The story of Lidwina, the patron saint of ice skating, is a gruesome and fascinating one indeed. She was a Dutch girl born on a Palm Sunday and raised alongside eight brothers to a father and mother (Peter and Petronella) who were a "poor noble" and 'poor commoner". By all accounts, she was "a lovely and charming girl". At age fifteen, in a severe winter Lidwina (known as Lidwina of Schiedam) was skating with girlfriends when she fell and broke a rib and was put in bed in her family home. After her injury, gangrene set in and Lidwina became partially paralyzed.

For more about Lidwina, Patron Saint of Ice Skating, read about her here at The Skate Guard.