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ST ATHALIA, ABBESS - 20 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 20th of December

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SAINT ATHALIA, ABBESS

St Athalia (Attala, Atala, Athala, Aurelia),  first abbess of the monastery of St Stephan of Strasbourg, was the daughter of the Alsatian Duke Adalbert, brother of Abbess Odilia (December 13), and his first wife Gerlinde. 

SHE WAS EDUCATED IN THE HOHENBURG MONASTERY

Along with her two sisters Eugenia and Gundelind she was educated by her aunt, St Odilia, in the Hohenburg monastery in Alsace. 

When her father built St Stephen's Abbey in Strasbourg for 30 nuns in 717, he handed over the management of this foundation to his daughter Attala. 

A MODEL FOR THE SISTERS IN ST STEPHEN

For twenty years St Attala was a model for the sisters in St Stephen and did a lot of good for the poor. 

She died on December 3, 741 at the age of 54. Her mortal shell was displayed for veneration of the faithful for 5 weeks before being buried. At the end of the 8th century her public veneration was introduced and her name is found in the ancient martyrology of Strasbourg.

HER RELICS

Emperor Lothar calls her in 845 in a document "Most Holy Virgin". It is said that the abbot Merentrude von Hohenburg, a special friend of the saint,  asked a certain man to procure some relics for the monastery; he then secretly sneaked into the church and cut off the right hand of the saint. It was kept in St Stephen's Church in Strasbourg before the outbreak of the French Revolution, as was a black woolen cloak which the saint is said to have worn and which every abbess had to wear. [The Monks of Ramsgate give her feast day as December 20.] In the diocese of Strasbourg her feast is celebrated on November 3, on which day her hand is publicly displayed for veneration in the parish church of St Magdalena.

Source: Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Athalia may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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