Saint Begga (also Begue, Beghe, Begge) (615 – 17 December 693) was the daughter of
Pepin of Landen,
mayor of the palace
Under the Merovingian dynasty, the mayor of the palace or majordomo,
( or ) was the manager of the household of the Frankish king. He was the head of the Merovingian administrative ladder and orchestrated the operation of the entire court. He ...
of
Austrasia
Austrasia was the northeastern kingdom within the core of the Francia, Frankish Empire during the Early Middle Ages, centring on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had ...
, and his wife
Itta. She is also the grandmother of
Charles Martel
Charles Martel (; – 22 October 741), ''Martel'' being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Franks, Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of ...
, who is the grandfather of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
.
Life
The daughter of
Pepin of Landen and his wife,
Itta, Begga was the older sister of St
Gertrude of Nivelles
Gertrude of Nivelles, OSB (also spelled ''Geretrude'', ''Geretrudis'', ''Gertrud''; c. 628 – 17 March 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium. She is venerated in the Catholic ...
. She married
Ansegisel, son of
Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, and had
Pepin of Heristal and
Martin of Laon. Ansegisel was killed sometime before 679, slain in a feud by his enemy Gundewin. Begga made a pilgrimage to Rome and upon her return, she took the
veil
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the human head, head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has be ...
, she had seven churches built at
Andenne on the
Meuse
The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
. There she spent the rest of her days as abbess. She was buried in Saint Begga's Collegiate Church in Andenne.
Veneration
She is commemorated on 17 December.
Some hold that the
Beguine
The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christianity, Christian laity, lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in monasticism, semi-monastic ...
movement which came to light in the 12th century was actually founded by St Begga; and the church in the beguinage of
Lier, Belgium
Lier (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. It is composed of the city of Lier proper and the village of Koningshooikt. The city centre is surrounded by the river ''Nete'', around which it g ...
, has a statue of St Begga standing above the inscription: ''St. Begga, our foundress''. The Lier beguinage dates from the 13th century.
Another popular theory, however, claims that the Beguines derived their name from that of the priest
Lambert le Bègue, under whose protection the witness and ministry of the Beguines flourished.
[McDonnell, ''Beguines and Beghards'', pp. 179, n. 51, & 430-31]
See also
*
Saint Begga, patron saint archive
Footnotes
References
*Andenn
History of Andenne, Belgium* Attwater, Donald & John, Catherine Rachel. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993;
Saint Begga profile catholic.org
* Baix, F. "Begge," in ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques'', VII, ed. A. Baudrillart (Paris, 1934), cols. 441-48
* Heller, J., ed. ''Genealogiae ducum Brabantiae'' (Monumenta Germaniae Historica; SS, XXV), pp. 385–413, ref Genealogia ampliata, 1270
* Rousseau, Félix. "Le monastère mérovingien d'Andenne", ''À travers l'histoire de Namur, du Namurois et de la Wallonie. Recueil d'articles de Félix Rousseau (n.p., 1977), pp. 279–313
External links
Saint Begga at Saints.sqpn.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Begga
693 deaths
Belgian saints
Beguines and Beghards
Frankish Christian royal saints
Christian female saints of the Middle Ages
7th-century Frankish women
Pippinids
7th-century Frankish saints
People from Andenne
613 births