Sadalberga
| Saint Salaberga | |
|---|---|
| Abbess and foundress | |
| Born |
unknown possibly Toul, France |
| Died |
7th Century Laon, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | September 22 |
Saint Sadalberga (or Salaberga) (died 665) was the daughter of Gundoin, Duke of Alsace and his wife Saretrude. Sadalberga founded the convent of St. John the Baptist at Laon.
Life
Gundoin of Alsace was on close terms with Waldebert a Frankish nobleman who later became abbot of Luxeuil. Waldebert would come to guide Sadalberga in her monastic endeavors.[1] According to her anonymous vita, Waldebert's predecessor, Saint Eustace of Luxeuil, had cured Sadalberga of blindness when she was a child.[2]
Although she was drawn to religious life, her parents forced her to marry. Her first husband, Richramn, died after two months.[1] Then she was wed to a nobleman, Blandinus, a close counselor of King Dagobert. She had five children, Saretrude, Ebana, Anstrudis, Eustasius (died in infancy), and Baldwin (Baudoin). Her husband Blandinus and two of her children, Baldwin (feast day October 16) and Anstrudis, became saints. Sadalberga's brother was Saint Bodo (d. 670). After some years, she and Blandinus agreed mutually to separate and assume contemplative lives. He became a hermit and she went into a nunnery at Poulangey.
Salaberga was subsequently foundress of the convent of St. John the Baptist at Laon. One of her kinsman had been bishop there, and his successor supported her efforts. She died there c. 665, bequeathing the convent leadership to her daughter, Anstrudis.[3]
Notes
- 1 2 Fox, Yaniv. Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, Cambridge University Press, 2014 ISBN 9781107064591
- ↑ Alban Butler, Paul Burns, Butler's Lives of the Saints (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000), 208.
- ↑ Le Jan, Regine. "Convents, Violence and Competition for Power on Francia", Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages, (Frans Theuws, Mayke B. de Jong, and Carine Van Rhijn eds.), p. 250, BRILL, 2001 ISBN 9789004117341
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "article name needed". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.