Wiborada

Saint Wiborada
Saint Wiborada from the Cimelia Sangallensia, c. 1430
Anchorite and Martyr
Born	9th century present-day Aargau Canton, Switzerland
Died	926 Abbey of St. Gall, St. Gallen, present-day Switzerland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Canonized	1047 by Pope Clement II
Feast	2 May
Attributes	a Benedictine nun holding a book and axe
Patronage	libraries, librarians (in Switzerland and Germany)

Saint Wiborada of St. Gall (also Guiborat or Weibrath) (died 926) was a member of the Swabian nobility in what is present-day Switzerland. She was an anchoress, Benedictine nun, and martyr, as well as the first woman formally canonized by the Vatican. Her vita was written ca. 1075 by Herimannus, a monk of St Gall.

Wiborada was born to a wealthy noble family in Swabia. After the death of their parents, Wiborada joined her brother Hatto in becoming a Benedictine at the Abbey of St. Gall. There, she occupied herself by making Hatto's clothes and helping to bind many of the books in the monastery library.

Wiborada became settled at the monastery, and Hatto taught her Latin so that she could chant the Divine Office. When they invited the sick and poor into their home, Wiborada proved a capable nurse. A pilgrimage to Rome influenced Hatto to decide to become a monk at St. Gall Abbey, a decision which Wiborada supported.

At this time, it appears that Wiborada was charged with some type of serious infraction or wrongdoing, and was subjected to the medieval practice of ordeal by fire to prove her innocence. Although she was exonerated, the embarrassment probably influenced her next decision: withdrawing from the world and becoming an ascetic.

When she petitioned to become an anchoress, Bishop Salomon of Constance arranged for her to stay in a cell next to the church of Saint George near the monastery, where she remained for four years before relocating to a cell adjoining the church of St. Magnus in 891.