FEAST OF ALL DOMINICAN SAINTS AND THE MEMORIAL OF SAINT WILLIBRORD, BISHOP AND SAINT ENGELBERT, MARTYR – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 7TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of All Dominican Saints and the Memorial of Saint Willibrord, Bishop and Saint Engelbert, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for God’s Divine Grace and Mercy upon us all. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally and physically ill, those who are sick with epilepsy and nervous disorders and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. May God grant them His Divine healing and intervention. Amen 🙏
FEAST OF ALL DOMINICAN SAINTS: November 7th is the Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. Founded by a Spaniard, St. Dominic de Guzman, in France in the early 13th century, the order has 14 canonized saints and 215 beatified among its mendicant friars, cloistered nuns, active sisters, lay members, and fraternities. The special charism of the Dominican order is to study and preach for the salvation of souls. Over the centuries, the unnamed Dominican martyrs are counted in the tens of thousands, including many among the Martyrs of Nagasaki and the Martyrs of Vietnam. Some of the most famous Dominican saints include St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin de Porres, Pope St. Pius V, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Hyacinth, St. Louis de Montfort, St. Albert the Great, St. Louis Bertrand, St. Catherine de Ricci, St. Margaret of Hungary, St. Peter Martyr, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
All Saints of God in Heaven ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT WILLIBRORD, BISHOP: St. Willibrord (c. 658 – 739) was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the “Apostle to the Frisians” in the modern Netherlands. St. Willibrord was one of the earliest of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the Germanic peoples. His mission to the pagans of what are now the Netherlands sparked a century of English sponsored missions to bring the Gospel to Frisia and Germany. Many saints would follow this first Archbishop of Utrecht, penetrating deep into barbaric lands and placing their lives in jeopardy. St. Willibrord was born near York in Northumbria A.D. 658, the son of a newly convert to Christianity named Wilgils (Hilgis) who at some point after Willibrord’s birth withdrew from the world and became a hermit. His father enter a monastery, and is honored as a Saint in the monastery of Echternach in the diocese of Treves. At the age of seven he was placed by his parents in the monastery of Ripon, under the care of St. Wilfrid. St. Willibrord grew up under the influence of Wilfrid, Bishop of York and was educated in the abbey of St. Peter at Ripon. St. Willibrord made his monastic profession when very young. Later he joined the Benedictines. He spent the years between the ages of 20 and 32 in the Abbey of Rath Melsigi, in County Carlow, Ireland, which was a centre of European learning in the 7th century and he spent years in the study of the sacred sciences. St. Willibrord spent twelve years in self-imposed exile in Ireland where he spent time in study and was ordained priest at the age thirty and together with St. Swidbert and ten other English monks traveled to Friesland, where St. Wilfrid had sown the seeds of the Faith in 678.
When St. Willibrord returned to England in 690, he organized a mission with twelve other monks to bring Christ to Frisia. He gained support for his mission from Pippin II of the Franks and Pope Sergius who consecrated him a bishop in St. Peter’s Church, made him an Archbishop, and authorized him to fix his See in whatever part of the country he should deem most convenient. St. Willibrord soon established a cathedral at Utrecht and a flourishing monastery at Echternach, now Luxembourg, in much the same fashion that St. Augustine established the Church in Kent a century before. He was repelled once and his churches burned, but he returned and rebuilt everything and even sent further missions into Denmark and Germany. On returning to his flock, the Saint chose the city of Utrecht for his residence. In 698, he founded the Abbey of Echternach (in modern Luxemburg), and governed it until his death. St. Willibrord died on November 7, 739 AD at the age of 81 and his body was enshrined at the Abbey at Echternach where it remains. At his shrine there a special dance performed in honor of the Saint’s assistance in ending an epidemic of St. Vitus’ dance. He is also invoked by those with nervous disorders. St. Willibrord is the Patron Saint of Luxembourg, the Netherlands, epilepsy, convulsions, lumbago, cholera and herpes.
PRAYER: God, You built up Your Church by means of the religious zeal and apostolic care of St. Willibrord. Grant by his intercession that she may ever experience a new increase of Faith and holiness. Amen 🙏
SAINT ENGELBERT, MARTYR: St. Engelbert (1185 – 1225) was born around 1185 a.D. as a son of the influential count of Berg, Engelbert and Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He was destined to work as an ecclesiastic and so he studied at the cathedral school at Cologne. and, while still a boy, was made provost of the churches of St. George and St. Severin at Cologne and of St. Mary’s at Aachen, as it was a common abuse in the Church at the time to appoint the children of nobles to such positions. In 1199, at the age of fourteen he became provost of the cathedral at Cologne. He led a worldly life, and in the conflict between two Archbishops, Adolf and Bruno, he sided with his cousin Adolf, and waged war for him. Consequently, he was excommunicated by the pope along with his cousin. After his submission he was reinstated in 1208 and, to atone for his sin, joined the crusade against the Albigenses in 1212. On Feb. 29, 1216, the chapter of the cathedral elected him archbishop by a unanimous vote. The mendicant orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans settled in his realm while he was Archbishop. He was well disposed towards the monasteries and insisted on strict religious observance in them. Ecclesiastical affairs were regulated in provincial synods. He was considered a friend of the clergy and a helper of the poor. St. Engelbert exerted a strong influence in the affairs of the empire. Emperor Frederick II, who had taken up his residence permanently in Sicily, gave Germany to his son, Henry VII, then still a minor, and in 1221 appointed Engelbert guardian of the king and administrator of the empire. When the young king reached the age of twelve he was crowned at Aachen by Engelbert, who loved him as his own son and honoured him as his sovereign. Engelbert watched over the young king’s education and governed the empire in his name, careful to secure peace both within and without of the realm.
St. Engelbert’s devotion to duty, and his obedience to the pope and to the emperor, were eventually the cause of his ruin. Many of the nobility feared rather than loved him, and he was obliged to surround himself with bodyguards. The greatest danger came from his relatives. His cousin, count Frederick of Isenberg, the secular administrator for the nuns of Essen, had grievously oppressed that abbey. Honorius III and the emperor urged Engelbert to protect the nuns and their rights. Frederick wished to forestall the archbishop, and his wife incited him to murder. On November 7, 1225, as he was journeying from Soest to Schwelm to consecrate a church, St. Engelbert was attacked on a dark evening by Frederick and his associates, was wounded in the thigh, torn from his horse and killed. His body was covered with forty-seven wounds. It was placed on a dung-cart and brought to Cologne four days later. St. Engelbert was stabbed to death because he wanted to protect the oppressed nuns of Essen. King Henry wept bitterly over the remains, put Frederick under the ban of the empire, and saw him broken on the wheel a year later at Cologne. Frederick died contrite, having acknowledged and confessed his guilt. St. Engelbert’s body was placed in the old cathedral of Cologne on February 24, 1226, by Cardinal Conrad von Urach. The latter also declared him a martyr, though a formal canonization did not take place. In 1618 Archbishop Ferdinand ordered that his feast be celebrated on November 7th and solemnly raised his remains in 1622. In the martyrology, St. Engelbert is commemorated on November 7th as a martyr. A convent for nuns was erected at the place of his death.
Saint Engelbert of Cologne, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏