Gunthildis
According to tradition, Gunthildis von Suffersheim , or Gunthild for short , was a benevolent maid who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church .
Life
Historically certain about her life has not been handed down. The name comes from Old High German and means "the combative fighter". She is said to have been a pious maid who was distinguished by special charity. She died around 1057 in Suffersheim near Treuchtlingen in Bavaria ; In any case, based on a writing by Abbot Dominikus von Plankstetten from 1651, the - no longer existing - burial place with its bones in Suffersheim is considered historical. West of Suffersheim there was in medieval times a chapel to St. Gunthild, which was first attested in writing in 1398 and perished during the Reformation . Today, next to the foundations of this chapel uncovered in 1957, there is a new ecumenical Gunthildis chapel , built from 1993 to 1995 .
According to another tradition, Gunthildis is said to be in the wake of St. Willibald came to Germania from southern England in the 8th century.
Legends
Gunthildis from Suffersheim served as a cattle maid and led a very sacred life among her rural work. That is why she is always a role model for all maidservants in the country. Devoted to all virtues, she was especially distinguished by compassion and mercy. Their greatest joy was giving alms to the poor. Through her prayer she got God to let two crystal-clear springs break out of the earth, one from a rock. In the latter, a leper obtained perfect healing. Gunthildis drove the cattle of their rule to these sources. The same thing thrived so well that the cows gave an extraordinary amount of milk. Gunthildis also shared this abundant blessing with the poor.
When she once wanted to carry the milk she had saved from her own mouth to poor people, she met her employer. Very angry, he asked her what she was carrying on. She replied that it was only lye. And the employer only saw lye when he opened the vessel. In this service the pious maid endured until the end of her life. She died a blissful death, rich in graces and virtues. The corpse of the maid, generally venerated as a saint, was loaded onto a wagon and two untamed oxen hitched to it. They calmly dragged the body to Suffersheim. Here they stopped. This has now been recognized as the place of her burial and her body was buried there on earth. Soon afterwards, many miracles occurred at her grave. As a result, a chapel was built over this grave.
Adoration
The Catholic Church commemorates the saints on September 22nd. In pictorial representations of the saints, the attributes milk bucket, cheese wheel and cow are added. She was considered the patroness of the servants and intercessor against leprosy and cattle diseases.
Gunthildis is especially venerated in Biberbach near the Plankstetten monastery . In Dettenheim near Weißenburg she is the patroness of the so-called barn church .
Individual evidence
- ^ After: BAVARIA SANCTA - Life of the saints and blessed of the Bavarian region for instruction and edification for the Christian people - edited by Dr. Modestus Jocham, professor of theology and archbishop spiritual counselor. Freising, (1861), quoted from www.heiligenlegende.de
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gunthildis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gunthild; Gunthildis von Suffersheim |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | catholic saints |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 8th century or 11th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 8th century or around 1057 |