Image: Engraving by Frederick Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert, S. Willibrordus, c. 1630. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. (source)
This site follows the traditional Roman calendar of 1962, as found in the 1962 Roman Missal used at the Traditional Latin Mass. Some feast days fall on different dates than in the General Roman Calendar of 1969, revised after the Second Vatican Council.
Euntes in mundum universum prædicate Evangelium omni creaturæ.
Mark 16:15
Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
About Today
Today is the Saturday of Our Lady in the traditional 1962 calendar: a fourth-class Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with no saint’s feast in the Missal. The saint honored here is taken from the traditional Roman Martyrology for November 7.
His Life
Willibrord was born about the year 658 in Northumbria and was formed in the monastic life at Ripon under St. Wilfrid. Later he spent years of study and prayer in Ireland, then set out with companions to bring the Faith to the peoples of Friesland.
In Rome he received the blessing of Pope Sergius I, who consecrated him bishop and gave him the name Clement. From Utrecht he labored for decades among the Frisians, founding churches and monasteries, and he also carried the Gospel into Denmark. Near the end of his life he established the famous abbey of Echternach in what is now Luxembourg, where he died on November 7 in the year 739.
He is remembered as the Apostle of the Frisians and the first bishop of Utrecht. His feast in the Martyrology keeps alive the memory of a missionary who left his homeland so that others might know Christ.
A Lesson for Today
St. Willibrord lived Our Lord’s command to preach the Gospel to every creature. His courage and perseverance invite us to share the Faith with patience wherever God places us.
Sancte Willibrorde, ora pro nobis.
St. Willibrord, pray for us.