Saint Walpurga

Saint Walpurga was born around 710 in Dumnonia, in the region of modern Devon, England, into a deeply Christian family. As a girl she was entrusted to the abbess of Wimborne Abbey in Dorset, where she spent many years in prayer, learning, and the careful work of a monastery community. When her uncle, Saint Boniface, called for helpers in the evangelization of the German lands, Walpurga crossed the sea to serve alongside her brothers, Saints Willibald and Winibald, in the Frankish Empire. She became a nun at Heidenheim, a double monastery founded by Willibald, and after his death in 751 she succeeded him as abbess, later also overseeing the community connected with Winibald. Walpurga’s steady leadership helped strengthen the Church among newly converted peoples. After her death on February 25, 777 or 779, devotion grew, especially at Eichstätt, where her relics were translated and where an oil associated with her shrine was long sought for healing. She is invoked in storms and by sailors, and is patron of Martell. Her feast day is February 25.