Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/January 8
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Gudula is often connected by name to a variety of places where she is venerated or which are relevant to her biography: Moorsel (where she lived), Brussels (where a chapter in her honour was founded in 1047) and Eibingen (where the relic of her skull is conserved). In Brabant she is usually callede Goule (Latin: Gudula, Dutch: Sinte Goedele, French: Sainte Gudule).
Gudula was born in the county of Brabant (in present-day Belgium) and according to her 11th century biography (written in Lobbes Abbey between 1049-1053), daughter of a Duke of Lotharingia (which is an anachronism) called Witger and Amalberga of Maubeuge. She probably lived in the seventh century.
Her mother, Saint Amalberga embraced the religious life in the abbey of Maubeuge. According to tradition, she received the veil from the hands of St. Aubert, Bishop of Cambrai (d. about 668). Gudula had two sisters, St. Pharailde and St. Reineldis. She had one brother, the mission bishop Saint Emebertus.
From an early age Gudula proved herself a worthy child, and with Reineldis and Emebertus lived in an atmosphere of piety and good works. She was educated in the convent of her cousin, Gertrude of Nivelles. She then moved to live with her parents near Hamme, spending her time in good works and religious devotions. She frequently visited the church of Moorsel, situated some two miles from her parents' house. She was buried at Hamme (Brabant). About a century after her death, her relics were removed from Hamme to the church of Sint-Salvator in Moorsel, where the body was interred behind the altar. Under Duke Charles of Lotharingia (977-992), or (more exactly) between 977 and 988, the body of the saint was taken from the church of Moorsel and transferred to the chapel of Saint Géry at Brussels. Count Lambert II Balderic of Louvain (+1054) founded a chapter in 1047 in honour of Saint Gudula and asked Bishop Gerardus I of Cambrai (+1051) for permission to translate her relics to the church of Saint Michel in Brussels. On the feast day of the saint in 1330, great indulgences were granted to all who assisted in the decoration and completion of the church of St. Gudula at Brussels. On 6 June 1579, the collegiate church was pillaged and wrecked by the Protestant Gueux (Beggars), and the relics of the saint disinterred and scattered.
Attributes: depicted as a woman with lantern which the devil tries to blow out, sometimes with a bellows
Patronage: Brussels, Belgium; single laywomen
Prayer:
