Saint Swithbert

Also known as

• Apostle of the Frisians
• Suidbert
• Suitbert
• Suitbertus
• Swibert the Elder
• Swidbert

Memorial

• 1 March

Profile

Studied in Ireland with Saint Egbert. Benedictine monk. Preacher. Spiritual teacher of Saint Willeic. One of a group of twelve English missionaries led by Saint Willibrord of Echternach who worked in Friesland, a group of islands off the coast of the Netherlands. Bishop in 693. Worked with Saint Wilfrid. Founded a Benedictine monastery at Werth on the Rhine (modern Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth, Germany) where he lived the rest of his life, and where his relics rest.

Born

• c.647

Died

• 1 March 713 near Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth, Germany of natural causes
• relics at Kaiserwerth

Canonized

• Pre-Congregation

Patronage

• against angina
• against throat ailments
• angina sufferers
• Drevenack, Germany
• Germany

Additional Information

• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
• Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson