Willebold, Bl.
WILLEBOLD, BL.
Pilgrim; d. 1230. Nothing is known of his origin or his life, though it is suggested he might have been of the family of the counts of Calw. Miraculous happenings called attention to the death of this otherwise unknown pilgrim at Berkheim, in the Illertal (Swabia). Veneration began immediately, and his grave became a place of pilgrimage, where many sought and obtained his intercession. His relics were translated in 1273 to the parish church at Berkheim. He is the secondary patron of Berkheim and the patron of the Illertal, where his veneration continues today. Materials are now being gathered at Berkheim to determine the possibility of obtaining ecclesiastical confirmation of his cult.
Feast: July 25 or 27.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum July 2:453. a. schÜtte, Handbuch der deutschen Heiligen (Cologne 1941) 352. a. kalbrecht, Der selige Willebold vole Berkheim (9th ed. Munich 1957). j. torsy, ed., Lexikon der deutschen Heiligen, Seligen, Ehrwürdigen und Gottseligen (Cologne 1959) 568.
[d. andreini]