Skaters / Blessed Lydwina of Schiedam, 1380–1433,
Feast Day: April 14

A beautiful girl from the Netherlands, Lydwina became an invalid due to an ice skating accident. For the next thirty years she endured agonizing body pain as well as a series of disfiguring illnesses. She devised a system of meditative prayer, in which she concentrated on Christ’s suffering and offered up her own. Eventually, she fell into mystical experiences and her holiness served as an example to others.

Other patronages: skiers