St. Hedwig, religious: La Confederation Benedictine/Ordinariate

St. Hedwig, religious: La Confederation Benedictine/Ordinariate  

Deus, qui beátam Hedwígem a sǽculi pompa ad húmilem tuæ crucis sequélam toto corde transíre docuísti: concéde; ut ejus méritis et exémplo discámus peritúras mundi calcáre delícias, et in ampléxu tuæ crucis ómnia nobis adversántia superáre:

O God, Who didst teach thy blessed handmaid Hedwig to turn away from the glory of the world, and with all her heart to take up her Cross and follow thee, teach us, for her sake and after her example, to hold light the perishing pleasures of this present world, and cleaving ever unto thy Cross to rest in the end more than conquerors over all things that would hurt us.

Hedwig, a Princess, in whom the splendor of her family was outshone by the radiant innocence of her life, was the daughter of Bertold and Agnes, Marquess and Marchioness of Moravia, and sister to Gertrude, wife of Andrew, King of Hungary, and mother of the holy Elizabeth of Thuringia. From her earliest childhood she was a very grave child, and had already done with childish things when, at twelve years of age, she was given in marriage by her father and mother to Henry, Grand Prince of Poland. In marriage she kept the bed in all holiness undefined, and brought up in the fear of God the children that were therein begotten of her. (After the birth of her sixth child,) she was fain to give herself more continually to God, and induced her husband to agree to a mutual vow of separation of bed-fellowship. After his death in 1238, by the inspiration of God, whom she besought in unceasing prayer, she clad herself for godliness' sake in the habit of a Cistercian nun in the monastery (which had been finished) at Trebnitz in 1219. She continued absorbed in God. She remained engaged in the Divine Office and hearing Masses from sunrise till noon, and trod mightily underfoot the old enemy of man.

She could not bear to hear talk of worldly things, unless they had to do with the things of God or the saving of souls. She was very wise in business, not doing too much, nor unseasonably, and withal courteous and gentle toward all men. She got a great victory over herself by maltreating her flesh with fasting, watching, and rough clothing. She was an example of the higher Christian graces and of a godly nun, by the wisdom of her counsels, and the straightforwardness and peacefulness of her mind. It was her use to rank herself after all others, and cheerfully to undertake lower offices than those of the other nuns. She ministered to the poor even upon her knees, and washed and kissed the feet of lepers, having such command over herself as not to recoil from their sores oozing with matter.

Her long-suffering and endurance were very marvelous, especially when her son Henry, Duke of Silesia, to whom she bore a mother's love, was killed by the Tartars in 1241. His death drew from her rather thanksgiving to God than tears for him. She died upon the 15th day of October, in the year 1243. She was famous for miracles. One while, being called on, she restored to life a boy who had fallen into the water, been dashed against the wheels of a mill, and wholly crushed. This and the like being duly proved, Clement IV. numbered her name among those of the Saints, and allowed her Feast day to be kept in Poland, in which country, being Patroness, she hath most honor, upon the 15th of October; which permission was given to the whole Church by Innocent XI.