April 14 + Saint Lydwina

Lydwina, born in Schiedam, Holland in 1380, was one of nine children born to poor commoners. At age 15, Lydwina was ice skating when a friend collided with her and caused her to fall and break a rib on the right side. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwina extreme suffering. She never recovered and became progressively disabled for the rest of her life.

Her biographers state that she became paralyzed except for her left hand and that great pieces of her body fell off and that blood poured from her mouth, ears, and nose. Authenticating documents attest that Lydwina shed skin, bones, and parts of her intestines, which her parents kept in a vase and which gave off a sweet odor. This invited so much attention that Lydwina had her mother bury them.

Lydwina developed a devotion to the Eucharist. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, participated in Christ’s Passion, was visited by saints and received the stigmata. She had the gift of inedia (Latin for fasting) and her only food for her last 19 years was the Eucharist.

Lydwina heroically accepted her plight as the will of God and offered up her sufferings for the sins of humanity. She spent most of her life praying, meditating, and offering her pain to God. There were many miracles that took place during her painful illness. She had a vision in which God showed her a rose bush and she heard the words, "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end."

In 1433 at the age of 53, she said, “I see the rose bush in full bloom!" She saw God coming towards her and died on Easter Sunday. Her biography was written by Thomas à Kempis.