Lidwina

Saint Lidwina was born on April 18, 1380, in Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children in a working family. As a teenager she loved skating on the winter ice, but at fifteen she suffered a severe fall that began a lifetime of illness and increasing disability. Though many details were later told with the vivid language of medieval devotion, the heart of her story is clear: Lidwina embraced long years of pain with deep faith, prayer, and remarkable patience, offering her sufferings to God. Confined and often unable to move, she became known for rigorous fasting and for a gentle holiness that drew people to her for counsel and comfort. Many in Schiedam believed God worked through her to bring healing and to provide for the poor, with gifts of food and charity that seemed to multiply. After her death on April 14, 1433, her tomb became a place of pilgrimage, and devotion to her spread widely. Lidwina is venerated as patron of ice skaters and those who endure chronic illness and pain, as well as of Schiedam. Her feast day is April 14.