Wiltrude, Bl.

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WILTRUDE, BL.

Widow, abbess; d. c. 990. She is supposed to have been the niece of Emperor Otto I (936973) and the wife of Berthold, duke of Bavaria, who defeated the Hungarians in 943. Widowed in 947, she founded the Benedictine abbey of Bergen (diocese of Eichstätt) sometime after 976, and became its first abbess. Because of her piety she was known as Pia. She gave the cathedral of Eichstätt precious vestments made by her own hand. Today Bergen (near Neuberg, Bavaria) is a place of pilgrimage in honor of the Holy Cross.

Feast: Jan. 6.

Bibliography: r. bauerreiss, Kirchengeschichte Bayerns (2d ed. St. Ottilien 1958). a. hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, 5 v. (9th ed. Berlin-Leipzig 1958) 3:1016. o. wimmer, Handbuch der Namen und Heiligen, mit einer Geschichte des christlichen Kalenders (Innsbruck 1956) 467. j. torsy, ed., Lexikon der deutschen Heiligen, Seligen, Ehrwürdigen und Gottseligen (Cologne 1959) 570.

[s. a. schulz]