Saint Ghislain | |
|---|---|
 Dutch Book of Prayers from the mid-fifteenth century. Ghislain is the figure on the far right, holding a church. | |
| Died | 9 October 680 |
| Venerated in | |
| Feast | 9 October |
| Attributes | represented with a bear or bear's cub beside him |
| Patronage | invoked against convulsions from children |
Ghislain (died 9 October 680) was a confessor and anchorite in Belgium. He died at the town named after him, Saint-Ghislain.
He was probably of Germanic origin. Ghislain lived in the province of Hainaut in the time of Amandus (d. 679) and Waltrude, Aldegonde, and Amalberga of Maubeuge. With two disciples, Lambert and Berler, he made a clearing in the vicinity of Castrilocus (now Mons, in Hainault), taking up later his abode at a place called Ursidongus, where he built an oratory or chapel dedicated to Peter and Paul the Apostle. [1]
Aubert of Avranches summoned him to the episcopal presence in order to sound the intentions of this almost unknown hermit, but he afterwards accorded him efficient protection. During his visit to Cambrai, Ghislain spent some time in the villa of Roisin and received as a gift the estates of Celles and Hornu. He soon entered into relations with Waltrude, who was induced by him to build a monastery at Castrilocus, his former place of refuge. [1]
It is probable that Ghislain influenced the religious vocation of Aldegonde, Abbess of Maubeuge, also of Amalberga and Aldetrude, of whom the first was the sister and the last two the daughters of Waltrude. One day Aldegonde in her monastery of Maubeuge, had a vision in which, according to her biographer, the death of Amandus, Bishop of Tongeren, was revealed to her. Ghislain visited her in her villa of Mairieu, near Maubeuge, and explained to her that the vision was an announcement of her own approaching death. The intercourse between Ghislain and Aldegonde brought about a perfect understanding between Maubeuge and the monastery founded at Ursidongus under Ghislain's direction. St. Waudru rewarded her counsellor with a portion of the villa of Frameries and of the oratory of Saint-Quentin, comprised within the boundaries of the villa of Quaregnon. [1]
Ghislain died at Ursidongus, and the monastery which he had founded took his name. The relics of the saint were first disinterred c. 929. They were transferred to Grandlieu, near Quaregnon, about the end of the tenth century or the beginning of the eleventh, and in 1025 Gerard of Florennes, Bishop of Cambrai, removed them to Le Cateau-Cambrésis. They were visited several times in the course of the Middle Ages by the bishops of Cambrai.
In 1647 they were removed to St-Ghislain of which place he is patron. His feast is celebrated on 9 October and his intercession is sought to protect children from convulsions and epilepsy. In the old church of St. Martin in Saint-Ghislain there used to be an altar dedicated to St. Ghislain to which children suffering from epilepsy would be brought in hopes of a cure. [2]
In iconography he is frequently represented with a bear or bear's cub beside him. This is an allusion to the popular legend which relates that a bear, pursued in the chase by King Dagobert I, sought refuge with Ghislain and later showed him the place where he should establish a monastery. Moreover, the site of his cella was called Ursidongus, "bear's den". [3]
He is sometimes portrayed holding a church.[ citation needed ]
There is a Rue Saint-Ghislain/Sint-Gissleinsstraat in Brussels. [4]
Saint-Ghislain is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Amandus, commonly called Saint Amand, was a bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht and one of the catholic missionaries of Flanders. He is venerated as a saint, particularly in France and Belgium.
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The Archdiocese of Cambrai is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Cambrai, Douai, and Valenciennes within the département of Nord, in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The current archbishop is Vincent Dollmann, appointed in August 2018. Since 2008 the archdiocese has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lille.
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Maubeuge Abbey was a women's monastery in Maubeuge, in the County of Hainaut, now northern France, close to the modern border with Belgium. It is best known today as the abbey founded by St. Aldegonde, still a popular figure of devotion in the region. It is thought to have possibly been where the young Jan Gossaert, a Renaissance-era painter known as Jan Mabuse, was educated, claimed by some to have been a native of the town of Maubeuge, which grew up around the abbey.
Aldetrude was a Christian saint and from 684 was abbess of Maubeuge Abbey in the County of Hainault, now in northern France. She is also known as Aldetrude de Maubeuge, Aldetrude of Maubod, Aldetrudis and Adeltrude.
Saint Madelberte of Maubeuge was a 7th-century nun related to the Merovingian dynasty. She became abbess of Maubeuge Abbey in the County of Hainaut, now in northern France near the Belgian border. She died in 705 or 706.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Ghislain". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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