Editing Gudula

{{short description|7th and 8th-century medieval saint from Brabant}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix   = [[Saint]]
| name               =  Gudula of Brabant
| birth_date         = {{circa|646}}
| death_date         = 680–714
| feast_day          = 8 January, 19 January in the [[Diocese of Ghent]]
| venerated_in       = [[Roman Catholic Church]]<br> [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref>January 21 / January 8. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/</ref>
| image              = Gudula.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = From [[New York Public Library]], MA 092, fol. 251, [[Haarlem]] [[Gradual]] of 1494, depiction of Saint Gudula bearing a lantern which the demon endeavors to extinguish
| birth_place        = [[Pagus]] of Brabant
| death_place        = [[Hamme, Belgium|Hamme]], [[Francia]]
| titles             =
| canonized_date     = 
| canonized_place    = [[Pre-Congregation]]
| canonized_by       = 
| attributes         = depicted as a woman with [[lantern]] which the [[devil]] tries to blow out
| patronage          = [[Brussels]], [[celibacy|single]], [[laity|laywomen]]
| major_shrine       = [[Eibingen]] <br> [[St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral]]
| suppressed_date    =
| issues             =
}}

'''Gudula of Brabant''', also known as '''Saint Gudula''' (ca. 646&ndash;712), was a [[Christian saint]] who is venerated in [[Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] churches. In [[Province of Brabant|Brabant]], she is usually called ''Goedele'' or ''Goule''; ({{langx|la|Gudila}}, later ''{{lang|la|Gudula}}''; {{langx|nl|Goedele}}; {{langx|fr|Gudule}}). Her name is connected to several places: [[Moorsel]] (where she lived), [[Brussels]] (where a [[Chapter (religion)|chapter]] in her honour was founded in 1047) and [[Eibingen]] (where the relic of her skull is conserved).

==Life==
Gudula was born around 646 in the [[pagus of Brabant]] (in present-day [[Belgium]]). According to her 11th-century biography ([[s:la:Vita Gudilae|Vita Gudilae]]), written by Onulfus of Hautmont, a monk of [[Hautmont Abbey]] between 1048 and 1051,<ref> Van Droogenbroeck, F. J., [https://www.academia.edu/3617946/ 'Onulfus van Hautmont (ca. 1048), auteur van de Vita S. Gudilae anonymo', ''Eigen Schoon en De Brabander'' 95 (2012) 595–643.] </ref> she was the daughter of a [[duke of Lotharingia]] called Witger and Saint [[Amalberga of Maubeuge|Amalberga]]. Her mother embraced the religious life in [[Maubeuge Abbey]]. Gudula had three sisters, Saint [[Pharaildis]], Saint [[Reineldis]] and Saint Ermelinde, and one brother, [[Emebert|Saint Emebertus]].<ref name=van>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07056b.htm Van der Essen, Léon. "St. Gudula." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 11 May 2018</ref> She received the veil from the hands of Saint [[Aubert of Cambrai|Aubert]], [[Bishop of Cambrai]] (d. about 668).

Gudula was educated in [[Nivelles Abbey]] by her godmother, [[Gertrude of Nivelles]]. When Gertrude died, Gudula moved back to her home at [[Moorsel]], spending her time in good works and religious devotion. She was profuse in her alms for the poor,<ref name=butler>[https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-i-january/st-gudula-virgin-patroness-of-brussels/ "St. Gudula, Virgin, Patroness of Brussels", Butler, Alban. ''The Lives of the Saints''. Volume I: January, 1866]</ref> and frequently visited the church of Moorsel, situated about two miles from her parents' house.<ref name=van/> Nothing particular is recorded of Gudula beyond the singular holiness of her life.<ref name=":0">[https://books.google.com/books?id=dUUMAAAAYAAJ&dq=Saint+Gudula&pg=PA779 Jameson, Anna. ''Sacred and Legendary Art'', Volume 2, Longmans, Green, 1891, p. 779]</ref>

Gudula died between 680 and 714, with the most frequent date mentioned being 712,<ref name="butler" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="Lanzi" /> and was buried at Hamme ([[East Flanders]]). Later, her [[relic]]s were removed to a St. Salvator near Moorsel, where the body was interred behind the altar. During the reign of [[Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine]] (977–992), they were transferred to [[Gaugericus|Saint Gaugericus]]' chapel in [[Brussels]].<ref name=van/> [[Lambert II, Count of Leuven]], (d. 1054) founded a chapter in 1047 in honour of Saint Gudula. Bishop [[Gerard of Florennes|Gerardus I]] of Cambrai (d. 1051) led the translation of her relics to the church of Saint Michael in Brussels. The church later became the famous [[Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula]].<ref name=cathedral/>

On 6 June 1579, the collegiate church was pillaged and wrecked by [[Protestantism|Protestant]] ''[[Geuzen]]'' ("Beggars"), and Saint Gudula's relics were disinterred and scattered.

==Veneration==
[[File:Sint-Goedele Kathedraal van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele 29-01-2019.jpg|thumb|Statue of Saint Gudula in the [[Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula]], Brussels]]

Along with Saint [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]], Gudula is a [[patron saint]] of Brussels.<ref name=cathedral>[http://www.cathedralestmichel.be/ Cathedrale St. Michel]</ref> Her feast is generally celebrated on 8 January (the day she died according to her [[hagiography]]).<ref name=Lanzi/> However, in the [[diocese of Ghent]] (where Moorsel is situated), her feast is held on 19 January. [[Charlemagne]] also made donations to the [[convent]] of Moorsel in her honour.

Saint Gudula's skull is conserved in the Catholic [[St. Hildegard, Eibingen|Church of St. Hildegard]] in [[Eibingen]], Germany.

==Iconography==
Saint Gudula is often depicted holding a lantern or taper, but this originates probably out of confusion with the Paris Saint [[Genevieve]] tradition. She is depicted on a seal of the Church of St. Gudula of 1446 holding in her right hand a [[candle]], and in her left a lamp, which a [[demon]] tries to extinguish. This refers to the legend that the saint went to church before [[rooster|cock]]-crow. The demon, wishing to stray her off the right way, extinguished the candle, but the saint obtained from God that her lantern should be rekindled.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=Lanzi>[https://books.google.com/books?id=D_aF50Lo8lQC&dq=Gudula&pg=PA127 Fernando Lanzi, Fernando and Gioia, "Gudula of Brussels, Virgin", ''Saints and Their Symbols'', Liturgical Press, 2004], {{ISBN|9780814629703}} p. 127</ref>

The flower called ''tremella deliquescens'', which bears fruit in the beginning of January, is known as ''Sinte Goedele's lampken'' (St. Gudula's lantern).

==See also==
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/January 8|Saint Gudula, patron saint archive]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources==
* {{Catholic |wstitle=St. Gudula |author=L van der Essen}}

===Primary sources===
* [[s:la:Vita Gudilae|Vita prima sanctae Gudilae auctore anonymo]] on the [[Latin]] [[Wikisource]]
* [[s:la:Vita ampliata sanctae Gudilae auctore Huberto|Vita ampliata sanctae Gudilae auctore Huberto]] on the [[Latin]] [[Wikisource]]

===Secondary sources===
* Bollandus J., Henschenius G., ''De S. Gudila Virgine Bruxellis in Belgio'', Acta Sanctorum Januarii I (1643) 524–530.
* Bonenfant, P., 'La charte de foundation du chapitre de Sainte-Gudule à Bruxelles', ''Bulletin de la Commission Royale d'Histoire'' 115 (1950) 17–58.
* Podevijn, R., 'Hubert, l'auteur de la vita Gudulae', ''[[Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire]]'' 15 (1936) 489–496.
* Podevijn, 'Etude critique sur la Vita Gudulae', ''Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire'' 2 (1923) 619–641.
* Lefèvre, P., 'Une conjecture à propos de la date et de l'auteur du "Vita Gudile"', ''[[Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis]]'' 14/1 (Brussel 1935) 98–101.
* van der Essen, L., 'Etude critique et littéraire sur les vitae des saints Mérovingiens', ''Recueil de travaux publiées par les membres des conférences d'histoire et de philologie'' 17 (Leuven 1907) 296–311.
* Riethe, P., 'Der Schädel der heiligen Gudula aus der Pfarrkirche von Eibingen. Eine historisch-anthropologische Studie', ''Nassauische Annalen Jahrbuch des Vereins für nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung'' Band 67 (1956) 233.
* Van Droogenbroeck, F. J., [https://www.academia.edu/3617946/ 'Onulfus van Hautmont (ca. 1048), auteur van de Vita S. Gudilae anonymo', ''Eigen Schoon en De Brabander'' 95 (2012) 595–643.]
* Van Droogenbroeck, F. J., [https://www.academia.edu/28937351/  Nova miracula de exemplis veteribus (2016)]

== External links ==
{{commons category|Saint Gudula}}
* [http://www.cathedralisbruxellensis.be/en/welcome St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, Brussels] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512112905/http://www.cathedralisbruxellensis.be/en/welcome |date=2018-05-12 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160701203602/http://www.eibingen.net/ Pfarrei St. Hildegard, Eibingen with Information of the Church and the shrine of saint Gudula]

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[[Category:7th-century births]]
[[Category:8th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Belgian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:7th-century Frankish women]]
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[[Category:8th-century Frankish nobility]]
[[Category:Christian female saints of the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:People from Aalst, Belgium]]