October 16th is the Feastday of St. Hedwig of Silesia of Poland. I did not know about this saint but as I read more about her I was glad to have come across her. She was a great example of a wife, a mother and a Christian. Hospitable, charitable and devoted to the Christ and His Church in her vocation.
At the age of twelve, Hedwig married Henry I the Bearded. Together they had 7 children.
From Wikipedia
Hedwig and Henry lived very pious lives, and Hedwig had great zeal for religion. Hedwig always helped the poor and donated all her fortune to the Church. According to legend, she went barefoot even in winter, and when she was urged by the Bishop of Wrocław to wear shoes, she carried them in her hands.
The widow moved into the monastery, which was led by her daughter Gertrude, assuming the religious habit of a lay sister, but she did not take vows. She invited numerous German religious people from the Holy Roman Empire into the Silesian lands, as well as German settlers who founded numerous cities, towns and villages in the course of the migration, while cultivating barren parts of Silesia for agriculture.
Make foot or shoe shaped cookies or bread.
From Catholic Culture - On this feast in Poland, there is a bread called Hedwigsohlen (Shoe Soles of St. Hedwig) that used to be distributed to the poor of Trebnitz on her feast day. The shoe soles remind us of her generosity to the poor, and the fact that she sacrificed her own comfortable shoes in walking to church. Any recipe for a bread that can be formed into a specific shape can be used. Form them into soles of shoes.
Let your children walk around barefoot outside, especially if it's cold!
Donate to a local food pantry or food drive.
O God,
Who didst teach blessed Hedwig
to renounce the pomps of this world,
that, with her whole heart,
she might follow the humble way of Thy cross:
grant that, through example,
we may learn to trample under foot the perishable delights
of this world and by cleaving to Thy cross
overcome whatsoever may be opposed to us.
Who livest and reignest with Thee,
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Amen.
Prayer Source
