Women's History Month: Saint Matilda of Ringelheim (aka Saint Maud)

Doesn't it look like she's telling the king what to do?

Mathilda was born in 895 in present day Germany. She grew up in Herford Abbey, where her grandmother was the Abbess. She was married to Henry, the Duke of Saxony who in 919 became King Henry. Queen Mathilda was very generous with state resources, and her husband supported her efforts on behalf of the poor and the imprisoned. When he died in 936, her son Otto became king. Mathilda established Quedlinburg Abbey in Saxony in memory of her husband. In 966 her granddaughter, also named Mathilda, became the first abbess.

At first Mathilda stayed at court as Queen Mother. But in part of a growing rift between the King and one of his brothers, Mathilda was denounced for spending too much from the royal treasury on charitable activites. She was eventually invited back to court at the urging of King Otto's wife, Queen Edith.

Mathilda died on March 14, 1968 and is buried in Quendlinburg Abbey.

Saint Mathilda is recognized for her generous almsgiving and devoted prayer life. According to one biographer she would sneak away from her sleeping husband in the middle of the night to go pray. She is most recognized in Germany.

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