Saint of the Day – 25 June – Saint Adalbert of Egmond (Died c 740)

Saint of the Day – 25 June – Saint Adalbert of Egmond (Died c 740) Deacon, Confessor, Missionary, disciple of St Willibrord. Born in Northumbria, England and died in c 740 in Egmond, Holland of natural causes. Also known as – Adelbert, Aedelbert, Aedelbertus.

The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “In Holland, St Adalbert, Confessor, disciple of the sainted Bishop, Willibrord.”

According to our earliest source about Adalbert of Egmond, the tenth-century Vita Sancti Adelberti, Adalbert was born in Northumbria and came to Frisia as one of the companions of the Missionary, St Willibrord (d. 739).

Adalbert concentrated his efforts in preaching the Gospel to the area around present-day Egmond, North-Holland. He was beloved by the locals, who erected a little wooden Chapel in his honour at the site of his grave.

Soon after his death in c 740, miracles started to take place: a widow who had prayed to the saint received her daily bread with the incoming tide; marauding Vikings who had their eyes set on Egmond were deceived by miraculously appearing mists.

In the tenth century, Adalbert visited the Nun, Wilfsit three times in a dream and told her that his bones should be exhumed and translated to her nunnery in Hallem (present-day Egmond-Binnen). Wilfsit contacted Count Dirk I of Holland (d. 939), who had the Church demolished and Adalbert’s bones dug up. As they did so, water welled up along with the saintly bones and a well was established on the site. Ever since, this well has been a holy place and has been visited by various pilgrims, among whom the blind Anglo-Saxon Folmar, whose sight was restored by drinking water from the well of Adalbert. A thousand years later, water can still be drunk from the well and for those of faith, miracles still occur.

In the 18th century, in particular, water from the well was used to heal cows and other livestock. Interestingly, a nearby Abbey, named after Saint Adalbert, uses water from the well to brew its own beer. The beer is entitled ‘Sancti Adalberti Miraculum Novum’ – the latest miracle of Saint Adalbert!