Bertha of Blangy, St.

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BERTHA OF BLANGY, ST.

Benedictine abbess; b. Arras, France, second half of seventh century; d. c. 725. She appears to have been married to a certain Sigfrid and to have had five daughters; her biography, written about two centuries after her death, is somewhat unreliable. It is certain, however, that she founded the monastery of Blangy c. 686 and retired there with two of her daughters, Gertrude and Deotila. Her body was transferred from Blangy c. 895 to the monastery of Erstein in Alsace, but it was returned after 1032, by which date benedictine monks again occupied Blangy.

Feast: July 4.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum July 2:4760. Bibliotheca hagiograpica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels 18981901) 1:126670. l. van der essen, Étude critique et littéraire sur les vitae des saints mérovingiens de l'ancienne Belgique (Louvain 1907); Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 8:944945. a. m. zimmermann, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 195765) 2:263. r. aigrain, Catholicisme 1:1499. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum (Metten 193338) 2:399401.

[p. blecker]

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