Begga (Begue) (Saint) of LANDEN

Saint Begga (also Begue, Begge) (615 - 17 December 693) was the daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and his wife Itta von Swaibia. On the death of her husband, she took the veil, founded seven churches, and built a convent at Andenne on the Meuse River (Andenne sur Meuse) where she spent the rest of her days as abbess. She was buried in Saint Begga's Collegiate Church in Andenne. Life Her parents were Pepin of Landen and his wife, Itta. She married Ansegisel, son of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, and had three children: Pepin of Heristal, Martin of Laon, and Clotilda of Heristal, who married Theuderic III of the Franks.[1] Ansegisel died while out hunting. Begga made a pilgrimage to Rome, and upon her return built seven churches at Andenne on the Meuse.[2] Veneration She is commemorated as a saint on her feast days, 6 September and 17 December. St. Begga's Feast Day is 17 December.[3] Some hold that the Beguine movement which came to light in the 12th century was actually founded by St. Begga; and the church in the beguinage of Lier, Belgium, has a statue of St. Begga standing above the inscription: St. Begga, our foundress. The Lier beguinage dates from the 13th century. More than likely, however, the Beguines derived their name from that of the priest Lambert le Begue, under whose protection the witness and ministry of the Beguines flourished.[4][5] Footnotes ^ Butler's Lives of the Saints, Burns, Paul ed., p.146,Continuum International Publishing Group, 1995 ^ Dunbar,Agnes Baillie Cunninghame, A Dictionary of Saintly Women (London, 1904), I, pp. 111-12 ^ www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=263 ^ J. A. Ryckel ab Oorbeeck, Vita S. Beggae Ducissae Brabantiae Andetennensium, Begginarum et Beggardorum fundatricis vetus (Louvain, 1631) ^ McDonnell, Beguines and Beghards, pp. 179, n. 51 and 430-31 http://en.wikipedia.org

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