Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Duchess and widow, the patroness of Silesia, a region of eastern Europe. Also called Jadwiga in some lists, she died in a Cistercain convent, having taken vows. Hedwig was born in Andechs, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of the Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia. She was the aunt of St. Elizabeth of ...
Hedwig of Silesia (also Hedwig of Andechs (German: Heilige Hedwig von Andechs, Polish: Święta Jadwiga Śląska, Latin: Hedvigis; 1174 – 15 October 1243), a member of the Bavarian comital House of Andechs, was Duchess of Silesia from 1201 and of Greater Poland from 1231 as well as High Duchess consort of Poland from 1232 until 1238.
Saint Hedwig shows us that our greatest temptations can also be the things that draw us closer to God if used rightly. As Jesus said, “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).
On October 16, the Church observes the feast of Saint Hedwig, Patroness of Silesia. A devoted woman with a compassionate heart, Saint Hedwig used her position in society to improve the lives of others, helping found institutions to support the less fortunate in her community.
St. Hedwig of Silesia, born in 1174 in Bavaria, Germany, was a remarkable figure whose life exemplified charity, devotion, and humility. She was the daughter of Berthold IV, Duke of Merania (Croatia and Dalmatia), and Agnes of Rochlitz, making her part of an influential and powerful noble lineage.
Hedwiges, by a distinguishing effect of the divine mercy in her favour, was from her cradle formed to virtue by the example and lessons of her devout mother and of those that were placed about her. In her infancy she discovered no marks of levity, and all her inclinations were turned to piety and devotion.
But Hedwig of Silesia was not an owl — she was a princess, wife, mother, and builder of bridges between the German and Polish people. (Her husband’s name was “Henry the Bearded.”) She was canonized a saint in the 13th century.
Hedwig, Saint, Duchess of Silesia, b. about 1174, at the castle of Andechs; d. at Trebnitz, 12 or October 15, 1243. She was one of eight children born to Berthold IV, Count of Andechs and Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia.
But Hedwig of Silesia was not an owl — she was a princess, wife, mother, and builder of bridges between the German and Polish people. (Her husband’s name was “Henry the Bearded.”) She was...
Henry and Hedwig endowed munificently the Cistercian monastery of Leubus, the Premonstratensian monastery of St. Vincent, and the foundation of the Canons of St. Augustine at Breslau.