Saint Amalberga of Maubeuge (also Amalia, or Amelia of
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 ...
or
Binche) was a
Merovingian nun and saint who lived in the 7th century.
Narrative
Amalberga's father was Saint
Geremarus
Saint Geremarus (or Germer, Geremar, Geremaro; died 658) was a Frankish monk and abbot.
His feast day is 24 September.
Life
The oldest surviving biography of Saint Geremarus was composed in the 9th century, and was revised three centuries later, ...
.
She was born in Brabant. She is said to have been the niece of
Pippin of Landen and married Count Witger,
Duke of Lorraine.
[ In her biography she is presented as the mother of five saints: ]Emebert
Emebert was an early Bishop of Cambrai, often identified with Bishop Ablebert of Cambrai (early 8th century).
According to the unreliable ''Vita S. Amalbergae viduae'', Emebert was the son of Duke Witger of Lotharingia and Saint Amalberga of Ma ...
, Reineldis
Reineldis (also Reinhild, Reinaldes, Rainelde among others; ''c.'' 630 – ''c.'' 700) was a saint of the 7th century, martyred by the Huns.
Life
Reineldis was born in a place called ''Condacum'' (which is identified with either Condé-sur-l'Esca ...
, Pharaildis
Saint Pharaildis or Pharailde ( nl, Veerle) is an 8th-century Belgian saint in Roman Catholicism, and patron saint of Ghent. Her dates are imprecise, but she lived to a great age and died on January 5 at ninety.Engelbert, Omer. ''The Lives of th ...
, Ermelindis and Gudula
Saint Gudula was born in the pagus of Brabant (in present-day Belgium). According to her 11th-century biography ( Vita Gudilae), written by a monk of the abbey of Hautmont between 1048 and 1051, she was the daughter of a duke of Lotharingia call ...
.
Sometime after the birth of their youngest child, Gudula, Witger decided to become a Benedictine in Lobbes; Amalberga joined the Benedictine nuns of Maubeuge.
Her feast is celebrated on July 10. The translation of her relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s from Lobbes to Binche in the 15th century is celebrated on June 10.
Amalberga of Maubeuge is not to be confused with the virgin