September 14 + Saint Notburga

Born in 1265, Notburga was a cook for Count Henry of Rattenberg (Austria), not far from Innsbruck. A very pious Christian, she believed in helping the poor. Henry's wife Ottilia ordered the girl to give the leftover food to the swine rather than the poor. Notburga complied with the order, but saved much of her own food to give to the poor. Frustrated, Ottilia fired the girl, who went to work for a peasant farmer about eight miles away.

Part of the deal she struck with the farmer was that she could have Saturday evenings off to attend Mass. She could also have the eve of major feasts. One time, the farmer disputed whether something constituted a major feast. She agreed to flip her sickle to decide, but the sickle hung in the air. While it was suspended, she took the opportunity to go to Mass.

After Ottilia died, Henry recruited Notburga back to his household. More miracles followed. Once, when she was sneaking out of the house to give some of her master's food to the needy, she got caught. The master demanded to see what she had bundled in her apron. When she opened it, the food and wine had turned to wood shavings and vinegar. (Often, we hear that the apron is full of flowers, usually something that doesn't grow around there, guaranteeing the recognition of a miracle).

Notburga requested that upon her death, her body be laid on a wagon drawn by two oxen. Wherever the oxen stopped, that's where she wanted to be buried. Count Henry did this and the oxen walked straight up to the Chapel of Saint Rupert where she was buried. She died on September 13, 1313 at the age of 48.

She is the patron saint of servants and peasants. Which in a way, is pretty much all of us right?