Dorothea of Montau
Dorothea (or Dorothy) of Montau (; ) (6 February 1347 – 25 June 1394) was an anchoress and visionary of 14th century Prussia. After centuries of veneration in Central Europe, she was canonized in 1976. Life. Dorothea was born at Groß Montau, Prussia (Mątowy Wielkie) to the west of Marienburg (Malbork) to a wealthy farmer from Holland, Willem Swarte (Schwartze). She was married at the age of 16 or 17 to the swordsmith Adalbrecht of Danzig (Gdańsk), an ill-tempered man in his 40s. Almost immediately after marrying she began to experience visions. Her husband had little patience with her  spiritual experiences and abused her. Later, she converted him and both made pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln. While Dorothea, with her husband's permission, was on pilgrimage to Rome, he died in 1389 or 1390. Of their nine children eight died, four in infancy, and four during the plague of 1383. The surviving daughter, Gertrud, joined the Benedictines. In the summer of 1391 Dorothea moved to Marienwerder (Kwidzyn), and on 2 May 1393, with the permission of the chapter and of the Teutonic Order, established an anchoress's cell against the wall of the cathedral. She never left that  cell for the rest of her life. Kwidzyn is in modern Poland. Dorothea led a very austere life. Numerous visitors sought her advice and consolation, and she had visions and revelations. Her confessor, the deacon Johannes of Marienwerder, a learned theologian, wrote down her communications and composed a Latin biography in seven books, "Septililium", besides a German life in four books, printed by Jakob Karweyse. Dorothea died in Marienwerder (called Kwidzyn by Poles) in 1394. A devotee of the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist, she is the only Polish saint to have stigmata. Veneration. Dorothea was venerated popularly from  the moment of her death as the guardian of the country of the Teutonic Knights and patron saint of Prussia/Pomerania. In 1405, 257 witnesses described her virtues and miracles. The formal process of canonization, however, was broken off, and not resumed until 1955; she was finally canonized by Pope Paul VI (cultus confirmed) in 1976. Dorothea's feast day is celebrated on 25 June. Her relics were lost, probably during the Protestant Reformation. Literature. Her life, seen from the viewpoint of her embittered husband, is one of the subjects of the 1977 novel "The Flounder" by Günter Grass. Dorothea