Saint Eusebia of Hamage

Eusebia (in French: Eusébie) (637 – 660), was a Frankish abbess of Hamage (now called Wandignies-Hamage) and is venerated as a saint whose feast day is 16 March. Versions of her name include Eusoye or Ysoie, which was the name of a village in the diocese of Beauvais, France. Eusebia was the great-granddaughter of Saint Gertrude (abbess at the abbey of Wandignies-Hamage, to whom she was entrusted), and the oldest child of Saint Adalbald I of Ostrevent and Saint Rictrude of Marchiennes, of Vascon nobility and lords in the Netherlands. Her three siblings are also venerated as saints: Saint Adalsinde, Saint Maurontius of Douai and Saint Clodoswinthe. Eusebia was born in the year 637, at the end of the reign of Dagobert I, two years before Saint Amand of Maastricht, who was bishop of Maastricht, had laid the foundations of the abbey of Marchiennes. She was presented for baptism by Nanthild, the Queen of the Franks who was her godmother and gave her "the fine estate of Verny, in the neighborhood of Soissons." When she was eight, Eusebia's father was murdered by Rictrude's brothers in Vasconia and Eusebia was left with her mother and two sisters in Hamage. There, she was adopted and trained by Saint Gertrude (first abbess at Hamage), the grandmother of her father Adalbald. In 649, when her great-grandmother died, Eusebia replaced her as titular abbess at the age of 12 but a conflict arose between Eusebia and her mother, Rictrude, who wanted to give her further training before she became abbess. When Eusebia rejected the idea of leaving Hamage, her mother had to obtain a letter (lettre de cachet) from King Clovis II to force Eusebia to go to Rictrude's abbey Marchiennes and live under the strict authority of her mother for one year. During that time, Eusébie longed to live at her Abby in Hamage and would go there furtively during the night to sing her prayers.