What is Saint Walburga?
[[File:WalbKont1.JPG|thumb|right|Statue in [[Contern]] church]] '''Saint Walpurga''' or '''Walburga''' ({{lang-ang|Wealdburg}}; c. 710 – February 25, 777 or 779), also spelled '''Valderburg''' or '''Guibor''',<ref>Other spellings: '''Valborg''' (the Swedish name for her), '''Walburge''', '''Valpuri''', '''Auboué''', '''Avangour''', '''Avongourg''', '''Falbourg''', '''Gaubourg''', '''Gualbourg''', '''Valburg''', '''Valpurge''', '''Vaubouer''', '''Vaubourg''', '''Walbourg''', '''Walpurd''', '''Warpurg'''. She is also known by the seemingly unrelated names '''Perche''' and '''Eucharis'''.</ref> was an [[Anglo-Saxon|English]] [[missionary]] to the [[Frankish Empire]]. She was [[Canonization|canonized]] (''confirmed as a saint'') on 1 May ca. 870 by [[Pope Adrian II]]. Walpurga's feast day is on 25 February. The day of her canonization, [[1 May]], was also celebrated during the high medieval period. Especially in the 11th century under [[Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne]]. [[Walpurgis Night]] is the eve of [[May Day]], celebrated in [[folklore]] in Europe with dancing. ==Life== [[Image:Brugge - Sint-Walburgakerk 3.jpg|thumb|left|Sint-Walburgakerk, built 1641, was the [[Jesuit]] church of [[Bruges]].]] Together with her brothers, [[Saint Willibald]] and [[Saint Winibald]], she travelled to [[Francia]] (now [[Württemberg]] and [[Franconia]]) to help her uncle, [[Saint Boniface]], in evangelizing among the Germans. She was educated by the nuns of [[Wimborne Minster (church)|Winborne Abbey]], [[Dorset]], where she spent twenty-six years. Thanks to her rigorous training, she was later able to write St. Winibald's ''[[biography]]'' and an account in Latin of St. Willibald's travels in Palestine. She is often credited with being the first [[female author]] of both England and Germany.<ref>A point made by [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15526b.htm St. Walburga's entry at the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'']</ref> She became a nun and lived in the double monastery of [[Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm]] near [[Eichstätt]], which was fou