St. Hedwig, of royal origin, on the death of her husband, Duke Henry of Poland, retired into a Cistercian monastery, where she lived under obedience to one of her daughters, who was abbess of the monastery, growing day by day in holiness till Almighty God called her to Himself, October 14, 1243. St. Hedwig fasted and prayed and took the discipline; she heard several Masses daily and distributed alms with great generosity. She was canonized twenty years later by Pope Clement IV.

(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)