Adalsinda is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

saint, with a feast day of 5 May, especially venerated in

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. She was the child of Saint Richtrudis and Adalbard duke of

. Her siblings

Clotsinda Rictrude (Rictrudis, Richtrudis, Richrudis) (c. 614–688) was abbess of Marchiennes Abbey, in Flanders. The main early source for her life is the ''Vita Rictrudis'', commissioned by the abbey, and written in 907 by Hucbald. Life She was from a nob ...

, Maurontius and Eusebia of Douai are also Pre-congregational saints. Adalsinda became a religious in Hamaye-les-Marchienne in the diocese of Arras, where the prioress was her own sister, Eusebia. The priory had been founded by a relative, Gertrude of Hamage. Adalsinda died around 714.

Eusebia of Douai

St. Eusebia of Douai (Ysoir) was born about 637, the eldest daughter of Rictrude and Adalbard.

Maurontius of Douai Maurontius of Douai (634 – May 5, 702) was a nobleman and Benedictine abbot. His parents were Rictrude and Adalbard. He is a Catholic saint, with a feast day on May 5, especially venerated in Douai, France. His sisters Clotsinda, Adalsinda an ...

was her elder brother. According to Agnes Baillie Dunbar, Queen

Nanthild Nanthild (c. 610 – 642), also known as ''Nantéchilde'', ''Nanthechilde'', ''Nanthildis'', ''Nanthilde'', or ''Nantechildis'', was a Frankish queen consort and regent, the third of many consorts of Dagobert I, king of the Franks (629–639). She ...

was Eusebia's godmother and had gifted her with the fine estate of Verny near Soissons.Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame. ''A Dictionary of Saintly Women'', Vol. 1, Bell, 1904, p. 297
/ref> Upon her father's death, Eusebia and her mother and sisters went to

Marchiennes Abbey Marchiennes Abbey was a French monastery located on the Scarpe in Marchiennes. It was founded around 630 by Adalbard of Douai, and Irish monks, disciples of Saint Columbanus, on the advice of Saint Amand. One of its founders was Rictrude, who ...

, which had been founded by her parents. However, at the request of her grandmother, Gerberte, daughter of the Merovingian noblewoman, Saint Geretrude, who had founded the Abbey at Hamay-les-Marchiennes (alternately known as Hamage) near Arras. Eusebia was sent to Hamay-les-Marchiennes. This is consistent with a monastic system controlled by the ruling, landholding class that was closely linked to the Merovingian monarchy. At her death, Gerberte named Eusebia her successor as abbess. Eusebia was but twelve years old, and her mother considering her too young for such responsibility, placed Hamay under the direction of Marchiennes. Eusebia eventually returned to Hamay, where she became abbess. Her younger sister Adalsinda later joined her there. Abbess Eusebia died around 680. In Belgium she is called Isoie or Eusoye.Baring-Gould, Sabine. "S. Eusebia, Abss. of Hamage", ''The Lives of the Saints'', Vol. 3, J. Hodges, 1872, p. 279
/ref>

References

{{Authority control 637 births 680 deaths 7th-century Frankish saints Christian female saints of the Middle Ages 7th-century Frankish women