Saint Ludger (also Lüdiger or Liudger) (born at Zuilen near Utrecht about 742; died 26 March 809 at Billerbeck) was a missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, founder of Werden Abbey and first bishop of Münster in Westphalia.

Early life to ordination
After Ludger had been ordained at Cologne on 7 July 777 the missions of Ostergau (or Ostracha, i.e., East Frisia) were committed to his charge, of which missions Dokkum, the place of the martyrdom of Saint Boniface, was made the centre. Every autumn however he came back to Utrecht to teach at the cathedral school. He worked in this way for about seven years, until Widukind in 784 persuaded the Frisians to drive out the missionaries, burn the churches, and return to the pagan gods. Ludger escaped with his disciples.
Ludger escaped with his disciples, and in 785 visited Rome, where he was well received by Pope Adrian I, who gave him much advice and special faculties. From Rome he went to Monte Cassino, where he lived according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, but did not bind himself by vows. The news of Widukind's submission, and the arrival of Charlemagne at Monte Cassino in 787, put an end to Ludger's peaceful retirement. He was appointed missionary to five districts east of the river Lauwers, around the estuaries of the Hunze, the Fivel, and the Ems, which were still occupied almost entirely by pagans. He began his work armed with characteristic energy and faith in God, and had a significant advantage in that he knew the language and habits of the people, and put this knowledge to good use in achieving their conversion.
He worked in many places: the island of Bant, long since sunk beneath the sea, is mentioned as the scene of his apostolic work. He visited Heligoland (Fossitesland), where Saint Willibrord had preached, where he destroyed the remains of paganism and built a Christian church. The well, formerly sacred to the pagan gods, he re-dedicated as his baptismal font. On his return he met the blind bard Bernlef, last of the Frisian skalds, cured his blindness, and made him a devout Christian.

The Netherlands
In 793 Charlemagne wished to make Ludger Bishop of Trier, but he declined, while declaring himself willing to undertake the evangelization of the Saxons. Charlemagne accepted the offer, and north-western Saxony was thus added to Ludger's missionary field. The monastery of St. Ludger's Abbey at Helmstedt was founded as part of his missionary activity in this part of Germany. To meet necessary expenses the income of the Abbey of Leuze, in the present Belgian province of Hainaut, was given him, and he was told to pick his fellow-workers from the members of that abbey.
As Mimigernaford (also Mimigardeford or Miningarvard) had been designated the centre of the new district, Ludger built a monastery there, from which the place took the name of Münster. Here he lived with his monks according to the rule of Saint Chrodegang of Metz, which in 789 had been made obligatory in the Frankish territories. He also built a chapel on the left bank of the Aa in honour of the Blessed Virgin, as well as the churches of Billerbeck, Coesfeld, Hersfeld, Nottuln and others. Near the church of Nottuln he built a home for his sister, Saint Gerburgis, who had consecrated herself to God. Many other women soon joined her, and so originated the first convent in Westphalia (c. 803). Better known among his foundations, however, is the abbey at Werden, founded (after an abortive attempt to establish a religious house at Wichmond on the Erft) in c. 800 and consecrated in 804, on ground which Ludger himself had acquired, in fulfilment of his desire, formed since his stay at Monte Cassino, to found a Benedictine house.

Death and relics
The successive Vitae, beginning with the serious contemporary biographical work of Altfrid and passing through the Vita Secunda and Vita Tertia to the Libellus Monasteriensis de miraculis sancti Liudgeri (The Little Book of Münster on the Miracles of Saint Ludger) of c. 1170, demonstrate the growth of the legend. Votive practice in Münster seems to have focussed on a very large and elaborate cross containing a number of relics of the saint. The cult seems to have remained mostly local, and largely to have faded in the later Middle Ages.
Ludger is represented either as a bishop reciting his breviary or as standing between two geese (occasionally described as swans). Feast: 26 March.