General Notes

St. Matilda
b.? d.968 Feastday: March 14 Patroness of parents of larg
e families
Matilda was the daughter of Count Dietrich of Westphalia an
d Reinhild of Denmark. She was also known as Mechtildis an
d Maud. She was raised by her grandmother, the Abbess of Eu
furt convent. Matilda married Henry the Fowler, son of Duk
e Otto of Saxony, in the year 909. He succeeded his fathe
r as Duke in the year 912 and in 919 succeeded King Conra
d I to the German throne. She was noted for her piety and c
haritable works. She was widowed in the year 936, and suppo
rted her son Henry's claim to his father's throne. When he
r son Otto (the Great) was elected, she persuaded him to na
me Henry Duke of Bavaria after he had led an unsuccessful r
evolt. She was severely criticized by both Otto and Henry f
or what they considered her extravagant charities. She resi
gned her inheritance to her sons, and retired to her countr
y home but was called to the court through the intercessio
n of Otto's wife, Edith. When Henry again revolted, Otto pu
t down the insurrection in the year 941 with great cruelty
. Matilda censored Henry when he began another revolt again
st Otto in the year 953 and for his ruthlessness in suppres
sing a revolt by his own subjects; at that time she prophes
ized his imminent death. When he did die in 955, she devote
d herself to building three convents and a monastery, was l
eft in charge of the kingdom when Otto went to Rome in 96
2 to be crowned Emperor (often regarded as the beginning o
f the Holy Roman Empire), and spent most of the declining y
ears of her life at the convent at Nordhausen she had built
. She died at the monastery at Quedlinburg on March 14 an
d was buried there with Henry. Her feast day is March 14th.