The Patron Saint of Abused Women
Unlikely as her story was, the tale of St Wilgefortis began to spread about Europe. From around 1350, her image began to spring up in churches in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Eastern Europe and England. In the Loreto Church in Prague, she had her own Chapel, the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Wilgefortis even appeared as a feature in the Chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. People celebrated her feast day on July 20. In fact, St Wilgefortis a favorite Saint until the sixteenth century.
Because of her cruel ill-treatment by the men in her life, Wilgefortis became something of a hero for abused women who came to view her as their champion. The English knew her as St Uncumber. According to Thomas More, the sixteenth-century writer, and statesman, women believed that “for a pecke of oats she will not faile to uncumber them of their husbondys.” This theme of being relieved of troublesome menfolk was a feature of Wilgefortis’s worship elsewhere in Europe- where again she was known by local names. In France, she was St Debarras- “St Riddance.” In the Spain and Italy, she was the spirit of liberation, known as St Librada and St Liberata respectively.
Wilgefortis’s name changes also reflected the local flavor her legend could take on. Her story as it is reflected in the Church of Santa Maria in Bayona, Spain is particularly striking. In the church, Wilgefortis is depicted as St Librada, hanging from the cross in a floral gown. Interestingly, she is not bearded. Nor is any fiddler in attendance. Instead, her eight sisters, Ginebra, Victoria, Eumelia, Germana, Gema, Marciana, Basilisa and Quiteria and their nurse Sila, surround Librada. According to the local legend, all of the sisters, not just Librada were martyred sometime in the second century AD. Their Christian mother had hidden them from their father, the Roman Governor of Spain as babies. Their nurse brought them up in a cave, but once they were grown up, their father rediscovered them. When he found they were Christians, he tried to persuade them to recant. When they refused, he killed them.
The fiddler is absent in other local depictions of the legend. In the Netherlands, Wilgefortis is known as Ontkommer, meaning ‘one who avoids something“. In a Dutch Book of Hours dating to 1415, the saint is depicted as having a full white beard and a halo instead of a crown. She is roped to her T shaped cross, and her long dress covers her feet. Ontkommer is notably absent golden boots and the fiddler. This absence is interesting. For this musician is key to understanding how the legend of St Wilgefortis evolved.