Gudula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saint Gudula | |
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| Born | c. 7th century, Brabant, Belgium |
| Died | 712, Hamme, Brabant, Belgium |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | 8 January; 19 January in the diocese of Ham and Moorsel |
| Attributes | depicted as a woman with lantern which the devil tries to blow out, sometimes with a bellows |
| Patronage | Brussels, Belgium; single laywomen[1] |
 Saints Portal |
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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).
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[edit] Life
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 (often confused with Bishop Ablebertus of Cambrai).
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 Geuzen (Beggars), and the relics of the saint disinterred and scattered.
[edit] Veneration
- The feast of Saint Gudula is celebrated in Brussels on 8 January, and in Ghent (in which diocese Moorsel is situated) on 19 January.
- Charlemagne made donations to a convent in her honour. [2]
- Although St. Michael is the patron of Brussels, St. Gudula is certainly its most venerated patroness. In iconography, she is represented on a seal of the Church of St. Gudula of 1446 holding in her right hand a candle, and in her left a lamp, which a demon endeavours to extinguish. This representation is in accord with the legend which relates that the saint frequently went to the church before cock-crow. The demon, wishing to interrupt this pious exercise, extinguished the light which she carried, but the saint obtained from God that her lantern should be rekindled. [3]
- The flower called tremella deliquescens, which bears fruit in the beginning of January, is known as Sinte Goedele's lampken (St. Gudula's lantern).
- The old woodcarvers who produced statues of the saints born in the Holy German Empire, often depict St. Gudula with a taper in her hand, which originates probably out of the Paris Saint Geneveva tradition.
- The holy head of Gudula is conserved in the Catholic Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Jones, Terry. Saint Gudule. Patron Saints Index. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
- ^ Bollandus J., Henschenius G., 'De S. Gudila Virgine Bruxellis in Belgio', Acta Sanctorum Januarii I (1643) 524-530.
- ^ Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the entry Brussels in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
