“Would you oppose the will of God? Our lives are His.”
Hedwig was born in 1174 at Andechs Castle in the Duchy of Bavaria, of the Holy Roman Empire, to Count Berthold IV of Andechs, and his 2nd wife, Agnes of Wettin, making her part of an influential and powerful noble lineage. She had 6 other siblings, one of which became abbess at the Benedictine Abbey of Kitzingen, another the Bishop of Bamberg, and another as Archbishop of Kalocsa.
At 12, she married Henry I the Bearded, Duke of Silesia, who then succeeded his father as Duke of Silesia. He struggled with his relatives who sought to seize his lands and areas of control. Through protests, allies, and land swaps, he resisted and upon the death of the Polish High Duke Wladyslaw III in 1231, he became Duke of Greater Poland and later High Duke at Krakow.
Together they had 7 children, but only 2 lived to maturity. Despite being deeply involved in the governance of Silesia, Hedwig lived a life marked by intense piety and austerity. Their marriage was filled with joy based on mutual respect, and they shared religious zeal. Henry supported his wife’s charitable works and allowed her to make many sacrifices for the benefit of others.
Despite their wealth, she practiced serious asceticism; fasted, ate plain food, and lived with few personal possessions. She had a strong love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and after her children were grown, she devoted herself to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, especially in helping the poor, sick, hungry, widows, orphans, and expectant mothers.
She gave shelter to sick and disabled people in her castle and the poor followed her where ever she went, as if she were their mother. She visited the imprisoned and brought them food while sending money to those who could not repay their debts.
She brought the Cistercian Order to Silesia and had a monastery and several churches built in the region. Her daughter Gertrude led the monastery in Trzebnica and after Henry’s death, when she was 64, she lived there as well. Although she did not take religious vows, she lived in the community of sisters, practicing as such.
Her son, Henry II the Pious, succeeded his father and she witnessed his death during the Mongol invasion of Poland. Silesia became fragmented under her grandson’s Piast duchies. Her and her daughter-in-law, established a Benedictine abbey at the site of the battle with monks from Opatovice in Bohemia.
She died on October 15, 1243, and was buried with her husband at the Abbey.
She is the patron saint of Andechs Abbey, Brandenburg, the Dioceses of Berlin and Gorlitz, Krakow, Poland.
Her feast day is October 16.
For God’s Glory.
