| Saint Gudula | |
|---|---|
 From New York Public Library, MA 092, fol. 251, Haarlem Gradual of 1494, depiction of Saint Gudula bearing a lantern which the demon endeavors to extinguish |
|
| Born | after 646, Duchy of Brabant |
| Died | 680-714, Hamme, Duchy of Brabant |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 8 January; 19 January in the diocese of Gent |
| Attributes | depicted as a woman with lantern which the devil tries to blow out |
| Patronage | Brussels, Belgium; single laywomen |
Saint Gudula was born in the shire of Brabant (in present-day Belgium). According to her 11th century biography (Vita S. Gudilae), written in Lobbes Abbey between 1048-1051, she was the daughter of a Duke of Lotharingia (which is an anachronism) called Witger and Amalberga of Maubeuge. She died between 680-714.
Her name is connected to several places:
- Moorsel (where she lived)
- Brussels (where a chapter in her honour was founded in 1047)
- Eibingen (where the relic of her skull is conserved).
In Brabant she is usually called Goedele or Goule; (Latin: Gudila, later Gudula, Dutch: Sinte Goedele, French: Sainte Gudule).
Contents |
Life
The mother of Gudula, Saint Amalberga, embraced the religious life in the abbey of Maubeuge. She received the veil from the hands of St. Aubert, Bishop of Cambrai (d. about 668). Gudula had two sisters, St. Pharaildis and St. Reineldis, and one brother, Saint Emebertus (often confused with the bishop Ablebertus and Englebertus of Cambrai).
Gudula was educated in the abbey of Nivelles by her cousin, Gertrude of Nivelles. When Gertrude dies, she moved back to her home at Moorsel, spending her time to good works and religious devotion. She frequently visited the church of Moorsel, situated about two miles from her parents' house.
Gudula died and was buried at Hamme (Brabant). Later her relics were removed to the church of Sint-Salvator in Moorsel, where the body was interred behind the altar. Under Duke Charles of Lotharingia (977-992), the body of the saint was transferred to the chapel of Saint Gaugericus at Brussels. Count Lambert II of Leuven (d. 1054) founded a chapter in 1047 in honour of Saint Gudula. Bishop Gerardus I of Cambrai (d. 1051) led the translation of her relics to the church of Saint Michael in Brussels. The church later became the famous St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral.
In 1330, indulgences were granted to all who assisted in the decoration and completion of the church of St. Gudula at Brussels.
On 6 June 1579 the collegiate church was pillaged and wrecked by the Protestant Geuzen (Beggars), and the relics of the saint disinterred and scattered.
Veneration
- The feast of Saint Gudula is generally celebrated on 8 January (the day shed died according her hagiography); in the Ghent bishopry (where Moorsel is situated) however on 19 January.
- Charlemagne made donations to the convent of Moorsel in her honour.
- Although St. Michael is the patron of Brussels, St. Gudula is certainly the most venerated patroness. She is already depicted on a seal of the Church of St. Gudula of 1446 holding in her right hand a candle, and in her left a lamp, which a demon tries to extinguish. This refers to the legend that the saint went to church before cock-crow. The demon, wishing to stray her off the right way, extinguished the candle, but the saint obtained from God that her lantern should be rekindled.
- The flower called tremella deliquescens, which bears fruit in the beginning of January, is known as Sinte Goedele's lampken (St. Gudula's lantern).
- The woodcarvers who produced statues of the saints born in the Holy German Empire, often depicted St. Gudula with a taper in her hand, but this originates probably out of confusion with the Paris Saint Geneveva tradition.
- The skull of St. Gudula is conserved in the Catholic Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany.
Sources
Primary source:
- Vita S. Gudilae
- Bollandus J., Henschenius G., 'De S. Gudila Virgine Bruxellis in Belgio', Acta Sanctorum Januarii I (1643) 524-530.
Literature:
- Bonenfant, P., 'La charte de fondation du chapitre de Sainte-Gudule à Bruxelles', Bulletin de la Commission Royale d'Histoire 115 (1950) 17-58.
- Podevijn, R., 'Hubert, l'auteur de la vita Gudulae', Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 15 (1936) 489-496.
- Podevijn, 'Etude critique sur la Vita Gudulae', Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 2 (1923) 619-641.
- Lefèvre, P., 'Une conjecture à propos de la date et de l'auteur du "Vita Gudile"', Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis 14/1 (Brussel 1935) 98-101.
- Van der Essen, L., 'Etude critique et littéraire sur les vitae des saints Mérovingiens', Recueil de travaux publiées par les membres des conférences d'histoire et de philologie 17 (Leuven 1907) 296-311.
- Riethe, p., 'Der Schädel der heiligen Gudula aus der Pfarrkirche von Eibingen. Eine historisch-anthropologische Studie', Nassauische Annalen Jahrbuch des Vereins für nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung Band 67 (1956) 233.
External links
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