ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY Saints celebrated on the 10th of July WELCOME! SAINT AMALBERGA OF MAUBEUGE, WIDOW Saint Amalberga of Maubeuge The name Amalberga is derived from the Old High German = the Immaculate One, guardian of virtue . (According to Wachter , it contains mal = blemish; Amala = without blemish, and bergen = to protect, preserve, defend). Saint Amalberga was a widow and nun venerated at Lobbe Abbey in the Netherlands. Of aristocratic stock, she was the closest relative, if not the sister, of Pepin the Elder of Landen. The Bollandists * write that Amalberga was married against her will to Witgar, Duke of Lorraine, and that she bore him three children: Saint Ablebert (Emmebert) - who later became Bishop of Cambrai and Arras -, Saint Reineldis , and Saint Gudila ( Gudula ). Other hagiographers mention five children of hers, adding two daughters, Saint Pharaild and Saint Ermelind. Wh...
ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT ZWENTIBOLD, KING AND CONFESSOR Saint Zwentibold, from the Chronicon Universale, a 12th-century manuscript On August 13 we commemorate Saint Zwentibold ( Zwenteboldus ). This holy king and confessor, also called Swatopluk and Zuentibold, was the son of Arnulf, King of Germany and Lorraine, and Ellimar [Vinburge]. In 896, he was appointed King of Lorraine by his father at the assembly of princes in Worms, or rather, in Tribur. He ruled his kingdom with the utmost conscientiousness and won the love of his subjects. He had the churches and monasteries (some of which had been burned down and others defiled by the fury of the Normans), cleaned and rebuilt, and populated them with pious communities. His favourite religious institute was the Abbey of Susteren, which held many holy relics. In fact, he is considered its second founder. In this convent, Amalberga, the abbess, shone brightly wi...