Adela and Irmina
| Saints Adela & Irmina | |
|---|---|
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 735 and 716 |
| Feast | December 24 |
| Controversy | Alberic, son of Adela |
Saint Adela (? - 735) and Saint Irmina (? - c. 716) were two princesses, the daughters of Saint Dagobert II.
Family
Dagobert acceded to the throne of Austrasia at the age of seven, upon the death of Sigebert III, but was quickly deposed. Dagobert fled to Ireland and returned to Metz in 673 and claimed the throne. During exile, he married an Anglo-Saxon princess named Matilda and had five children, with saints Adela and Irmina among them.[1]
Lives
Both women were engaged to marriage to noblemen, but both became widows.
Irmina was widowed before her marriage, and she founded a Benedictine convent at Horren in Trier. When a plague threatened her community, she gained the help of Willibrord. When the pestilence passed by the convent, she gave Willibrord the lands for his abbey in Echternach.
Adela was married and had a child by her husband, Alberic. Alberic died within a few years of the marriage. Despite multiple marriage offers, she chose to take up holy orders as well. She founded the convent of Palatiolum in lands that were then undeveloped outside of Trier. The site later developed into the town of Pfalzel. She was the first abbess of this convent and died on December 24, 735.
The feast day for both convented sisters is December 24.
References
- ↑ According to the 8th century Vita Sancti Wilfrithi ("Life of St. Wilfrid"), and also mentioned in one of the versions of the Vita Sancti Arbogasti by Utho Argentinensis.
- Englebert, Omer. The Lives of the Saints. Christopher and Anne Fremantle, trans. New York: Barns & Noble, 1998. Nihil obstat 1951.
External Links
http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/83000