Saint of the Day – 8 May – St Wiro (Died c753) Bishop of Utrecht, Missionary Bishop to the Frisia people, one of the Apostles of Frisia. Born in Northumbria, England although some sources say that he was an Irish Missionary and died in Roermond, Holland in c753 of natural causes. Patronage – of Utrecht Diocese. Also known as – Apostles of Frisia,Wirone, Wiro of Roermond, Wera of Utrecht (and possibly also the same as Vira of Northumbria). Additional Memorial – 11 May in Roermond, Holland.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In Ireland, St Wiro, Bishop”
Probably a native of Northumberland, England, Wiro seems to have been associated with Saint Willibrord and in c741, to have been appointed the 2nd Bishop of Utrecht to succeed St Willibrord.
Between 746 and 747, Wiro was one of eight Bishops, along with St Boniface, who wrote a letter to Æthelbald, King of Mercia, to reprove him for various dissolute and irreligious acts including stealing Ecclesiastical revenue, violating Church privileges, imposing forced labour on the Clergy and fornication. The letter implored Æthelbald to take a wife and abandon the sin of lust:
“We ,therefore,, beloved son, beseech Your Grace by Christ the Son of God and by His coming and by His Kingdom that if it is true that you are continuing in this vice, you will amend your life by penitence, purify yourself and bear in mind, how vile a thing it is, through lust, to change the image of God created in you, into the image and likeness of a vicious demon!
Remember, you were made King and Ruler over many, not by your own merits but by the abounding grace of God and now, you are making yourself, by your own lust, the slave of an evil spirit.”
Wiro was an itinerant missionary and preached in the region of the Meuse region and the Rhine, where his legend associates him with the Priest St Plechelm and the Deacon St Otger.
Wiro is said to have been Ordained as a Bishop in Rome and then, together with his companions, founded the Monastery in Berg—today’s St. Odile’s Church. Wiro is buried there.
He may be identical with the Missionary Bishop Vira from Northumbria, mentioned by St Alcuin among others.
The Basilica of Saints Wiro, Plechelm and Otger at Sint Odilienberg, is dedicated to these three Missionary companions.
Veneration of Wiro and his two companions began early in Roermond. The legendary life story was written at the end of the 10th Century.
The Monastery he founded was transferred to Roermond, in 1361, accompanied by his Relics which were lost during the Reformation. They were re-discovered later in the 16th Century and a Feastday is celebrated to commemorate the rediscovery. In 1881 the original grave was found in the former Abbey and most of the bones were returned to it.
Wiro’s Feastday is 8 May but in Roermond it is celebrated on 11 May. Since the Middle Ages, his skull has been in Utrecht, where he is the Patron Saint of the Diocese. Pilgrimages are still made to his grave, in Roermond.
AnaStpaul 