St. Sebaldus

  Posted on August 19, 2024  by admin  No comments

Born: probably in England

Died: c.770

Patronage: against cold weather, Bavaria, Germany, Nuremberg, Germany.

Also known as Sebald, Sinibaldo, Siward

Son of a Danish chieftain who had settled in England. Missionary in the Reichswald area of Germany, working with Saint Willibald of Eichstatt, Saint Winibald and Saint Boniface. Popular preacher who converted many, he later retired near Nuremburg, Germany where he would alternate life as a prayerful hermit and then a zealous evangelist. A number of miracle stories are told about him, he converted stones to bread and water to wine to feed his fellow missionaries, he burned icicles as firewood in the dead of winter to keep the poor from freezing, when he was being heckled by a profane blasphemer, Sebaldus prayed, and the earth opened up to swallow the pagan; as he fell into the earth, the heckler asked for forgiveness; the earth spat him back out, when a poor peasant was blind by his lord, Sebaldus restored the man’s missing eyes by praying over him.