Bertha of Val d'Or

Saint Bertha, Abbess of Val d'Or, near Avenay, Reims, d. c. 690.

See also: Bertha of Kent
Saint Bertha of Val d'Or
Virgin and Martyr
Bornunknown
France
Died690
France
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Feast1 May
Patronageagainst insanity

Bertha was the wife of Gumbert, Lord of Champenois, a nobleman of royal blood. Gumbert built a nunnery for his wife and her maidens at Avenay, and retired himself to a monastery on the coast, where he was soon afterwards put to death by pagan marauders.[1] After his death, Bertha moved with her nuns to Val d'Or, near Avenay.[2]

A legend is that when the people of Avenay suffered from a lack of water, St. Peter appeared to Bertha and showed her a field where there was a good spring which she bought for a pound of silver. It became a holy well which was believed to cure diseases and it supplied both her own nuns and the hamlet of Avenay with water. Bertha was martyred by Gumbert's relatives, who were indignant at the distribution of his money to the poor.[1]

Whether the abbey founded at Avenay followed the Benedictine Rule or the Columban Rule is unknown, even to her main biographer. The whole legend, in fact, is very late and unreliable. St. Bertha's feast is on 1 May.[1]

References
  1. Thurston, Herbert. "Bertha." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 23 April 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame. A Dictionary of Saintly Women, Vol. 1, p. 117, 1904{{PD-notice}

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Bertha". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.