Saint Matilda of Germany

Matilda was born around 895 in Enger, in Westphalia, the daughter of the Saxon count Theodoric of Ringelheim and Reinhild of Frisia. She was raised by her grandmother, the abbess Matilda, in the monastery of Herford, and she stayed there until 909. At thirteen her parents gave her in marriage to Henry the Fowler, who was thirty-three. He became duke of Saxony in 912 and king of East Francia in 919. They had five children, and what a family: Otto, who would be king of Italy and emperor; Gerberga, queen of West Francia; Hedwig, mother of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty that would rule France for eight centuries. Widowed in 936, Matilda didn’t step off the stage or leave quietly: she had difficult years with her sons, who didn’t like how much money she spent on religious foundations and alms. She founded monasteries — Quedlinburg, Nordhausen, Engern, Pöhlde — and ended up retiring to Quedlinburg itself, becoming a nun in the abbey she herself had wanted. She died there on March 14, 968. She is venerated as a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church, both on March 14. If your name is Matilda, today is your name day.