Nicholas of Flüe
hermit, ascetic, patron saint of Switzerland (1417–1487)
Feast: 21 March (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Niklaus von Flüe was born in 1417 into a farming family at Flüe, Obwalden, in the Swiss Confederation. Illiterate all his life, he is counted among the Church's great mystics. Between 1440 and 1444 he fought as a soldier and then an officer in the Confederates' wars.
Husband and father of ten, called by God to greater things, he left his wife and children and withdrew to the mountain ravine of the Ranft near Sachseln as a hermit, famous for strict penance.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A farmer, soldier and father who left all to live for God alone in penance and prayer.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Nicola di Flüe
- Wikidata Q115550 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Nicholas of Flüe (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.