is kept on 16 October in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes her on 16 October, as an optional memorial.

Who was Saint Hedwig?

She was a duchess of Silesia in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, wife of Duke Henry of Silesia, renowned for her humility and her charity to the poor and the sick. After her husband’s death she withdrew to the abbey of Trebnitz, which she had helped to found, and gave herself wholly to God. She died in 1243 and was soon canonised.

Is this the same as Saint Hedwig of Poland the queen?

No. Saint Hedwig the Widow, Duchess of Silesia, kept on 16 October, should not be confused with Saint Hedwig (Jadwiga), Queen of Poland, who lived later, in the fourteenth century. The duchess was, however, a great-aunt of the later queen, and both are honoured among the saints of Poland.

See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.

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