Adapted from various sources, including Butler's Lives.
St. Swithbert, Bishop and Apostle of Friesland († 713; Feast – March 1)
St. Swithbert (in Germany he is known as Suitbertus) was an English monk, educated near the borders of Scotland, and lived for
some time under the direction of the holy priest and monk, St. Egbert, whom he accompanied into Ireland. St. Egbert was himself hindered
from passing into Northern Germany, according to his zealous desires to preach the Gospel to the infidels. Wigbert, who first went into
Friesland on that errand, was thwarted in all his undertakings by Radbod, prince of that country, and returned home without success.
St. Egbert, burning with an insatiable zeal for the conversion of those souls, which he ceased not with many tears to commend to God,
stirred up others to undertake that mission. St. Swithbert was one of the twelve missionaries, who, having St. Willibrord at their head,
sailed to Friesland in 690, according to the direction of St. Egbert.
They landed at the mouth of the Rhine, as Alcuin assures us, and traveled as far as Utrecht, where they began to announce
to the people the great truths of eternal life. Pepin of Herstal, Mayor of the Frankish Palace, had conquered part of Friesland eighteen
months earlier, and compelled Radbod, who remained sovereign in the northern part, to pay an annual tribute. Pepin was a great protector
and benefactor to these missionaries, and thus Radbod did not oppose their preaching. St. Swithbert labored chiefly in the southern part
of Friesland (southern Holland and northwestern Germany), where an incredible number of souls was drawn out of the sink of idolatry
and the most shameful vices.
St. Willibrord was consecrated Archbishop of Utrecht by Pope Sergius I at Rome
in 696. St. Swithbert was then pressured by his numerous flock of converts, as well as by his fellow-laborers, also to receive episcopal
consecration. For this purpose he returned to England soon after the year 697, where he was consecrated missionary Bishop to preach the
Gospel to the infidels, without being attached to any see, by St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York,
who happened to be then banished from his See, and employed in peaching the Faith in Mercia. Normally this would have been done by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, but either this See was still vacant after the death of St. Theodore,
or his successor, St. Brithwald, was hindered from performing that ceremony. St. Swithbert
had probably been formerly known personally by St. Wilfrid, both being from the same kingdom of Northumberland.
Our Saint, invested with the sacred episcopal character, returned to his flock and settled the churches he had founded
in good order. Then leaving them to the care of St. Willibrord and his ten companions, he penetrated further south into the Rheinland,
and converted a considerable part of the inhabitants. His apostolic labors were obstructed by an invasion of the Saxons, who,
after horrible devastations, made themselves masters of the whole country.
St. Swithbert, being at length desirous to prepare himself for his last hour in retirement and fervent acts of penance,
received from Pepin of Herstal the gift of a small island, formed by different channels of the Rhein. It was called Kaiserswerth –
that is, Emperor's island. Here St. Swithbert built a great monastery, which flourished for many ages, until it was converted
into a collegiate church of secular canons. Modern Kaiserswerth is a suburb of Düsseldorf, and is no longer an island –
one of the channels of the Rhein having changed its course. St. Swithbert died here in peace on March 1, 713.
His feast was kept with great solemnity in Holland and other places where he had preached. His relics were found in 1626 in Kaiserswerth,
in a silver shrine, along with the relics of St. Willeic, likewise an Englishman, his successor in the government of this abbey.
This reliquary (image above) is still venerated in the Basilica of the Saint in Kaiserswerth (image below).
Back to "In this Issue"
Back to Top
Back to Saints
Alphabetical Index; Calendar List of Saints
Contact us: smr@salvemariaregina.info
Visit also: www.marienfried.com
