LUDGER OF MÜNSTER, ST.

Bishop, missionary to Frisia and Westphalia; b. Frisia, c. 742; d. Billerbeck, Westphalia, Germany, March 26, 809. Ludger became a student of Bp. gregory of utrecht and, in 767, of alcuin in York, England. The date of a second stay in England is uncertain. In 776 he was made deacon and missionary in Deventer (Netherlands).

After his ordination (777), he spent seven years in Dokkum, West Frisia, which had been Christianized by English missionaries. Bishop Gregory's successor, Alberic of Utrecht, directed Ludger to rebuild the church in Deventer that had been destroyed during a Frisian uprising, and to found a seminary there. However, in 784 the saxons under widukind rebelled against the franks, and Frisia was lost to the Christian faith when the area between the rivers Lauwers and Fli reverted to pagan practices. Ludger was forced to flee and spent more than two years in Rome and Monte Cassino. In 786 charlemagne recalled Ludger and sent him to the defeated Frisians. He rebuilt the churches there and, with the emperor's consent, destroyed the pagan places of worship in Helgoland. These drastic measures incited the Frisians on the Continent, and they ravaged the missions, driving out Ludger.

In 792 Charlemagne sent him to Münster (formerly Mimigardeford), Westphalia, where he organized 40 parishes that he visited yearly. In 804 Ludger was consecrated first bishop of Münster. He founded a convent for women at Nottuln and the abbeys of Helmstedt and werden. Ludger was buried in Werden. Pilgrimages are held in his honor at Billerbeck and Werden. He is depicted as a bishop with either a church or two geese.

Feast: March 26.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum. March 3:626–65. w. wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13. Jh. (Stuttgart-Berlin 1904) 1:243–245. a. hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (Berlin–Leipzig 1958) 2:361–368, 416–419. h. schrade, Die Vita des heiligen Liudger und ihre Bilder (Münster 1960). b. klÖssel, Vollständige Faksimile-Ausgabe im Original-Format der Vita Sancti Liudgeri (Graz 1993). r. r. post, Kerkgeschiedenis van Nederland in de Middeleeuwen, 2 v. (Utrecht 1957). Liudger, 742–809: de confrontatie tussen heidendom en christendom in de Lage Landen, ed. a. van berkum et al. (Dieren 1984). w. freitag, Heiliger Bischof und moderne Zeiten: die Verehrung des heiligen Ludger im Bistum Münster (Münster 1995). k. sierksma, Liudger Thiadgrimszoon: leven en voortleven van een Christus–prediker (Franeker 1995). l. von padberg, Heilige und Familie: Studien zur Bedeutung familiengebundener Aspekte in den Viten des Verwandten—und Schülerkreises um Willibrord, Bonifatius, und Liudger (2d ed. Mainz 1997). j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre de calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 1935–56) 3: 562–566. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints. rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 1:686–688.

[s. a. schulz]