VENERABLE ODA OF HAINAULT, VIRGIN
This godly virgin of Hainault was the of noble decent; her parents were called Wibert and Thescalina. From infancy Oda preferred prayer to the world and its joys. To her parents, who wished to force her into marriage, she firmly declared that Christ alone was as her bridegroom, and that, although she always was a dutiful daughter, she would have to disobey them in this particular matter.
Since this did not help and there were always new requests and attempts at coercion, she did not think it was a sin if she mutilated herself and cut off her nose, which she did, and she threatened further self-harm if her parents did not allow her freedom of choice of her vocation.
Finally, they permitted Oda to enter the convent at Gode Hoge, where, after an extremely godly and pious life, she passed to her eternal reward in A.D. 1158. The title "Venerable" is generally assigned to her; Migne* lists her as "Saint Oda." (II. 772)
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, p. 599-600)
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org
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