Even though she lived in the eighth century, St. Walburga’s legacy continues to have a physically healing presence today in two ways: the community of Benedictine nuns that she established in Europe were one of the main branches of sisters who came to serve in America, and her relics emit a kind of oil that pilgrims seek as an aid to healing.

She was an Englishwoman, the daughter of St. Richard the Pilgrim, and sister to St. Willibald and St. Winebald. She was educated at a monastery in England, and that is where she professed her religious vows.

St. Boniface, the great “Apostle of Germany,” was uncle to these holy siblings, and when he left England to evangelize the German people, he took St. Walburga’s brothers with him. Later, he wanted to establish convents in Germany and asked missionary nuns from England to join him there. Walburga was among those who left her home to preach the good news on the continent. She studied medicine and brought those skills to the people she served.

She was also well-educated and literate, and wrote of her brothers’ lives and experiences on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with their father, Richard. Because of this, she is known as the first female author of either Germany or England.

Her brother, Winebald, founded double monasteries—one for monks and another for nuns—and asked her to lead the convent. When he died some years later, she was appointed abbess of both houses by her other brother, Willibald, who had been appointed bishop of that region.

Walburga died on this date in 779. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.

The main body of her relics rest on a rock in a church in Bavaria, and a kind of oil flows from an opening in the rock under her relics. It is an aromatic watery fluid, and even today people have experienced cures through its use and the intercession of St. Walburga. The oil flows for a period of time between Oct. 12 through Feb. 25—two landmark days in the saint’s life.

St. Walburga, you were the nun who left her homeland to bring healing and learning to others—pray for us!

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Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Walburga is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.