Saint Hedwig

Saint Hedwig

Saint Hedwig (Jadwiga) was Duchess of Silesia, then Duchess of Greater Poland, and finally High Duchess consort of Poland. She was born into a prominent family in the Duchy of Bavaria and was sent to Silesia at the age of 12 to marry Henry, the 18-year-old son of Duke Bolesław I. Though Poland was torn by rivalries and treacheries, throughout their livesthe pious Henry and Hedwig built a legacy of good works. They endowed monastic communities for numerous orders, including the Cistercians, Premonstratensians, and Augustinians. Trzebnica Abbey, a Cistercian community established by Henry at Hedwig’s request in 1202, was the first house of religious women in Silesia. Around Christmas 1208, after the birth of their seventh child, Hedwig asked Henry to join her in a solemn vow to lead a celibate life. After Henry’s death in 1238, Hedwig moved into Trzebnica Abbey, then overseen by Gertrude, the only one of Hedwig’s children who would survive her. Hedwig donned the grey habit of a lay sister and devoted herself to prayer, charity, and service. Canonized in 1267 by Pope Clement IV, Saint Hedwig is known as a patron saint of Silesia, Bavarian House of Andechs, the Archdiocese of Wrocław, and the Diocese of Görlitz.