Saints and Holy People

Find out about their lives and how they changed the world

Saint William of Eskilsoe (c. 1125–1203)

Saint William of Eskilsoe (c. 1125–1203)

Feast day: April 6




Saint William of Eskilsoe was a renowned reformer and missionary. He was born in Saint-Germain, France, and acted as a canon at the Church of Saint Genevieve in Paris. William’s reputation for holiness and discipline was so well known that the bishop of Roskilde asked him to reinstate order in the Danish monasteries. William agreed and moved from France to Denmark with the assignment of reforming the canons at Eskilsoe. He became abbot there and spent the rest of his life reforming religious communities.

(Image in public domain-70)