ST BERTHA, ABBESS OF BLANGY

ST BERTHA, ABBESS OF BLANGY - 4 JULY

ST BERTHA, ABBESS

(Saint Bertha [Berta], Widow, Abbess of Blangy in Artois.) She was daughter of count Rigobert and Ursana, related to one of the kings of Kent in England.

In the twentieth year of her age she was married to Sigefroi, by whom she had five daughters, two of whom, Gertrude and Deotila were saints.

SHE TOOK THE VEIL

After her husband’s death, she put on the veil in the nunnery which she had built at Blangy in Artois, a little distance from Hesdin. Her daughters Gertrude and Deotila followed her example.

She was persecuted by Roger or Rotgar, who endeavoured to asperse her with king Thierri III to revenge his being refused Gertrude in marriage. But this prince, convinced of the innocence of Bertha, then abbess over her nunnery, gave her a kind reception, and took her under his protection.

THREE CHURCHES

On her return to Blangy, Bertha finished her nunnery, and caused three churches to be built, one in honour of St Omer, another she called after St Vaast, and the third in honour of St Martin of Tours.

And then, after establishing a regular observance in her community, she left St Deotila abbess in her stead, having shut herself in a cell, to be employed only in prayer. She died about the year 725. A great part of her relics are kept at Blangy.

NOTE:

The monastery of Blangy was founded in 686. Having been destroyed during the incursions of the Normans, it was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and given to the religious of the Order of St Benedict. It is still in being.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

Comments

WELCOME

Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 February - Saints by date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 ...

JACQUES HAMEL, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 26 JULY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY Saints celebrated on the 26th of July WELCOME! SERVANT OF GOD JACQUES HAMEL, PRIEST AND MARTYR "Jacques Hamel (30 November 1930 - 26 July 2016) was a French Catholic priest who served in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. On July 26, 2016, Hamel was murdered during the 2016 Normandy church attack by two Muslim men pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant while he celebrated Mass in his church." (From Wikipedia) Father Hamel, 85, still officiated regularly as auxiliary at the church in St Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, Normandy, France, and in neighbouring Elbeuf, local media reported, stepping in when the parish’s regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, was busy. Father Hamel was killed by two men armed with knives during Weekday Mass. They who took five people, Fr Hamel, two nuns and two other worshippers, hostage in the church. The two men were later shot by police. Three hostages were freed unharmed but one was in a cri...

BL. LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 16th century houses, painted by Auguste Mayer He was born in the bishopric of Durham, according to Raissius ; others say at Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was master of arts in one of our universities; but going abroad to Douay, in Flanders, was received into the English college there, 1576, and made priest in 1577; and the year following sent upon the mission. Where he had not been long before he again went abroad, and travelled to Rome, partly for devotion, and partly for further improvement in learning. Here he remained in the English college till 1580, when he returned into England, and was not long after apprehended: for I find by a printed diary of things transacted in the Tower of London from 1580 till 1585, that on the 5th of December, 1580, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam , and other priests, were brought to the Tower from other prisons; and that these two, on the 10th...

SAINT FEAST DAY FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

Search This Blog