St. Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia

St. Hedwig,
Duchess and widow

Hedwig was born to Bertold III and his wife Agnes. These were the grandparents of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Hedwig was therefore the Aunt of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She had three sisters and four brothers. Her sister Agnes was married to Philip Augustus, King of France; her sister Gertrude was married to Andrew, King of Hungary, and her third sister was the Abbess of Lutzingen in Franconia. Her brothers Bertold and Elebert were bishops of Aquileia and Bamberg respectively, and her brothers Henry and Otho divided up their father's principalities and became renowned generals. Hedwig was placed in the monastery of Lutzingen at a very young age where she would begin her studies. At age 12, she would be married to Henry, Duke of Silesia. Hedwig bore him six children: sons Henry, Conrad, and Boleslas, and daughters Agnes, Sophia, and Gertrude.

In 1233, the nobility of Poland expelled their Duke Ladislas, and conferred upon Henry the principalities. Always bearing in humility, Hedwig pleaded to her husband not to accept the offer, but it was to no avail and Henry gathered an army and took possession of the lands. From that point on, he was known as the Duke of Poland. He desired to leave his dominions to his second son, Conrad, but Hedwig supported that the oldest should hold the inheritance. This unfortunate disagreement between the Duchess and her husband led to the two sons clashing in military combat. Henry would prevail and Conrad would perish. This became one of the crosses that the Duchess would have to bear throughout her life.

She and her husband founded numerous monasteries including the Augustinian nunnery of Naumberg on the Bober which was later transferred to Sagan, the Cistercian monastery of Heinrichau, the priory of the Augustinian Canons at Kamenz, the Dominicans were brought to Bunzlau and Breslau, the Franciscans to Goldberg and later to Krossen, and the Templars would establish a house at Klein-Oels. In addition, she and her husband founded the monastery of the Cistercian nuns at Trebnitz where she spent most of her time doing many penances. The Hospital of the Holy Ghost at Breslau was founded by her husband and she would spend much time serving the leper women in the hospital in Neumarkt.

Her daughters Agnes and Sophia would die in infancy. Her son Boleslas would also die at an early age as well. She would carry the burden of child loss for most of her life but in all things, she looked to God and she desired to fulfill what was pleasing to God. Even in her marriage, she only carried out her penances to the extent that her husband would allow as she believed that the marital life was what God had called her to and wives are to honor their husbands. Seeing his wife so pious and devout, Henry would be more than willing to allow her to carry out her penances, and he too would find himself attired as a monastic within his royal courts. The two would make a pledge of virginity after their sixth child, and after being tonsured, Henry never once shaved his beard. For this, he was known as Henry the Bearded.

She would fast regularly throughout the year, only breaking such fasts on Sundays and Holy Days. She would kneel in Church on the stone floor without any mat between her knees and the ground. She would wear a hair cloth underneath her dress and would wear simple clothes. She taught her husband and her maids many prayers. She would even walk barefoot in the Winter to the Church, her feet bleeding on the way, yet the saint seemed unaffected by the cold while her maids, who were dressed more fittingly for the weather, would suffer greatly from the harsh weather as they made their way to Mass.

She would serve the poor and needy, and made the monastery of Trebnitz a place for orphans and young girls to receive their dowries. She had with her 13 impoverished people who would symbolize Christ and His Apostles for her. She would make certain they were fed with all sorts of meats and foods before she even gave herself her own refection. She did all of this out of her pure love for God and nothing falling short. She even showed sympathy for prisoners asking their sentences to be commuted. When the Lesko the White had died, he would be succeeded by his infant son, Boleslas V with his mother Grzymislawa as regent. Boleslas V would later marry St. Cunegund but he and his mother and his sister Salome would be taken into captivity by Conrad, Duke of Masovia, and brother of the late King. Henry wished to settle this with Conrad but Conrad took him captive. Hedwig expressed her desire to Conrad to see her husband in good health again. Conrad refused. And as her son Henry was about to assemble an army, Hedwig took matters into her own hands and traversed all the way to see the Duke. The Duke, upon seeing her, relented immediately and gave up her husband. In 1233, the people of Cracow and Sadomir would revolt against the tyranny of the Duke and Grzymislawa and her son entrusted themselves to the care of the Duke and Duchess of Silesia.

In 1238, Henry fell ill and died. All of the people mourned the Duke's repose but the widow remained the only one with a dry eye. Hedwig proclaimed, "Would you oppose the will of God? Our lives are his. We ought to find our comfort in whatever he is pleased to ordain, whether as to our own death, or as to that of our friends." All of her life, she always sought the will of God. Whether in marriage or in the loss of her children, or now in widowhood. She embraced all things as being wholly intended by the will of God and gave herself up to where God had placed her. She would now take the habit at the Cistercian Abbey of Trebnitz which she herself had built and live the remainder of her days in subjection to her daughter.

Anne of Bohemia,
widow of Henry II

She would witness the death of her son, Henry II, not long after. The Tartars were on the move through Russia and Bulgaria, and were now coming into Hungary and Poland. They had destroyed the city of Cracow, leaving only the Church of St. Andrew standing. They laid siege on Silesia which was protected by its walls and the prayers of St. Ceslas. The Duke raised an army and pushed them back but he was killed in the battle. His corpse was carried back to be interred in the convent of the Franciscans in Legnitz. His wife Anne and had retired with her mother-in-law at the fortress of Chrosne. Hedwig, seeing her daughter-in-law distraught, counseled her to accept the will of God.

“God hath disposed of my son as it hath pleased him. We ought to have no other will than his.” Then, lifting up her eyes to heaven, she prayed as follows: “I thank you, my God, for having given me such a son, who always loved and honored me, and never gave me the least occasion of displeasure. To see him alive was my great joy; yet I feel a still greater pleasure in seeing him, by such a death, deserve to be forever united to you in the kingdom of your glory. Oh, my God, with my whole heart, I commend to you his dear soul.” (St. Hedwiges, or Avoice, Duchess of Poland, W.)

Hedwig would teach her daughter-in-law much in the areas of humility and Anne would learn from her mother-in-law's sufferings to accept and grow in the will of God, putting all things into the hands of the Lord. God honored Hedwig with the gift of miracles and she would even cure a blind nun of Trebnitz. Her daughter-in-law was venerated as a saint in Poland too but never formally canonized. St. Hedwig's Feast Day is October 17.*

See also,

A.B.C. Dunbar, Dictionary of Saintly Women

*I rarely write about Western Saints after the first millennium because I am canonically Melkite but if I see an interesting royal saint or even just an interesting Western Saint, I'll definitely try to write about them.