Adapted from various sources, including Butler's Lives.
St. Ludger, Bishop and Apostle of Saxony († 809 Feast – March 26)
St. Ludger (also spelled Liudger or Ludgerus) was born in Friesland, about the year 743. His father, who was a nobleman of the
first rank in that country, at the child's own request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the disciple of St. Boniface,
and his successor in the government of the See of Utrecht. St. Ludger had the happiness to have seen the Holy Martyr Boniface,
and received from him strong impressions of virtue. St. Gregory educated him in his monastery, and admiring his progress in learning and piety,
gave him the clerical tonsure. St. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed over into England, and spent four years and a half under Alcuin,
who was rector of a famous school at York. He was careful to employ his whole time in the exercises of piety, and the study of the Holy Scriptures
and the Fathers. In 773 he returned home, and St. Gregory dying in 776, his successor Alberic compelled our Saint to receive the Holy Order
of the Priesthood and employed him for several years in preaching the Word of God in Friesland, where he converted great numbers, both of pagans and
lapsed Christians, founded several monasteries, and built many churches.
This was the state of affairs when the pagan Saxons, ravaging the country, obliged St. Ludger to leave Friesland. Whereupon he
traveled to Rome to consult Pope Adrian II about what course to take, and what he thought God required of him. He then retired for
three-and-a-half years to the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, where he wore the habit of the Order and conformed to the practice
of the Rule during his stay, but made no religious vows. In 787, St. Karl the Great (Charlemagne) overcame the Saxons and conquered
Friesland as well as the coast of the North Sea as far as Denmark. St. Ludger hearing that by this turn of events the mission was again opened,
returned into East Friesland, where he converted the Saxons to the Faith; as he also did the province of what is now Westphalia.
He founded the monastery of Werden (now a suburb of Essen, Germany), twenty-nine miles from Cologne (Köln).
His old master Alcuin having come into France, made his merit known to the Emperor Charlemagne. In 802, Hildebald, Archbishop of Cologne,
notwithstanding his strenuous resistance, consecrated him Bishop of Mimigardeford, a city which afterwards changed this name for that of Münster –
from the great monastery of regular canons which St. Ludger built there, to serve as his cathedral. He joined to his diocese five cantons of
Friesland which he had converted, and also founded the monastery of Helmstedt – now called Kloster St. Ludgerus, in the Duchy of Braunschweig.
He was very learned in the Holy Scriptures, and read daily lectures thereon to his disciples. He fasted and watched much,
and always wore a hair shirt, but secretly, so that no one knew of it till a little before his death. He ate meat at certain times,
chiefly to conform to others, but always observing a strict temperance. When invited to any entertainment, his discourse the whole
time was on religious subjects, and he withdrew immediately afterward. To the poor he was affable and courteous, but firm and
resolute to the proud rich. He exerted an episcopal rigor against impenitent sinners, and refused all manner of presents from an
incestuous lady, and at length excommunicated her. Except what was absolutely necessary for his subsistence, he employed the revenues
of his own estate and those of his bishopric in charities.
He was accused to the Emperor Charlemagne, among other things, of wasting his income, and neglecting the embellishment of
churches within his jurisdiction. The Emperor, who loved to see churches magnificent, giving ear to the information, ordered him to appear at court.
The morning after his arrival, the Emperor's chamberlain brought him word that his attendance was required. The Saint, being then at his prayers,
told the officer that he would follow him as soon as he had finished them. He was sent for three different times before he was ready,
which the courtiers represented as contempt for His Majesty; and the Emperor, with some emotion, asked him why he had made him wait so long,
though he had sent for him so often. The Bishop answered that though he had the most profound respect for His Majesty, yet God was infinitely above him;
that whilst we are occupied with Him, it is our duty to forget everything else; and that in this he judged that he had rather obeyed than neglected
His Majesty's orders, who, when he was chosen Bishop, had recommended to him ever to prefer the service of God to that of men. This answer made such
an impression on the Emperor in favor of the Saint, that he looked upon it as a complete justification of his conduct as to every accusation that had
been laid to his charge. He accordingly dismissed him with honor, and disgraced his accusers.
The Saint took this liberty with a religious prince, that he might condemn the sloth of those who allow distractions or earthly trifles
to interrupt their communication with God; but they who leave prayer for necessary works of charity or obedience, still find God in the exercise of
those virtues. St. Ludger required so devout an attention at divine service, that being at prayers one night with his clergy, and one of them
stooping down to tend the fire and hinder it from smoking, the Saint after prayer severely rebuked him for it, and inflicted on him a penance for several days.
St. Ludger was favored with the gift of miracles and prophecy. He foretold the invasion of the Normans from Denmark and Norway,
and what ravages they would make in the Frankish empire – and this at a time when there was not the least apprehension of any such thing.
His great zeal inclined him to go and preach the Faith to these northern nations, but the King would not allow it. His last sickness, though violent,
did not hinder him from continuing his functions to the very last day of his life – which was Passion Sunday – on which he preached very early in the morning,
offered Mass towards nine, and preached again before night, foretelling to those who were about him, that he should die during the night,
and fixing upon a place in his monastery of Werden where he chose to be interred. He died accordingly on the 26th of March at midnight.
His relics are still kept at the Basilica of St. Ludgerus in Werden-Essen. He is honored as the primary Patron of the Diocese of Münster,
of which he was the first Bishop, and the secondary Patron of the Diocese of Essen.
Nothing so much scandalizes the very infidels, or shows the decay of piety and loss of all sense of religion among Christians,
as their disrespectful behavior in the house of God and at the time of prayer. A strict silence, the most profound exterior respect and
penetrating inward devotion of heart, must essentially accompany our acts of homage when we present them before the throne of God,
in whose presence the highest Seraphim humble themselves. This silence we must observe not only with our tongues, but also with our
bodies and all our limbs, both out of respect to the presence of God and His altar, and also not to give the least occasion of distraction to others.
Prayer is an action so sublime and supernatural, that the Church in Her canonical hours teaches us to begin it by a fervent petition for grace to
perform it well. What an insolence and mockery it would be to join with this petition an open disrespect and a neglect of all necessary precautions
against distractions! We ought never to appear before God to tender Him our homage and or supplication without humble respect, and without being
deaf to all creatures and shutting all our senses to every object that can distract our minds from God.
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