Suitbert of Kaiserswerth
Swidberth of Kaiserwerdt | |
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Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church | |
Feast | 1 March |
Patronage | Germany |
Saint Suitbert, Suidbert, Suitbertus, Swithbert, or Swidbert was born in Northumbria, England, in the seventh century, and accompanied Willibrord on the Anglo-Saxon mission.
Life
Suitbert was born in Northumbria. According to legend, his mother saw a star falling before he was born, which is why he is often depicted with a star.
They landed near the mouth of the
After some years he went back to England, and in 693 was consecrated in Mercia as a missionary bishop by Wilfrid of York.[3] He returned to Frisia and fixed his see at Wijk bij Duurstede on a branch of the Rhine. A little later, entrusting his flock of converts to Willibrord, he proceeded north of the Rhine and the Lippe, among the Bructeri, or Boructuari, in the district of Berg, Westphalia. This mission bore great fruit at first, but was eventually a failure owing to the inroads of the pagan Saxons; when the latter had conquered the territory.[4]
About the year 700 Suitbert withdrew to
Veneration
His
Kaiserwerth holds an annual festival weekend each May in celebration of Saint Suitbertus. There is a shrine procession through the old town of Kaiserswerth and along the Rhine. The community festival follows a pontifical mass.[5]
There is an 1864 sculpture of St. Suitbert by Julius Bayerle in a niche on the façade of the listed building on the Suitbertus-Stiftsplatz Nr. 10, Kaiserswerth.
References
- ^ Lexikon der Heiligen und Namenstage (Albert Urban, ed.) Herder-Verlag, Freiburg, 2010
- ^ a b c MacErlean, Andrew. "St. Suitbert." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 April 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Monks of Ramsgate. "Swithbert". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 February 2017 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Rosen, Wolfgang, "Suitbert", Internetportal Rheinische Geschichte
- ^ Dopp, Carsten. "Kaiserswerth feiert", DomRadio, Mat 9, 2020
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Suitbert". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.