SAINT ALDEGUNAIS

St. Aldegunais
Aldegundis of Maubeuge

Feast day: January 30

639 - 684

 (also known as Aldegondes, Adelgund, Orgonne)

 Born in Hainault c. 630-635; died at Maubeuge, January 30, 684 (or 660 per one source).
 Saint Aldegund and her sister Saint Waldetrudis, abbess of Mons, were the daughters of Saints Walbert and Bertilia. While still young, Aldegund consecrated herself to God with a vow of virginity near Mons. Later she to a hermitage, which became the monastery of Maubeuge, of which she was the first abbess. Endowed with the gift of prayer, Aldegund looked upon the slanders and persecutions she endured as favors from God in His mercy that allowed her to suffer for His sake (Matthew 5:10).
 She died from breast cancer and, we are told, "in an ecstasy of serene joy." Her relics are enshrined in the church of Maubeuge. She is the patron of a parish church at Saint-Omer under the name "Orgonne." Her initial vita was written shortly after her death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Aldegund is a Benedictine abbess, crowned. There is generally a dove with veil near her. Sometimes she may be shown receiving the veil from the Holy Spirit; as a princess fleeing from her parents' house;  walking with an angel; or  walking on water (Roeder). She is invoked against eye troubles, cancer, diseases of children, fever, demoniac possession, wounds, and sudden death


Virgin and abess,  She was a member of the royal family of the Merovingians and was raised by two saints: St. Walbert and St. Bertila, her parents. The family resided in the Hainault region of Flanders, a region of the Low Countries. Aldegundis reflused offers of marriage from other nobles and received the veil from St. Amandius, the bishop of Maastricht. She followed this ceremony of acceptance into the religious life with the foundation of a convent near the Sambre River, at a desert site called Malbode. Her sister, St. Waldetrudis, had founded a convent at Mons. Aldegundis' foundation became Mauberge, a noted Benedictine monastery, later taken over by canonesses. Aldegundis is reported to have died of cancer at the age of fifty-four.