Saint of the Day Online - St. Frederick

Saint of the Day for Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Saint Name: St Frederick
Place: Friesland
Birth: 780
Death: 838
Feast: July 18

St Frederick who was born around 780 in Friesland was a grandson of the Frisian King Radboud and the Bishop of Utrecht between 815/816 and 834/838 AD.

According to Church records, he died on 18 July 838 but other sources give dates between 834 and 838. In any case, it is certain that he was murdered.

According to tradition St. Frederick became involved in the difficulties between the sons of the emperor, Louis the Debonair, and their father and step-mother. During these disturbances, the party of the young princes charged Empress Judith with numerous immoralities. Whatever may have been the truth of these stories, St. Frederick is said to have admonished her of them, with charity but with the effect of drawing upon himself the fury and resentment of the Empress. He also got himself disliked elsewhere. The inhabitants of Walcheren were barbarous and most averse from the Gospel. On which account, St. Frederick, when he sent priests in the northern part of his diocese, took this most dangerous and difficult part chiefly to himself; and nothing gave him more trouble than marriages contracted within the forbidden decrees and the separation of the parties

After the death of Ricfried in 815/816, Frederick was chosen as Bishop of Utrecht. He was known for his piety and erudition. He maintained a correspondence with Rabanus Maurus. He was praised for his knowledge and understanding during the synod of Mainz in 829. 

It is unclear exactly how Frederick came to an end. It has been established that he was murdered, but by whom and why is unclear. Legend tells that he was stabbed by two men after the offering of the Mass on 18 July 838. According to the 11th and 12th-century writers Bishop Otbert of Liège (Passio Frederici) and William of Malmesbury, the killers were hired by Empress Judith, because of Frederick's regular criticism of her dissolute way of life. Later writers like Cesare Baronio and Jean Mabillon write that the inhabitants of Walcheren, who were hostile to Christianity, sent them as a response to Frederick's preaching there.

The latter seems the most plausible. There are no sources of writers of the time showing that the empress was unchaste or immoral, or that Frederick had made that allegation. Moreover, Walcheren was quite hostile to the missionaries from Utrecht.

Shortly after his death, Frederick was canonized. His feast day is 18 July and he is the patron saint of the deaf. He was buried in St. Salvator's Church in Utrecht.