Saint Hedwig

Hedwig was born around 1174 at Andechs, in Bavaria, into a noble family. At about twelve she was married to Henry, later Duke of Silesia, in present-day Poland, and they had seven children. Together they founded hospitals, monasteries and churches, including the Cistercian convent of Trebnitz (Trzebnica) in 1202, the first convent for women in Silesia.

Hedwig lived simply in the midst of wealth, fasted, walked barefoot to church and spent her income on the poor, the sick and prisoners. She knew great sorrow: most of her children died before her, her husband died in 1238, and her son Henry II was killed fighting the Mongol invasion at Legnica in 1241. After being widowed she lived at Trebnitz, without taking vows, sharing the life of the nuns, where her daughter Gertrude was abbess. She died there on October 15, 1243, and was canonized in 1267.

Hedwig is patroness of Silesia, honored by both Poles and Germans as a bridge between the two peoples. Pilgrims visit her tomb in the basilica at Trzebnica, Poland.

The Catholic cathedral of Berlin bears her name, Saint Hedwig's Cathedral. In Mexico, Brazil and other countries many pray to her as protector of people in debt.