Saint Willehad of Bremen
On the thirteenth of July we commemorate another missionary bishop of the Insular Saxons to their Continental brethren: Saint Willehad of Bremen. At a local synod in Paderborn, Saint Willehad was held to be responsible for evangelising the area of Germany between the Weser and the Elbe. He consecrated the building of the Cathedral of St Peter in Bremen, which was subsequently the seat of his missionary see. The centre of his post-Reformation cultus, however, is in the Luxembourgish town of Echternach. Willehad’s Vita was composed by another missionary bishop on the Continent, Saint Ansgar of Bremen.
Willehad was born in Northumbria, and was probably educated under the bishop Ecgberht of Ripon. His origins were humble. He was of a studious and serious frame of mind, and had a natural humility, biddable obedience and discipline that endeared him greatly to his bishop, who advanced him in the Church and made him a priest in 766. Willehad desired deeply from very early on to carry out the missionary work on the Continent that had been begun by Saint Willibrord and Saint Boniface. After some five years of intense reflection and questioning, he presented his case to Bishop Ecgberht and also to Ealhræd King of Northumbria and several other holy men of the English north. All of them approved his resolution to travel to the Continent.
Saint Willehad landed in Frisia in 772 and began by preaching at Dokkum, where Boniface had been martyred 18 years previously, and gave passionate and tearful homilies at the very ground upon which Boniface had met his blessed end. The Frisians were impressed by Willehad’s sincerity and simplicity. They heard him willingly, and a great throng of them came to Dokkum to hear the Gospel of Christ and to be baptised.
Saint Willehad did not stay overly long at Dokkum, but moved inland to Overijssel, where he continued to preach the Gospel to those still among the heathen there. They lay hands on him and conducted a divination to their gods as to whether or not he and his companions should be killed. However, the lot fell out that Saint Willehad and his companions should be spared, and so God intervened on behalf of his servant that he should continue to preach. He and his followers went further inland and continued to preach. Some of the more zealous among his disciples went among the heathen and destroyed their idols, causing them to be riled in anger against Willehad. Once again they lay hands on him, and this time they were not content to cast lots. One of the heathen, a mighty warrior bearing a sword, swung his weapon at Saint Willehad’s neck, with such force that it ought to have cut his head off. However, the blade caught and broke upon contact with a string around his neck, which held a small reliquary bearing a particle of a relic from an unspecified saint. The heathen feared greatly at seeing this ominous wonder that had defeated their mighty hero and broke his blade; and after this they left Willehad alone.
Saint Willehad came into the region between the Elbe and the Weser, where Bremen now stands, which was then called either Wigmodia or Wigmar. The Old Saxons lived here. As I mentioned in my blog post on Saint Lebuin, the Continental Saxons at this time held to a fairly democratic tribal form of government, in which all the free-born men were held to be equals. They were not ruled by a single man except in times of war, when one heretug was called forth at the Þing. Saint Willehad preached in this territory of the Saxons for seven years, probably taking over the task from Saint Lebuin who reposed in 775.
His work was interrupted, however, by a Saxon revolt under Widukind in 782. Widukind was primarily fighting against Frankish domination; however, he associated Christianity precisely with this domination, and cruelly persecuted all who preached it. Widukind and his men made martyrs of many who preached Christianity among the Saxons, and Saint Willehad himself was forced to flee back into Frisia. He made a pilgrimage to Rome shortly afterwards and brought the plight of the Christians under the fighting between Frank and Saxon to the attention of Pope Hadrian. After his return from Rome, Saint Willehad retired to the monastery of Echternach, where the relics of Saint Willibrord were housed. While in Echternach, Willehad stood in solitary vigil, with prayer and fasting, often praying at the shrine of Saint Willibrord. He cared for the refugees who were fleeing from the Saxon Wars, and busied himself otherwise in copying the Epistles of Paul.
After the defeat and baptism of Widukind in 785, he returned under Karl’s protection to the see of Wigmar, where he diligently and patiently preached and served and healed and built churches – including the one at Bremen, which he dedicated to Saint Peter. Saint Willehad kept a strict fasting rule, drank wine only with the Gifts, and ate only bread with honey, wild fruits and herbs. However, his health faltered to such an extent that Pope Hadrian ordered him to vary his diet with fish. He held the Liturgy every day, and often did so with the gift of the tears of repentance. He read the Scriptures and recited from the Psalter daily. Even in his advanced old age he would not refrain from his ascetic disciplines even in part.
Saint Willehad reposed in the Lord on the eighth of November, 789, in the village of Blexen which is now part of Nordenham in Niedersachsen – having toiled for over thirty-five years for Christ among his Continental cousins. His cause and his cultus were vigorously promoted by his successor Saint Ansgar, who was vindicated in that cause by a wonder that was wrought at Willehad’s tomb. A young girl from a holding south of Weyhe came to his tomb suffering from an affliction of her limbs and joints such that she could not move herself. She prayed by his grave and was restored to health, strong and sound in body. Willehad was thereafter recognised as a saint of the Church. Holy bishop Willehad, pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
Reichsabtei Echternach, Luxembourg
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