Saint Frederick of Utrecht

Frederick was born around 781 and was the great-grandson of Radbod, the last king of the Frisians, who had fought against the Christians. His descendant ended up as bishop of that very land. He was ordained a priest in Utrecht and given the task of instructing the catechumens. Around 820 he became bishop, and he set about completing the evangelization of Frisia, helped by Saint Odulf, who later wrote his biography. He was killed on July 18, 838, and on the question of why, tradition splits in two — and they are two very different stories. According to the first, he was murdered while celebrating Mass by assassins sent by the empress Judith of Bavaria, second wife of Louis the Pious, whose conduct he had publicly condemned. According to the other, he was killed by the pagans of the island of Walcheren, in Zeeland, who opposed his preaching — and in particular his insistence against marriages between blood relatives, which in those communities were the rule. Historians today lean toward the second; the first probably arose later, when a version with a more illustrious culprit was needed. Either way, he died for telling someone something they didn’t want to hear, and that is why he is venerated as a martyr. If your name is Frederick, today is your name day.