30 Facts About Glodesind

Glodesind was a saint, nun, abbess, and founder of a convent in Metz, France, during the time of King Childebert II of Austrasia.

Glodesind's family gave up forcing her to marry, and she became a nun and later, the abbess of a convent that was built by her parents.

Glodesind was abbess for six years until her death in 608 at the age of 30.

Glodesind was initially interred on the grounds of a church dedicated to Saint Arnulf, but was moved two more times; the final time at a cemetery built on the grounds of her convent in 830, over 200 years after her death.

Glodesind's sepulcher became a pilgrimage site, and numerous miracles and healings were reported there.

Glodesind was a saint, nun, abbess, and founder of a convent in Metz, France, during the time of King Childebert II of Austrasia.

Glodesind's father, Wintrio, was an Austrasian duke with extensive holdings in Champagne and was "one of the most formidable nobles in the east Frankish kingdom".

Glodesind's paternal aunt, Rotlinda, was abbess of Oren, a convent at Trier, Germany, and the wife of Saint Arnulf, who was a member of the Carolingian nobility and one of their most important saints; he became bishop of Metz in 614.

When Glodesind was 11 or 12 years old in 590, she married a young nobleman named Obelenus, "a great lord of Champagne", although she was too young to consummate the marriage.

Glodesind's husband was arrested after bringing her to his castle for his alleged involvement in the attempted assassination and conspiracy against the king.

Glodesind was imprisoned for a year before he was executed; McNamara speculated that the delay in the execution was "an effort to hold him hostage against his father-in-law's good behavior".

Glodesind's father wanted her to remarry, but she fled to Metz and took refuge at the Church of St Stephen.

Glodesind's parents did not use force to remove her from the church and bring her back to their home, but according to her biographer, they tried to "use whatever means they could to turn her from her intended path", but she was "neither shaken by their threats nor seduced by their blandishments".

Glodesind stayed in the church for six days, and on the seventh day, a priest, who rumors stated was actually an angel, "solemnly veiled her, in front of all the people".

Glodesind's parents believed the rumors, or claimed that they did, so they gave up forcing her to remarry.

Glodesind was later instructed in monastic observances by her aunt Rotlinda in Treves, Germany.

Glodesind's parents built her a convent in Metz, where she was abbess over more than 100 nuns.

Glodesind lived there for six years, until she died at the age of 30; according to Baring-Gould, she was "beloved by all".

The first church where Glodesind was entombed, for 25 years because there was no cemetery at the church on the grounds of her convent, was later dedicated to her aunt's husband, Saint Arnulf.

Glodesind's biographer reported that "countless people were cured there of various infirmities through her merits", until her body was moved to the monastery's cemetery.

Thurlkill stated that the miracles attributed to Glodesind attracted many pilgrims and "enjoyed an even more revered status among her family's dead".

Thrulkill stated, "By the seventh century holy bodies such as Glodesind's could be moved at will to illustrate their celestial status but only after the approval of the male episcopacy".

Historian Jane Shulenberg stated that Glodesind's body was moved in order to accommodate the need for her nuns and other communities that were not strictly cloistered to have access to their funerary churches and their patron saints' tombs.

Glodesind's biographer reported that a series of miracles occurred after she was reinterred to the convent's cemetery.

One story about the miracles attributed to Glodesind was about a clerk of the monastery named Fulbert who wanted to cross the river Seille, but was unable to find a transport and sat down on the bank waiting for someone to bring him a boat.

Glodesind was there for a long time and fell asleep; when he woke up, he was still unable to find a boat, so he prayed to Glodesind to ask God to send him a boat.

Glodesind's biographer reported that Glodesind protected Metz with oil that miraculously flowed, starting at her feet, spreading to her head, and flowed down from her sepulcher in a stream to the pavement below.

Also according to McNamara, the anonymous, Carolingian monk and hagiographer who recorded her life and subsequent cult history believed that Glodesind had some connection with Saint Arnulf, and as McNamara put it, "was clearly anxious to claim some kinship with him to enhance the reputation of his heroine".

The story about Glodesind's veil being given to her was adapted by writers later in the ninth century, and to soften the strength of a virgin's defiance of her parents.

McNamara states that Glodesind's biography was probably authentic due to her father Wintrio's violence towards Metz in 591.