Saint Adela

Adela of Pfalzel (d. 734 or 735), sometimes called Adula or Adolana, was a Frankish noblewoman, abbess, and Catholic saint. Some sources state that her father was Dagobert II and that her sister was Saint Irmina of Oeren. She married a man named Alberic; after he died, she entered the Benedictine monastery of Pfalzel, near Trier; she might have been the monastery's founder and first abbess. She died in Pfalzel in 735. Her feast day is on December 24 in the Orthodox Church; and on January 3 in the Catholic Church. Adela's father was Dagobert II; her mother's name was Matilda, an "Anglo-Saxon princess" whom Dagobert married while hiding in Ireland from his enemies. She had one brother and three sisters, including Saint Irmina of Oeren. It is not proven, however, that she was the daughter of Dagobert II and the sister of Saint Irmina. She married Alberic; one source states that they had several children, but another source states that they had one son. According to the Acta Sanctorum, Adela was the founder and first abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Pfalzel, near Trier, which she entered after her husband died. According to hagiographer Agnes Dunbar, however, the monastery was built for her by Dagobert II and Saint Modwald, archbishop of Trier, whose sister, Saint Severa, was the monastery's first abbess, although Adela succeeded her. Hagiographer Omer Englebert states, ""Her riches and her beauty brought many suitors for her hand; but following the example of her elder sister, she, too, became a nun and founded, about 690", the convent at Pfalzel. There is also some conflict in the sources regarding a story about Saint Gregory of Utrecht; the Acta Sanctorum states that he was either Adela's grandson or nephew, while Dunbar states that he was her grandson.