Saint Landelin (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and la, Landelinus; french: La(u)ndelin; 625 – 686 AD in what is now

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) is a saint in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

and

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

Life

Landelin was born to a noble family at Vaux near

Bapaume Bapaume (original Dutch name Batpalmen) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. The inhabitants of this commune are known as ''Bapalmois'' or ''Bapalmoises''. Geography Bapaume is a farmi ...

in 623, and educated in learning and piety under the care of St. Aubert, bishop of Cambrai. Through the seduction and example of certain relations, whose flatteries unfortunately struck in with his passions, he insensibly began to walk in the broad way of the world, and from a life of pleasure and diversions, fell at length into great disorders and became a

brigand Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded usa ...

.Butler, Alban. "St. Landelin, Abbot", ''The Lives of the Saints''. 1866
The sudden death of one of his companions caused him to reconsider his path and he underwent a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

conversion. Bishop Aubert placed him in an austere monastery to do penance for some years, and later ordained him deacon, and, when he was thirty years of age, priest, and appointed him to preach to the people. But Landelin begged leave to retire in solitude to Laubach, now called Lobes, a desert place on the banks of the Sambre. Several persons resorting to him, and imitating his manner of life, though at first they lived in separate cells, gave rise to the great abbey of Lobes, about the year 654. when he had laid the foundation of this house, Landelin, left his disciple, St. Ursmar, to finish the building, and constituted him the first abbot. As a result of this, in about 650 he founded a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

Lobbes Lobbes (; wa, Lôbe) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Lobbes had a total population of 5,499. The total area is 32.08 km² which gives a population density of 171 inhabitants per k ...

in Hainaut -

Lobbes Abbey Lobbes Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Wallonia in the municipality of Lobbes, Hainaut, Belgium. The abbey played an important role in the religious, political and religious life of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, especially around the year 1 ...

- in order to make amends to the area which he had formerly injured. He also founded

Crespin Abbey Crespin Abbey (french: Abbaye de Crespin) was a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Crespin in the department of Nord, France, founded around 648 by the reformed brigand Landelin of Crespin, also the first abbot, and dissolved in 1802. Fo ...

, and is credited with the foundation of

Aulne Abbey Aulne Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located in Wallonia between Thuin and Landelies on the Sambre in the Bishopric of Liège in Belgium, now a Walloon Heritage Site. History It was originally founded as a Benedictine monastery in 656 on the ...

. Once the number of monks had increased and the future of the community was assured Landelin resigned as abbot, in order to dedicate his life to the practice of austerities. His feast day is June 15.

Notes

{{Authority control 686 deaths Belgian Roman Catholic saints 7th-century Frankish saints category:Benedictine abbots 7th-century Christian clergy Year of birth unknown