Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/588

 WALAFRID

526

WALBURGA

Kive-net-che-chal, or Cape people; they are of medium stature, and well proportioned. Formerly they lived in villages consisting merely of seven or eight cedar- wood houses, and excelled only in fishing. Marriage was a very slender bond, but was not allowed within the fourth degree. Both sexes had their noses pierced, and generally had shells suspended therefrom. They adored a chief deity, "Chabatta-Hatartstl", the great-chief-who-lives-above, and believed in spirits and the transmigration of souls. They held frequent representations, called tamanwas, depicling then- mythological legends. The Makah women were clever basket-makers. The tribe still shows traces of an admixture of European blood, accounted for by the shipwTeck of a Russian boat many years ago.

SwANTON in Handbook of American Indians, II (Washington,

A. A. MacErlean.

Walafrid (Walahfrid), sumamed Strabo "the Squinter", German poet and theologian of the ninth century, b. in Swabia of poor parents; d. at Reichenau, 849. He studied at Reichenau under Tatto, Erlebold, and Wettin, and later at Fulda under the famous Rabanus Maurus. In 829 he became preceptor of the voung Prince Charles (the Bald) at the Court of Louis the Pious. In 838 he succeeded Erlebold as abbot of Reichenau; but, as he sided with Lothair in the war between the sons of Louis, he was driven from Reichenau and fled to Speyer. He was soon reconciled with Louis the German, and reinstated in his dignity, which he held until his death. Walafrid's works, written in a fluent, elegant Latin, consist of poems and of theolog- ical treatises in prose. The "Visio Wettini" is his most remarkable poem. It describes a journey through the other world in the form of a vision vouch- safed to the monk Wettin a few days before he died (824), and is the earUest example of that type of literature which culminated in Dante's "Divine Comedy". The "Versus de imagine Tetrici", in the form of a dialogue between the poet and his genius, were inspired by the equestrian statue of Theodoric which Charlemagne had brought from Ravenna and placed before the palace at Aachen. While the Gothic king is denounced as a heretic and tyrant, occasion is found for paying homage to Louis the Pious and the Empress Judith. In the "Hortulus" the poet lovingly describes the plants and flowers of his cloister-garden. Walafrid also wrote hymns and epistles in verse, but of these only a portion is pre- served. Of his prose-works the most famous is the "Glossa ordinaria", a commentary on the Scriptures, compiled from various sources. The work enjoyed the highest repute tliroughout the Middle Ages. The "Liber de exordiis et incrementis quarundam in observationibus ecclesiasticis rerum" is valuable as a history of the cult of the Church. Walafrid also wrote in prose the lives of St. Gall and St. Othmar, and in verse the lives of St. Blaitmaicus, abbot of lona, and of St. Mammas, the martyr. His works are edited in P. L., CXIII, CXIV; the poems also senarately by DUmmler, "Poetae latini sevi Carolini", in "Mon. Germ. Hist.", II (Berlin, 1884), 259-473.

Ebert Allgemeine Gesch. der Lilleratur des Mittelallers, II (Leipzig. 1880), 145-66; Wattenbach in Allgemeine peidsche Biographie, XL, 639-40; Grimm, Das ReiterstandbM des Theo- dorich zu Aachen u. das Gedicht des Walafrid Slrabus darauf (Berlin 1869); JcNDT, W. Strabon, I'hommeelle tMologxen (Caliors,

Arthur F. J. Remy.

Walbiirga (Waltpurde, Walpurgis; at Perche Gatihuuge; in other parts of France Vaubovirg, Fal- boi'Rg\ Sai.mt, b. in Devonshire, about 710; d. at Heidenheim, 2F, Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and

also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, and of Winna, sister of St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, and had two brothers, St. Wilhbald and St. Winibald. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pil- grimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then eleven years old, to the abbess of Wimborne. In the claustral school and as a member of the commu- nity, she spent twenty-six years preparing for the great work she was to accompUsh in Germany. The monastery was famous for holiness and austere disci- pUne. There was a high standard at Wimborne, and the child was trained in solid learning, and in accom- plishments suitable to her rank. Thanks to this she was later able to wTite St. Winibald's Life and an ac- count in Latin of St. WilUbald's travels in Palestine. She is thus looked upon by many as the first female author of England and Germany. Scarcely a year after her arrival, Walburga received tidings of her father's death at Lucca. During this period St. Boniface was laying the foundations of the Church in Germany. He saw that for the most part scattered efforts would be futile, or would exert but a passing influence. He, therefore, determined to bring the whole country under an organized system. As he advanced in his spiritual conquests he established monasteries which, hke fortresses, should hold the conquered regions, and from whose watch-towers the Hght of faith and learning should radiate far and near. Boniface was the first missionary to caU women to his aid. In 748, in response to his appeal. Abbess Tetta sent over to Germany St. Lioba and St, WaX- burga, with many other nuns. They sailed with fair weather, but before long a terrible storm arose. Hereupon Walburga prayed, kneeling on the deck, and .at once the sea became calm. On landing, the sailors proclaimed the miracle they had witnessed, so that Walburga was everj'^'here received with joy and veneration. There is a tradition in the Church of Antwerp that, on her way to Germany, Walburga made some stay there; and in that city's most ancient church, whichnow bears the title of St. Walburga, there is pointed out a grotto in which she was wont to pray. This same church, before adopting the Roman Ofiice, was accustomed to celebrate the feast of St. Walburga four times a year. At Mainz she was wel- comed by her uncle, St. Boniface, and by her brother, St. Willibald. After Uving some time under the rule of St. Lioba at Bischofsheim, she was appointed ab- bess of Heidenheim, and was thus placed near her favourite brother, St. Winibald, who governed an abbey there. After his death she ruled over the monks' monastery as well as her o'n-n. Her virtue, sweetness, and prudence, added to the gifts of grace and nature with which she was endowed, as well as the many miracles she WTOught, endeared her to all. It was of these nuns that Ozanam -nTote: "Silence and humility have veiled the labours of the nuns from the eyes of the world, but history has as- signed them their place at the very beginning of Ger- man civilization: Providence has placed women at every cradlesidc." On 23 Sept., 776, she assisted at the translation of her brother St. Winibald's body by St. Willibald, when it was found that time had left no trace upon the sacred remains. Shortly after this she fell ill, and, having been assisted in her last moments by St. Willibald, she expired.

St. Willibald laid her to rest beside St. Winibald, and nianv wonders were ■RTought at both tombs. St. Wi!lib;dd survived till 7Sti, and after his death devo- tion to St. Walburga gradually declined, and her tomb was neglected. About 87, Otkar, then Bishop of Eichstadt, determined to restore the church and monastery of Heidenheim, which were falling to ruin. The workmen having desecrated St. Walburga's grave, she one night appeared to the bishop, reproach- ing and threatening him. This led to the solemn