Saint Burgundofara | |
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| Died | 643 or 655 |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 3 April; [1] at Faremoutiers, she was commemorated on 7 December. She continues to be commemorated on 7 December in the Orthodox Church. |
Burgundofara (died 643 or 655), also Saint Fara or Fare, was the founder and first abbess of the Abbey of Faremoutiers.
Her family is knowns as the Faronids, named after her brother Faro. Her name may mean "she who moves the Burgundians".
Jonas of Bobbio's life of Columbanus reports that she was blessed by the Irish monk when a child:
Then Columban went to the city of Meaux. There he was received with great joy by a nobleman Hagneric (Chagneric, father of Burgundofara), who was a friend of Theudebert [King Theudebert II], a wise man, and a counsellor grateful to the king, and was fortified by nobility and wisdom. ... Columban blessed his house and consecrated to the Lord his daughter Burgundofara, who was still a child, and of whom we shall speak later. [2] [3]
Jonas's life of Burgundofara picks up the tale. She is betrothed against her will, and against Columbanus' prediction, and straight away falls deathly sick. Her father Chagneric says to Eustasius of Luxeuil, who happens to be present, "Would that she might return to health and devote herself to divine service!" Burgundofara recovers, thanks to Eustasius's prayers, but her father goes back on his word and decides to give her away in marriage. She discovers this, and flees to the church of Saint Stephen in Meaux. There her brothers Faro and Chagnoald catch her, and are set on killing her for disobeying their father Chagneric, but the timely arrival of Eustasius settles matters. [4]
With Eustasius's support, and the approval of Bishop Gundoald of Meaux, Burgundofara established an abbey on her father's lands. [5] First called Evoriacum, it was later renamed Faremoutiers in her honour.
Studies of Burgundofara's life, and those of noble heiresses in similar situations, lead some writers to conclude that in fact the abbey was very likely established with her father's blessing, [6] and the supposed parental insistence upon her marriage may have been no more than a front, especially if the marriage was proposed by the King. An edict of King Chilperic I a generation earlier had favoured the claims of daughters in inheritance over those of uncles and nephews, making the marriage of an heiress of considerable importance to the wider family.
The feast of Saint Burgundofara is celebrated on 3 April, probably in error. At Faremoutiers, she was commemorated on 7 December.
Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy.
Arnulf of Metz was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia. He later retired to the Abbey of Remiremont. In French he is also known as Arnoul or Arnoulf. In English he is known as Arnold.
Waldebert, , was a Frankish count of Guines, Ponthieu and Saint-Pol who became abbot of Luxeuil, and eventually a canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Like several among his kinsmen, he protected the Church, enriched it with lands and founded monasteries. His brother was Faro.
Jonas of Bobbio was a Columbanian monk and a major Latin monastic author of hagiography. His Life of Saint Columbanus is "one of the most influential works of early medieval hagiography."
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spread first within the Kingdom of Dál Riata, within Ireland and the western coast of Scotland. Since the 8th and 9th centuries, these early missions were called 'Celtic Christianity'.
Sadalberga was the daughter of Gundoin, Duke of Alsace and his wife Saretrude. Sadalberga founded the Abbey of St John at Laon. She is the subject of a short hagiography, the Vita Sadalbergae.
Faremoutiers Abbey was an important Merovingian Benedictine nunnery in the present Seine-et-Marne department of France. It formed an important link between the Merovingian Frankish Empire and the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent and East Anglia.
Chagnoald was a Frankish bishop of Laon during the 7th century. The family to which Chagnoald belonged is known as the Faronids, named after his brother Saint Faro, who was bishop of Meaux, while his sister was Saint Burgundofara, who founded the convent of Faremoûtiers. They were the children of the chancellor to Dagobert I, Chagneric.
Faro, Count of Guînes, was bishop of Meaux. The family to which Faro belonged is known as the Faronids and is named after him.
Eustace of Luxeuil, also known as Eustasius, was the second abbot of Luxeuil from 611. He succeeded his teacher Columbanus, to whom he had been a favorite disciple and monk. He had been the head of the monastic school.
Baudonivia was a nun and hagiographer at the convent of Holy Cross of Poitiers. Very little is known about her. She wrote a biography of Radegund, Queen, founder of Holy Cross, and saint. Scholars have noticed a marked difference in perspective between an earlier life composed by Venantius Fortunatus and that written by a nun of her own convent.
The Vita Sadalbergae is an anonymous Latin biography of Saint Sadalberga, founder of the Abbey of St John, Laon. Its author claims to be writing at the behest of Sadalberga's daughter and successor as abbess, Anstrude, but the date and reliability of the Vita are disputed by scholars.
Agilberta, also known as Aguilberta of Jouarre and Gilberta of Jouarre, is a Benedictine French saint, venerated in both the Roman Catholic Church and Antiochian Orthodox Church. She was a nun and the second abbess of the Jouarre Abbey, in the département of Seine-et-Marne. Agilberta was a relative of Ebrigisil and Ado, who founded Jouarre in 660. Her brother, Agilbert, was bishop of Paris. Agilberta's sister, Balda, was Jouarre's third abbess.
Balda of Jouarre was the third abbess at Jouarre Abbey in north-central France. She was a nun at Jourarre for many years, under her nieces Theodichildis and Agilberta, who were abbesses before her. Her nephew, Agilbert, was bishop of Paris. She might have been related to Sadalberga.
Although Merovingian Francia is not considered a slave society, slaves were, nonetheless, present throughout the entirety of the dynasty and well into the Carolingian period and beyond. In the 7th century, however, the sale and trade of Christians within Frankish borders was abolished by Queen Balthild, herself a former slave.
Chlodosinda was a Frankish princess, the daughter of King Sigebert I and Queen Brunhilda.
Saint Agilus was a Frankish nobleman who became a Christian missionary in Bavaria and later was abbot of Rebais monastery near Paris, France. He was considered a saint, and his feast day is 30 August.
Saint Syra of Troyes was an Irish woman, sister of Saint Fiacre, who became a nun in France and died in Meaux but came to be venerated in Troyes. Her story has been conflated with that of a woman named Syria who died in Troyes in the 4th or 5th century. Her feast day is 8 June.
Rusticula, also called Marcia, was the abbess of Saint-Jean d'Arles from 575 until her death.
Caesaria the Younger or Caesaria II was the abbess of Saint-Jean d'Arles from around 525 until her death.
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