SAINT BERLINDA

St. Berlinda

Berlinda of Meerbeke, OSB
 (also known as Berlindis, Bellaude)


Feast day: February 3

Died: 702
A hermitess of Belgium. Berlinda, also called Berlindis or Bellaude, was a niece of St. Amandus. She entered the Benedictine convent of St. Mary's at Moorsel, in Belgium. She later became a hermitess at Meerbeke.



 A niece of Saint Amandus, Berlinda was disinherited by her father, the rich Count Odelard, in a fit of rage. He had leprosy and thought that she would not take proper care of him. She fled to Saint Mary's convent at Mooriel (Moorsel), near Alost, Belgium, where she became a Benedictine nun. After her father's death, she became a hermit at Meerbeke near his tomb and spent her life helping the poor and suffering

 Saint Berlinda is pictured as a Flemish nun with a cow and either a pruning hook or branch. Sometimes she is portrayed with Saints Nona and Celsa. She is venerated at Mooreel (Mooriel) convent and Meerbeche (Meerbeke) . Berlinda is protectress of trees and invoked against cattle diseases