SAINT FEAST DAY 24 DECEMBER: ST IRMINA

ST IRMINA, ABBESS

This saint was a daughter of St King Dagobert II of Austrasia, born in 662. She was betrothed to a French count named Herman; but since he died unexpectedly before the wedding day, this made such a deep impression on the king's daughter that she decided to live in a consecrated virginity.

From her father she received the necessary funds to build the Horreum monastery (Horreen, Oreen, Ohr) or, according to Tritheim and others, to transform the old royal palace at Trier into a monastery, which was given that name.

IN HONOUR OF THE MOTHER OF GOOD

She founded a community in honour of the Mother of the Lord for virgins to which followed the Rule of St Benedict. She became abbess. The founding took place around 679 A. D.

When at the end of the 7th century "St Irminen" (as the monastery was called from then on) an illness broke out from which many nuns had already died and all the rest were still suffering from it, the abbess, who relied on God, asked St Willibrord, Apostle of the Frisians, to come to Trier and grant the sick the assistance of his apostolic blessing. The holy servant of the Lord appeared and did the healing for the monastic community: He celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass, as Alcuin reports in his life story, and he sprinkled them with holy water and gave them to drink from it, whereupon all the nuns recovered.

THE NUNS RECOVERED

In gratitude for this great help, Irmina gave the Friesian apostle several properties on November 1, 698, with which the Echternach monastery in Luxembourg, four hours distance from Trier, was donated to the Benedictine monks (with the help of King Pipin and St Willibrord).

On July 1, 699, she awarded to the same monastery the village of Bergen in the Zülpich area.

In her will, which Irmina had written a year earlier, the house of God mentioned was also given ample consideration. The various donation documents which the saint issued all bear the stamp of piety and love of God.

She died on December 24, but the year of her death cannot be precisely determined. Bucelin names the year 710, Lechner the year 720. She became famous for the many miracles that happened after her death on her intercession.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)

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