| Saint Aldegonde | |
|---|---|
| Born | 639 |
| Died | 684 |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | January 30 |
| Patronage | Cancer, Wounds |
Saint Aldegonde (or Adelgonde) (Latin: Aldegundis or Adelgundis) was a Frankish saint and abbess (c. 639–684). She was closely related to the Merovingian royal family. Her father and mother, afterwards honoured as Saint Walbert, count of Guînes, and Saint Bertilia, lived in Flanders in the province of Hainault. She is the most famous of what Aline Hornaday calls the "Maubeuge Cycle" of Merovingian saints.[1]
Aldegundis was urged to marry, but she chose the life of the convent. Then, having allegedly walked across the waters of the Sambre, she had built on its banks a small nunnery at Malbode, which later became, under the name Maubeuge Abbey, a famous convent of Benedictine nuns. She bore with fortitude the breast cancer that eventually killed her.[2] Saint Aldegundis' Catholic liturgical feast is kept on January 30.
She has been supposed to be the sister of Saint Waltrude (Waudru).[3]
There are several early Lives, but none by contemporaries. Several of these, including the tenth-century biography by Hucbald, are printed by the Bollandists (Acta SS., January 11, 1034–35).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.