In this Jubilee year we turn our eyes an dour hears with grateful devotion to her who has been our special advocate with God through the past fifty years - to our venerable patroness, Saint Hedwig. Born of a princely race as the daughter of the Duke of Dalmatia, Hedwig became the wife of Henry, Duke of Silesia, to whom she bore six children. By mutual consent in later years, these noble consorts separated to lead lives of greater perfection, though Hedwig never ceased to aid and comfort her husband in the many political troubles that beset him. She survived him for fifteen years, which she passed in the practice of prayer and severe penace in the monastery of Trebnitz near Krakow in Poland. Here she found her only solace in devoted ministry to the poor and afflicted. God called her to a rich heavenly reward on October 15, 1243, at the age of sixty-nine; while the Church, by the voice of Pope Clement IV, acclaimed her saintly life by canonization in 1267.

The life of our patroness has offered daily inspiration to the members of the parish she shields with her queenly mantle. Amid the cares of a great household, Saint Hedwig looked after her six children with motherly solicitude, gave wise counsel to her husband, and still found time with God's help to attend Mass each morning, serve the poor in person, take care of the sick, and carry comfort and hope to unfortunate prisoners. All of her earthly possessions she distributed to the sick and the needy, contenting herself with the poorest sustenance in her daily needs. For the example of such a saintly life held before us for fifty years, we render our thanks to God and pray that every year.