Hildegund of Schönau
Born at Neuss am Rhein, St. Hildegund was the daughter of a merchant, who took her, disguised as a man and called Joseph, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Her mother had died before the journey, and her father died on the journey. As Joseph, she returned to Europe. She was once condemned as a robber and sentenced to hang. Cut down from the gallows, she entered the Cistercian monastery at Schönau, near Heidelberg. When she died in 1188, during her noviate, her gender was discovered, as the statutes of the chapter attest. Her cult was popular in Germany, although she has never been formally canonized.
Karen Rae Keck
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