SAINT CASILDA OF TOLEDO

Feast Day: April 9

Lived (d. 1050)

Some saints are far more popular than others, but we have a lot to learn even from the lives of some unpopular saints.

This applies to Saint Casilda. Her father was an Islamic leader in Toledo, Spain, in the 10th century. She herself was a devout Muslim but was kind to Christian prisoners. As a young woman, she became sick and  did not believe that any of the local Arab doctors could heal her.

So she she went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of San Vicenzo in northern Spain. Like so many other people who went there— many of them suffering from hemorrhages — she sought the healing waters of the shrine. The sickness that brought her to the Shrine is uncertain, but it is certain that she left it relieved of the illness.

In response, she became a Christian and lived a life of solitude and penance not far from the miraculous spring. It’s said that she lived up to a hundred years old. Her death likely occurred around the year 1050.