St. Lidwina was born in Schiedam, Holland on April 18th, 1380 into a poor family. From a very young age, St. Lidwina was drawn to our Blessed Mother and prayed before an image of Our Lady of Schiedam.

In 1395, she began her martyrdom by falling on the ice while skating with her friends and breaking her right rib. There was no medical procedure that could help her and she contracted gangrene which spread throughout her body. She was in a great amount of pain and it increased throughout her life. St. Lidwina had a great gift of prayer. Her pastor brought to her an unconsecrated host and she realized immediately that it was unconsecrated.

There were many miracles that took place during her painful illness. She had a vision in which God showed her a rose-bush and she heard the words, "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end." In 1433, she said, “I see the rose-bush in full bloom!" She died on Easter Sunday, 1433 and saw God coming towards her. Her grave became a place where many pilgrims came and the year after she died, there was a chapel built over her grave.

Source:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09233a.htm

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