Which Way to St. Willibrorus’s Chapel?

Henri Nouwen’s father, Laurent J. M. Nouwen, wrote a book-- St. Willibrorus: Holy Diplomat or Diplomatic Saint—in Dutch about the 7th century monk who Christianized parts of Germany, Belgiulm and the Netherlands for the Roman Catholic Church. Did Willi do so by force or by diplomacy, power or presence, I wanted to know?

Willibrorus's 6th century shrine and chapel is only a 40- minute walk from Laurent Nouwen’s house where we were staying. On Sunday we walked in the rain down a chestnut covered path under the protection of a green canopy of old trees until we came to a sacred circle in the center of a 700 hectare forest, west of the village of Geijsteren in the Dutch province of Limburg.

I counted six pilgrim pathways leading to the six-sided chapel, which unfortunately was closed on Sunday. Next to the chapel is an ancient water well from the 4th or 5th century, and a border post dating from 1551, separating the pre-christian lands of of Cuijk and Kessel. Around the medieval chapel, various pre-Christian customs have been honored, including the Thunder god’s marriages the those who became goddesses.

 I tried to imagine missionary Willibrorus in the 8th century finding the sacred pagan well, dipping his monastic staff in the water, and baptizing converts to the Christian faith. Some say he also seized pagan statues and plowed them into the ground. Whatever his method of evangelism, he was successful and soon became the first Bishop of Utrecht.

Willi seems to be remembered fondly by the Dutch, and though I had not heard of him before, I now need to add him to my book of saints.

Intrigued, I later I googled St. Willbrorus and here’s what I found in Wikipedia:

Willibrord (Latin: Villibrordus; c. 658 – 7 November AD 739) was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. A Life was written by Alcuin and dedicated to the Abbot of Echternach. Bede also makes mention of Willibrord. Nothing written by Willibrord can be found save a marginal note in the Calendar of Echternach giving some chronological data. A copy of the Gospels under the name of Willibrord is an Irish codex no doubt brought by Willibrord from Ireland. In 752/753 Boniface wrote a letter to Pope Stephen II, in which it is said that Willibrord destroyed the Frisian pagan sanctuaries and temples. In the Life written by Alcuin are two texts about Willibrord and pagan places of worship. In one he arrived with his companions in Walcheren in the Netherlands where he smashed a sculpture of the ancient religion. In the second text passage Willibord arrived on an island called Fositesland where a pagan god named Fosite was worshipped. Here he despoiled this god of its sanctity by using the god's sacred well for baptisms and the sacred cattle for food. I will add Willi to my Notebook of Saints as well as read Laurent J.M. Nouwen’s book on St. Villibrordus in translation.