Adrienne du Petit-Cambrai (died 1608) was the 24th

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

Forest Abbey Forest Abbey () or Vorst Abbey () was a Benedictine abbey located in the Brussels municipality of Forest, Belgium. It was founded in 1105 and existed for nearly 700 years, until its partial destruction by fire in 1764. It was abolished in 1796 ...

Life

The daughter of Françoise de Gavre of Liedekerke and of Antoine du Petit-Cambrai, lord of Huval, Adrienne du Petit-Cambrai was appointed abbess of Forest Abbey by royal letters patent, and was installed 27 September 1587. The monastery had been devastated during the early decades of the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

, and was rebuilt under her leadership. Both the Abbey of Forest and the parish church of

Dilbeek Dilbeek () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Dilbeek proper, Groot-Bijgaarden, Itterbeek (with Sint-A ...

claimed to possess the remains of

Saint Alena Alena, also known as Alène
Accessed 2012-05-10. or Alina,

, a situation which

Mathias Hovius Mathias Hovius (1542–1620), born Matthijs Van Hove, was the third Archbishop of Mechelen from 1596 to 1620. As Archbishop, Hovius presided over implementing the Catholic Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands. Early career Hovius was born in ...

Archbishop of Mechelen In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

, regarded as problematic. On 25 September 1600 the reliquary of St Alena was opened and the contents inspected by Pierre Vinck, dean of Brussels. The abbess took the opportunity to remove four small bones from the spine and present them to the countesses of Berlaymont and Arenberg. On 14 February 1601, the archbishop issued letters patent authenticating the relics of St Alena in Forest, and ordering that henceforth nothing resembling human remains was to be carried in the procession of St Alena in Dilbeek, but instead a statue of the saint be used. On 24 June 1601 Abbess Adrienne had the relics in Forest carried in solemn procession.B. Bossue, "Les Reliques de Sainte Alène", ''Précis historiques'' 10/235 (1 October 1861), pp. 447-450.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petit-Cambrai, Adrienne du 1608 deaths Benedictine abbesses Belgian Benedictines Nuns from the Habsburg Netherlands People from Brussels