Saint Lidwina of Schiedam

Lidwina was born in 1380 in Schiedam, Holland, the only daughter in a large, poor family. At about fifteen, while ice skating with friends on the frozen canals, she fell and broke a rib. The injury never healed properly, and over the following years she developed a series of painful illnesses that left her bedridden for the rest of her life.

At first she was bitter, but with the guidance of her confessor she learned to unite her pain with the sufferings of Christ. She spent long hours in prayer, ate very little, and was said to receive visions and to have gifts of healing. Visitors came seeking her counsel and prayers, and she gave away whatever she received to the poor. After some thirty-eight years of illness she died on April 14, 1433. Her cult was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.

Lidwina is honored in Schiedam, where a basilica bears her name and a shrine keeps her memory. Skaters in the Netherlands and beyond invoke her, and she is a beloved companion for people living with chronic illness, disability and long hospital stays.