Saint Walpurgis
Also known as
· Bugga
· Gaudurge
· Vaubourg
· Walpurga
· Walburga
· Bugga
· Gaudurge
· Vaubourg
· Walpurga
· Walburga
memorial
· 25 February
· 1 May (translation of relics to Eichstätt)
Profile
Our Saint today was the Daughter of the King of Wessex England, she was from a religious family and eventually became a nun.
Beginning in 748, she evangelized and healed the pagans in what is now Germany. After her death, many cures are ascribed to the oil that exudes from a rock on which her relics were placed. Add this healing oil to the stories of her healing skills in life, explains her patronage of plague, rabies, coughs, etc. This oil, like the Manna of St. Nicholas, is also why the location of her relics is important to many. Her remains have been moved around a lot…at least three times that I can find. When a saint’s relics are moved officially to a different resting place it is called “translating” their remains or relics. It is usually accompanied by a lot of local hoopla and fanfare.
The hoopla and fanfare is so great that many dates of a saint’s “translation of relics” is celebrated as a separate feast. The night of May 1st, the date of the translation of her relics to Eichstätt in 870, is known as Walpurgis Night. In the lovely mother tongue of the Whip it is called Walpugisnacht (make sure you spit gutturally from the back of your throat at the “ch” when you say “Eichstatt” and “nacht”) and is a pagan festival marking the beginning of summer and the revels of witches much like All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and Candlemas Eve. Modern Wiccans also celebrate this feast and mistakenly feel it is only paying homage to “Nature”.
In that vein I recommend “Hostage to the Devil” by Father Malachi Martin. It is a book about five supposedly true accounts of Demonic possession in the 20th century. I was frightened reading it. In 4 of the 5 cases the Demon involved posed itself to the possessed as a “deity of nature” so you Wiccans are deluding yourselves. Alistair Crowley, who many call the founder of modern Wicca belief, was quite clear on this in his writings.
Anyhoo…..Though the saint had no connection with this festival, her name became associated with witchcraft and country superstitions because of the date. It is possible that the protection of crops ascribed to her, represented by three ears of corn in her icons, may have been transferred to her from Mother Earth and the connection to this pagan holiday. Pagan myth says an unmarried woman who sleeps nude on Walprgisnight (May 1st) will have her future husband appear to her in a dream.
On Walpurgisnight (May 1st) remember, the Enemy HATES St. Mike, a servant of the Fightin’ Jesus:
Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
And do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
By the Divine Power of God -
Cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
Who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
Born
· c.710 England
Died
· 25 February 779, Germany
Patronage
· against coughs
· against dog bites
· against famine
· against hydrophobia
· against mad dogs
· against plague
· against rabies
· against storms
· boatmen
· Eichstätt, Germany, diocese of
· harvests
· mariners
· sailors
· watermen
· 25 February
· 1 May (translation of relics to Eichstätt)
Profile
Our Saint today was the Daughter of the King of Wessex England, she was from a religious family and eventually became a nun.
Beginning in 748, she evangelized and healed the pagans in what is now Germany. After her death, many cures are ascribed to the oil that exudes from a rock on which her relics were placed. Add this healing oil to the stories of her healing skills in life, explains her patronage of plague, rabies, coughs, etc. This oil, like the Manna of St. Nicholas, is also why the location of her relics is important to many. Her remains have been moved around a lot…at least three times that I can find. When a saint’s relics are moved officially to a different resting place it is called “translating” their remains or relics. It is usually accompanied by a lot of local hoopla and fanfare.
The hoopla and fanfare is so great that many dates of a saint’s “translation of relics” is celebrated as a separate feast. The night of May 1st, the date of the translation of her relics to Eichstätt in 870, is known as Walpurgis Night. In the lovely mother tongue of the Whip it is called Walpugisnacht (make sure you spit gutturally from the back of your throat at the “ch” when you say “Eichstatt” and “nacht”) and is a pagan festival marking the beginning of summer and the revels of witches much like All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and Candlemas Eve. Modern Wiccans also celebrate this feast and mistakenly feel it is only paying homage to “Nature”.
In that vein I recommend “Hostage to the Devil” by Father Malachi Martin. It is a book about five supposedly true accounts of Demonic possession in the 20th century. I was frightened reading it. In 4 of the 5 cases the Demon involved posed itself to the possessed as a “deity of nature” so you Wiccans are deluding yourselves. Alistair Crowley, who many call the founder of modern Wicca belief, was quite clear on this in his writings.
Anyhoo…..Though the saint had no connection with this festival, her name became associated with witchcraft and country superstitions because of the date. It is possible that the protection of crops ascribed to her, represented by three ears of corn in her icons, may have been transferred to her from Mother Earth and the connection to this pagan holiday. Pagan myth says an unmarried woman who sleeps nude on Walprgisnight (May 1st) will have her future husband appear to her in a dream.
On Walpurgisnight (May 1st) remember, the Enemy HATES St. Mike, a servant of the Fightin’ Jesus:
Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
And do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
By the Divine Power of God -
Cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
Who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
Born
· c.710 England
Died
· 25 February 779, Germany
Patronage
· against coughs
· against dog bites
· against famine
· against hydrophobia
· against mad dogs
· against plague
· against rabies
· against storms
· boatmen
· Eichstätt, Germany, diocese of
· harvests
· mariners
· sailors
· watermen
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