Litany of Saints
Picture: Rijksmuseum · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Willibrord

Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and missionary (c.658–739)

SaintResearchedKingdom of NorthumbriaBenedictinesDate unknown

Feast: 7 November (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
658
verified
Died
7 November 739
verified
Beatified
not on record
Canonised
not on record

Who they were

Willibrord, a Northumbrian and disciple of St Wilfrid, spent twelve years in Ireland under St Egbert, who sent him with eleven companions to the Frisians. Pope Sergius consecrated him Bishop of the Frisians in 695.

He founded a monastery and cathedral at Utrecht and the abbey of Echternach, where he died on 7 November 739 and was at once honoured as a saint. He is the Apostle of the Frisians.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

The English apostle of the Frisians.

Connected on this site

Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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