Saint Lidwina
Also known as Lidwina of Shiedam, Lydwid and Lidwid.
Saint Lidwina was born of a poor family in Schiedam, Holland, in 1380. At a very young age, little Lidwina found herself totally devoted to the Blessed Virgin and was often found praying before an image of Our Lady of Schiedam. In 1395, Lidwina had a skating accident that resulted in broken ribs. Unfortunately, there was no one in the town that knew how to care for this type of injury and gangrene quickly set in and spread throughout her body. The pain from the infection was severe and lasted for years. Because the infection was internal without any outward signs that the that townsfolk could attribute her agony to, she was believed to be under the influence of the devil. Trying to trick her, she was given an unconsecrated Eucharistic Host, but she knew it right away.
During her suffering, Saint Lidwina was given the gift of visions. In one of the visions that she did share, she said she saw a rosebush and an inscription that read: "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end." In the spring of 1433, she said that she saw the rosebush of her vision. On Easter morning of that year, she had a vision of Jesus administering the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. She died on the 14th of April of that year. There were several miracles recorded by those that visited her in her bedroom during her suffering.
