Jul 18 – St Hedwig (1374-1399) Polish queen
Summary: St Hedwig: Born in 1374, Hedwig was betrothed to the heir of Austria at the age of one and married to Jagiello when she was only twelve. She was later falsely denounced as an adulteress and a bigamist. She faced these slanders bravely and with faith. She worked endlessly for her people. In 1399 Hedwig died four days after giving birth to a premature child who had died. Pope John Paul II canonised her some six hundred and twenty three years later in 1997.
Patrick Duffy tells what is known about her.
Betrothal at the Age of One
Hedwig (Jadwiga) was the daughter of the king of Hungary and Poland and when she was one year old she was betrothed to Wilhelm, the Hapsburg heir of Austria. She went to Vienna to learn the way of the Austrian court, but when her elder sister Catherine died, her father chose Hedwig as his heir to the throne of Hungary. He died when she was eight, but the Hungarians preferred her sister, Maria, who had already been accepted as queen of Poland by the nobles. Maria was then rejected by both countries and the archbishop of Krakow crowned Hedwig as “Jadwiga, king of Poland” (meaning she was the heir and not just the king’s consort) in 1384, when she was ten.
Married to Jagiello at Twelve
The Polish nobles then set aside the vows made by proxy between her and Wilhelm and decided that she should marry Jagiello, duke of Lithuania and Ruthenia, who promised to become a Christian. The wedding took place in Krakow Cathedral in February 1386, after Jagiello and his brothers and the leading Lithuanian nobles were baptised. She was twelve and he was thirty-six. Jagiello was crowned king of Poland as Ladislaus (Władysław) II. As a monarch, young Hedwig probably had little actual power, but she was actively engaged in her kingdom’s political, diplomatic and cultural life and acted as the guarantor of Ladislaus’s promises to reclaim Poland’s lost territories.
Slanders
The Hapsburgs circulated rumours that she and Wilhelm had already consummated a marriage when he had visited her to persuade her to marry him. These rumours were spread abroad by the Teutonic Knights, and she was denounced as an adulteress and a bigamist. They were even repeated in the writings of the scholar Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II (1458-64), and great damage was done to her reputation outside Poland.
Saint Hedwig in the Schlackenwerth Codex, Lubin
Christianisation of Lithuania
Jagiello/Ladislaus II decreed that the people of Lithuania should be baptised, and while not actually employing force, they were baptised even though the missionaries could not speak the language. A diocese was established in Vilnius and Hedwig supported it with church plate and vestments.
Jagiellonian University
She financed a scholarship for twenty Lithuanians to study at Charles University in Prague to help strengthen Christianity in their country, and she also founded a bishopric in Vilnius. Among her most notable cultural legacies was the restoration of the Kraków Academy, which in 1817 was renamed Jagiellonian University in honour of the couple.
Ecumenism in Cracow
Hedwig also had the ambition to unite Latin and Orthodox Christians. To promote this, she brought monks from Prague who used a Slavonic rite. She also introduced a college of psalmists who took turns to sing psalms without interruption in the cathedral, except during services. She also organised perpetual adoration there. Although the Teutonic Knights invaded Lithuania, Hedwig sought always to negotiate a diplomatic peace.
Hedwig died in childbirth
In 1399 Hedwig was expecting a baby. The baby was born prematurely and died after three weeks. Hedwig herself died four days later. Jagiello continued to rule Poland as Ladislaus II until his death 35 years later.
The cause for Hedwig’s canonisation was introduced in 1426, but she had to wait until the first Polish Pope, St John Paul II, beatified her in 1986 and canonised her on his visit to Krakow in 1997.
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Memorable Saying for Today
God doesn’t give us what we can’t handle.
God helps us handle what we are given. Amen
~ Unknown ~
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Summary: Philastrius of Brescia is known especially for his strong defence of the Catholic faith against Arians and a catalogue of other heresies. He was the sixth bishop of Brescia, near Milan, and was known to Saints Ambrose and Augustine.
Patrick Duffy explores what is known about him.
From Spain or Africa?
According to a sermon preached on the 14th anniversary of his death by his successor at Brescia, St Gaudentius, an early significant event in the life of St Philastrius was a great act of renunciation, for which he is compared to Abraham. Did this involve leaving his homeland whether in Spain or Africa to come to Italy? Said to have been the sixth bishop of Brescia, Philastrius was born around 330 AD, became a priest at 30 and a bishop at 50.
Travels and Preaching against Heresies
After his ordination as a priest he travelled over nearly the whole Roman world (circumambiens universum pene ambitum Romani orbis), preaching against pagans, Jews, and heretics, and especially against the Arians. Like St. Paul he is said to have carried in his body the “marks” of Christ, having been scourged for his zeal against the Arians. At Milan he was a great support to the Catholic party in the time of St Ambrose’s predecessor, the Arian bishop Auxentius. At Rome he held both private and public disputations with heretics, and converted many.
Known to both Ambrose and Augustine
Philastrius was known to both Ambrose and Augustine (Ep 222). He took part in the Synod of Aquileia in 381 which dealt with Arianism. Subsequently he composed a catalogue of heresies called Diversarum Hereseon Liber around 384 which is extant. Its relationship to The Panarion – a similar catalogue of heresies – of Saint Epiphanius of Salamis in Cyprus is debated.
The image (below right )shows Brescia’s two cathedrals.
Inside the 12th century former cathedral in Brescia where St Philastrius’ body is kept, are Roman remains and an 8th century apse. Next to it is Brescia’s new Baroque cathedral.
Bishop of Brescia
In the homily of St Gaudentius cited above, Philastrius is said to have had a lively spirit, not given to anger, but always seeking to understand. Philastrius’s wanderings ceased when he was made Bishop of Brescia. As bishop he had a good knowledge of the faith and was devoted to the lowly and the poor. He was buried in the ancient cathedral of St Andrew at Brescia.
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Memorable Sayings for Today
and you are still able to say, “Thank you, God.”
when nobody else was.
~ Unknown ~
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