Eustadiola was born to wealthy and politically powerful parents in Bourges, France.
16 Facts About Eustadiola
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Eustadiola married due to pressure from her family, but became a widow at a young age, which gave her the financial and social independence to live what Sainted Women of the Dark Ages centuries later called a "semiretired religious life".
3.
Eustadiola gave away her wealth to the poor, founded churches, monasteries, and convents, and used her wealth and influence to expand and decorate the buildings.
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Eustadiola was abbess of the convent she founded in Bourges, and lived as an ascetic for 70 years.
5.
Eustadiola was born in 594 to the senatorial nobility, to wealthy and politically powerful parents, in Bourges, France.
6.
Eustadiola received an education and "became wise in religious ways" at a young age.
7.
Eustadiola's parents urged her to marry to give them heirs, which she did, and had one son, Tetradius.
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Eustadiola was widowed at a young age, which gave her the financial and social independence to live a "semiretired religious life" after her husband died, without any formal vows or submission to outside monastic rules, like many wealthy widows of the time.
9.
The little that is known about Eustadiola is because her biography is documented in the early 8th-century hagiography of her patron, contemporary, and fellow saint, Bishop Sulpicius the Pious, who helped her resist her family's pressure to remarry.
10.
Eustadiola decorated the churches with gold and silver vessels, gems and other jewels, objects used during masses and ceremonies, books, and turrets.
11.
Eustadiola made, with her own hands and assisted by her servants, embroidered vestments, altar cloths with gold fringes, and wall hangings.
12.
Eustadiola built a monastery and a convent, where she and other women, inspired by her example, lived in community as nuns, but without formal recognition.
13.
Eustadiola was abbess of the convent she founded, Moyen-Montiers at Bourges, and lived as an ascetic for 70 years, caring for the poor and supporting widows and orphans.
14.
Eustadiola did not live a strictly cloistered life because of her daily trips to the basilica of Saint Paul in Bourges, which she helped build.
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Eustadiola died in 684, at the age of 90, and was buried at St Paul's Basilica.
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Little is known about Eustadiola; McNamara calls her one of "many forgotten individuals who pursued roads to sanctity not often commemorated by official historians".