He was an English monk, educated near the borders of Scotland, and lived
some time under the direction of the holy priest and monk, St. Egbert,
whom he accompanied into Ireland. St. Egbert was hindered himself from
passing into Lower Germany, according to his zealous desire, to preach
the gospel to the infidels: and Wigbert, who first went into Friesland
upon that errand, was thwarted in all his undertakings by Radbod, prince
of that country, and returned home without success. St. Egbert, burning
with an insatiable zeal for the conversion of those souls, which he
ceased not with many tears to commend to God, stirred up others to
undertake that mission. St. Swidbert was one of the twelve missionaries,
who, having St. Willibrord at their head, sailed into Friesland, in 690,
according to the direction of St. Egbert. They landed at the mouth of
the Rhine, as Alcuin assures us, and travelled as high as Utrecht, where
they began to announce to the people the great truths of eternal life.
Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the French palace, had conquered part of
Friesland, eighteen months before, and compelled Radbod, who remained
sovereign in the northern part, to pay an annual tribute. The former was
a great protector and benefactor to these missionaries, nor did the
latter oppose their preaching. St. Swidbert labored chiefly in Hither
Friesland, which comprised the southern part of Holland, the northern
part of Brabant, and the countries of Gueldres and Cleves: for in the
middle age, Friesland was extended from the mouths of the Meuse and the
Rhine, as far as Denmark and ancient Saxony. An incredible number of
souls was drawn out of the sink of idolatry, and the most shameful
vices, by the zeal of St. Swidbert. St. Willibrord was ordained
archbishop of Utrecht by pope Sergius I., at Rome, in 696. St. Swidbert
was pressed by his numerous flock of converts, and by his
fellow-laborers, to receive the episcopal consecration: for this purpose
he returned to England soon after the year 697, where he was consecrated
regionary bishop to preach the gospel to infidels, without being
attached to any see, by Wilfrid, bishop of York, who happened to be then
banished from his own see, and employed in preaching the faith in
Mercia. Either the see of Canterbury was still vacant after the death of
St. Theodorus, or Brithwald, his successor, was otherwise hindered from
performing that ceremony, and St. Swidbert had probably been formerly
known personally to St. Wilfrid, being both from the same kingdom of
Northumberland. Our saint invested with that sacred character, returned
to his flock, and settled the churches which he had founded in good
order: then leaving them to the care of St. Willibrord and his ten
companions, he penetrated further into {494} the country, and converted
to the faith a considerable part of the Boructuarians, who inhabited the
countries now called the duchy of Berg, and the county of La Marck. His
apostolic labors were obstructed by an invasion of the Saxons, who,
after horrible devastations, made themselves masters of the whole
country of the Boructuarians. St. Swidbert, being at length desirous to
prepare himself for his last hour, in retirement, by fervent works of
penance, received of Pepin of Herstal the gift of a small island, formed
by different channels of the Rhine, and another river, called
Keiserswerdt, that is, island of the emperor; werdt, in the language of
that country, signifying an island. Here the saint built a great
monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was converted into a
collegiate church of secular canons. A town, which was formed round this
monastery, bore long the name of St. Swidbert's Isle, but is now called
by the old name, Keiserswerdt, and is fortified: it is situated on the
Rhine, six miles below Dusseldorp: a channel of the Rhine having changed
its course, the place is no longer an island. St. Swidbert here died in
peace, on the 1st of March, in 713. His feast was kept with great
solemnity in Holland and other parts where he had preached. Henschenius
has given us a panegyric on him, preached on this day by Radbod, bishop
of Utrecht, who died in 917. His relics were found in 1626 at
Keiserswerdt, in a silver shrine, together with those of St. Willeic,
likewise an Englishman, his successor in the government of this abbey;
and are still venerated in the same place, except some small portions
given to other churches by the archbishop of Cologne.[1] See Bede, Hist.
l. 5, c. 10, 12, and the historical collection of Henschenius, l. Mart.
p. 84; Fleury, l. 40; Batavia Sacra; and the Roman Martyrology, in which
his name occurs on this day. His successor, St. Willeic, is commemorated
on the 2d of March, by Wilson, in his English Martyrology, in the first
edition, an. 1608, (though omitted in the second edition, an. 1628,) and
is mentioned among the English saints, by F. Edward Maihew, Trop{}ea
Congregationis Anglicanae Bened. Rhemis, 1625; and F. Jerom Porter, in
his Flores Sanctorum Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae. Duaci, 1632.
Footnotes:
1. The acts of St. Swidbert, under the name of Marcellinus, pretended
to be St. Marchelm, a disciple or colleague of the saint, extant in
Surius, are a notorious piece of forgery of the fifteenth century.
We must not, with these false acts and many others, confound St.
Swidbert of Keiserswerdt with a younger saint of the same name, also
an Englishman, first bishop of Verden or Ferden, in Westphaly, in
807, in the reign of Charlemagne; whose body was taken up at Verden,
together with those of seven bishops his successors, in 1630. St.
Swidbert the younger is mentioned in some Martyrologies on the 30th
of April, though many moderns have confounded him with our saint.
Another holy man, called Swidbert, forty years younger than our
saint, whom some have also mistaken for the same with him, is
mentioned by Bede, (l. 4, c. 32) and was abbot of a monastery in
Cumberland, upon the river Decors, which does not appear to hive
been standing since the Conquest. See Leland, Collect. t. 2, p. 152,
and Camden's Britannia; by Gibson, col. 831. Tanner's Notitia Mon.
p. 73.