Luitgard of Wittichen

Luitgard (also Lutgard) of Wittichen was born in 1291 in Schenkenzell in the Black Forest and came from a simple, peasant background.

At the age of twelve she was admitted to a beguine house in Oberwolfach in the valley of the river Wolf, where she lived for 20 years in voluntary poverty.

She was treated unjustly by the dukes of Teck at the nearby castle of Schiltach, while the lords of Geroldseck at the Schenkenburg were devoted to her.

Luitgard was filled with a deep devotion to the life and Passion of Christ, which she contemplated in a rosary-like manner of prayer.

In 1629, according to tradition, when her coffin was opened, her brain was found to be in completely sound condition, a phenomenon that could not be explained by doctors or chemists at that time and, being seen as a miracle, was the reason for subsequent veneration and pilgrimages.