ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY Saints celebrated on the 18th of July WELCOME! BLESSED BERTHA DE MARBAIS, ABBESS Blessed Bertha de Marbais (commemorated on July 18 and July 8), abbess of Marquette (not far from the Flemish islands), was a close relative of Countess Joan (Johanna) of Flanders. Married to a certain Lord de Marbais (Molenbais), she moved to the abbey Aywières after her husband died. There she took the veil. When Countess Joan founded the Marquette monastery around 1227, she appointed Blessed Bertha as the first abbess, an office she held until her death in 1247. In 1630, Bishop John Dawin of Namur included her name in the list of saints and blesseds of his diocese, and from that time on she enjoyed uninterrupted veneration. (Buc.) (Information from Stadler 's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 1, Augsburg 1858) Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast o