Sadalberga

Saint Sadalberga
Abbey of St. John, Laon
Abbess and foundress
Born	early 7th century outside Langres, France
Died	655 Laon, France
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	September 22

Sadalberga (b. early 7th century in Langres, in northeastern France, d. September 22, 655) was a widow, abbess, and saint. She came from a noble family during the reigns of Chlothar II and Dagobert I. Her life story was recounted in two sources: in the vita of the Irish missionary, St. Columbanus, written by Jonas of Bobbio, and a vita by an anonymous writer (680), entitled Vita Sadalbergae (The Life of Sadalberga). She was sanctified as a nun at a young age. She was able to escape her family's plans to "force her into marriage, but only after two marriages, at her father's and the king's insistence". Her first husband died after two years of marriage; she remained a consecrated widow for two more years before marrying a man named Blandius. They had five children, all of whom entered the religious life, including her daughter, Saint Anstrudis, who succeeded her as the abbess of the Abbey of St. John in Laon, a double monastery that Sadalberga founded, with funds from her inheritance. When her children were old enough, she persuaded her husband to "allow her to take up the monastic calling once more"; they mutually agreed to separate and enter monastic life. She performed many miracles and had many visions during her lifetime.

Sadalaberga had a vision that predicted her death 100 days before her death on September 22, 670. She died after the fate of her abbey and properties was secured.

Early life

Sadalberga was born in the early 7th century in a village outside Langres in northeastern France, where many of her father's lands were located, to a noble family. She lived during the reigns of Chlothar II and Dagobert I, during "an age of increasing self-confidence and importance". She was a contemporary of Saint Burgundofara. Like Burgundofara, Sadalberga came from "a family of aristocratic patrons involved in the evangelization of the Frankish countryside through the Irish monastic system". Her parents were Gundoin, who was the duke of Alsace and close counselor of Dagobert I, and Saretude. Her brothers were Leuduin and Fulculf. Leuduin became bishop of Toul in the 660s, after marrying Odila, a Frankish woman from a prominent family, and having one child. She convinced him to join the monastery and to "endow it with what must have been a sizable pool of landed wealth". He became a "leading figure in local ecclesiastic politics" and went on to found Bonmoutier Monastery at the request of his daughter, Teutberga, who was placed there as abbess. There is little known about Sadalberga's two sisters, Aba (or Ebana) and Saretrude, but they probably married and had children. Saretrude was named after her maternal grandmother, which, as historian Yaniv Fox states, suggests that "familial continuity with the maternal line was significant" during the era.

Sadalberga's life story was recounted in two sources: in the vita of the Irish missionary, St. Columbanus, which was written by Jonas of Bobbio, and a vita by an anonymous writer, entitled Vita Sadalbergae (The Life of Sadalberga), written around 680, "some time after her death at the request of her daughter and successor, Anstrude [or Anstrudis]". According to Jonas of Bobbio, Columbanus' successor, Eustasius of Luxuil, was sent to Germany from the Luxeuil Abbey to correct a heresy that denied the divinity of Christ; on his way back to France, he met Gundoin, who was staying in a villa near the river Meuse. Gundoin welcomed Eustasius to his home. Eustasius asked to meet his children, and he introduced his two sons. When Eustasius asked if he had another child, he confessed that he also had a daughter, Sadalberga, who was blind. He "discerned sanctity" in Sadalberga and asked if she was interested in entering the religious life; she told him she was, even though she was young. Eustasius healed her blindness by pouring benediction oil into her eyes after he had fasted for two days. He also healed Sadalberga of "a flow of blood," which had caused weakness in her body.

Career

As the historian, David Hochstetler, put it, Sadalberga concluded that the Christian practices she wanted to perform "could only be carried out fully in a monastery". She was able to, as Fox put it, escape her family's plans to "force her into marriage, but only after two marriages, at her father's and the king's insistence". When she reached maturity, despite her consecration by Eustasius, her parents forced her to marry Richramnus, whom her biographer called "a certain mighty man of noble birth" and "a morally excellent man". Two months later, he died. As her biographer stated, Sadalberga did not give up on her goal of going into the monastery, "and lived for two years as a consecrated widow in her own home". She, as Hochstetler put it, realized that living as a consecrated widow was "imperfect", so she joined the double monastery at Remiremont. Dagobert I opposed it and had her removed; she was forced to marry another powerful nobleman, Blandius. Hochstelter reports that her status as a noble widow gave her the power to appeal directly to the king for permission to enter a monastery, rather than consulting her bishop. Hochstelter states that, as a marriageable woman of the high nobility, Sadalberga had to "apply to the king for permission to remove herself from the world forever" and that "she had gone too far". He claimed that her father forcibly removed her from the monastery and that Blandius, whom he called "a wily courtier, a royal favorite," counseled the king not to allow her to remove herself from society, and she was forced to marry Blandius. According to her vita, though, "they both performed Christian works and most devoutly kept themselves in baptismal purity", practicing hospitality, almsgiving, and standing as a sponsor for candidates for baptism. Her biographer also reports that she traveled to the basilica of Saint Remigius and prayed for children, committing them to the religious life. They had five children: Saretude, named after Sadalberga's mother; two more daughters, Ebana and Anstrudis (who became a saint); a boy named Eustasius, who died in infancy; and her youngest son, Baldwin, who also became a saint. According to Fox, Eustasius, whom he called "sickly", was named after her supporter and spiritual guide. Fox also finds it odd that her oldest son would not have a familial name, as Baldwin did, especially since the purpose of her marriage was to produce a male heir.

According to Fox, when the couple's children were old enough, and her oldest son had matured, Sadalberga persuaded her husband "to allow her to take up the monastic calling once more"; they mutually agreed to separate and enter monastic life; he became an anchorite. He also joined her in establishing a monastery, close to the Austrasian border but within Burgundy, on lands that she had inherited from her father. According to Fox, the monastery was almost complete when Sadalberga received a vision warning her of imminent danger, so she relocated it in c. 639 to Laon, France, in the north. The new monastery was called the Abbey of St. John (Saint-Jean-de-Laon). Fox, who calls it a "curious move", speculates that because the original monastery was on the border, it might have been at the center of "a contested region", adding that "it has been suggested that the hostilities prophesized by Sadalberger are an echo" of the politics of the time. Her vita states that the new site "had strong natural defenses and was safer than the first convent". Fox states that most historians agree that Saldalberga felt the monastery was at risk for being drawn into a regional conflict for control among "warring aristocratic factions", which would have affected its well-being. Sadalberga's vita claimed that the Abbey of St. John housed 300 nuns, including over 100 women from the nobility and "from her own service". One of the noble women who resided at the Laon convent was Odila, a Sicambrian who was married to Sadalberga's brother, Leudinus; they donated funds to the convent, and he eventually became bishop of Toul. Odila entered the convent after Leudinus died and lived there until her own death. According to her vita, Sadalberga "personally did everything that might be useful to the convent", including cooking meals weekly and conducting "other business customary to the monastic life".

Sadalberga performed many miracles during her lifetime, although scholar Jamie Kreiner states that her biographer uses her religious practices, such as humility, generosity, and prayer, which were expected of "any Christian in Gaul at the time", as well as "so clearly confirming to that template", as a defense to being recognized as a saint. Her vita reports that she healed a nun from epilepsy after the nun had an episode during vespers. Her friend and supporter, Saint Waldebert, was expected to visit St. John Abbey. They were out of wine, so Sadaberga ordered beer, and when it was discovered that they did not have enough, she prayed that they would have enough. The abbey was miraculously saved from fire due to her prayers. A voice told the archbishop, Basinus, to visit the abbey to watch Sadalberga cook a meal, which she did once per week. After the message was repeated three times, he went to the convent, arriving at the same time as a man carrying a large fish to sell to the abbey. Basinus bought it, providing food for the sisters. Fox reports that "Sadalberga, we are told, was able to order lettuce from her gardener by telepathy", which he said was interesting because it occurred "while on a summer stroll outside the monastic enclosure and beyond the city walls", and was told as if it were "a habitual practice of the abbess to leave the grounds". Kreiner calls this miracle one of her "most bizarre" and states that a monk heard her "scold him for stealing lettuce from the nuns' garden, despite the fact that Sadalberga was a half mile away and had only mouthed the words". Sadalberga also had many visions.

Death

A year and a half before Sadalberga's death, she suffered from a serious illness and the loss of speech, and when asked by the other nuns how she recovered, she told them that she had experienced a vision after starting to improve, in which she sprouted wings and began to fly; she believed that the wings protected her from becoming any worse. She remained free from any future attacks until she died at the Abbey of St. John on September 22, c. 665. She experienced a vision that foretold her impending death in 100 days; the other nuns were summoned and told to complete the psalter during that time. Her biographer stated that Sadalberga "began that day to worship the Lord more fully in vigils, fasting, psalms and prayers, with a firmer devotion and swifter service". According to Sadalberga's vita, as she was "nearing the end of her life", she became aware that her brother Fulculf was illegally holding properties she had intended to endow her abbey with. According to Fox, Fulculf "took issue with Sadalberga's management of the monastic estate, blaming her for dishonorably appropriating some of the familial resources for her nunnery" and was pacified when his stake in the monastery and other landholdings was formally recognized. Her vita alleges that it was not until Sadalberga became ill that Fulculf decided to meet with her and reconcile their differences. The vita also reports that Sadalberga's other brother, Leudinus, left the family estates he was managing when he heard of her impending death, and promised her that the convent would remain in existence.

Sadalberga collapsed 20 days before her death and became bedridden.She received Last Rites from the priest, Italus. She was buried in the main monastery church at the Abbey of St. John in Laon. After she died, Sadalberga passed the abbey to her daughter, Anstrude. According to Fox, Anstrude was not raised by her parents, but by "more distant kin" who tried to marry her off, but she insisted on entering the monastery her mother founded and becoming an abbess, which allowed her to keep her inheritance intact and to combine it with the "vast estates of the monastery over which she assumed control as abbess".

Works cited

• Fox, Yaniv (2014). Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Formation of the Frankish Aristocracy. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-06459-1.
• Hochstetler, David (1992). A Conflict of Traditions: Women in Religion in the Early Middle Ages 500-840. Lanham, Maryland: University Press. ISBN 0-8191-8609-0.
• Kreiner, Jamie (2020). "Merovingian Hagiography". In Effros, Bonnie; Moreira, Isabel (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 508–530. ISBN 9780190234188.
• Le Jan, Régine (2001). "Convents, Violence, and Competition for Power in Seventh-Century Francia". In de Jong, Mayke; Theuws, Frans (eds.). Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. pp. 243–269. ISBN 90-04-11734-2.
• McNamara, Jo Ann; Halborg, John E.; Whatley, E. Gordon (1996). "Sadalberga, Abbess of Leon". In McNamara, Jo Ann; Halborg, John E.; Whatley, E. Gordon (eds.). Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Duke University Press. pp. 176–194. ISBN 0-8223-1200-X.