Picture: Andreas Praefcke · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Wendelin of Trier
German saint
SaintResearchedPre-congregation
Feast: 22 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
554
verified
Died
617
verified
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Wendelin's lives were written only after 1417. They say he left a noble home on pilgrimage to Rome and then lived as a hermit near Trier, working for a time as a herdsman, and that his community of hermits grew into the Abbey of Tholey.
His intercession was sought in times of plague and cattle disease; he is patron of country people and herdsmen.
The miracles
He is not in the Roman Martyrology, but his feast is kept in the Diocese of Trier; there was never a formal cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A hermit and herdsman, patron of country people.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Wendelin
- Wikidata Q389586 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Wendelin of Trier (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.