St. Frederick of Utrecht

St. Frederick of Utrecht (died c. 838) was a bishop of Utrecht in the Low Countries during the reign of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. Learned and zealous, he devoted himself to strengthening the Church in his diocese and to the conversion of the still-pagan peoples of Frisia, especially the fierce inhabitants of the northern coastal districts, sending priests and preaching against surviving heathen customs.

According to tradition he was murdered — stabbed after celebrating Mass — in 838. Some accounts attribute his death to the pagans of Frisia whose customs he opposed, others to his fearless rebuke of a powerful person's unlawful marriage, casting him in the mold of St. John the Baptist as one slain for defending the moral law. Venerated as a martyr, he became one of the honored early bishops of Utrecht.