Saint Glossinde de Metz

Glodesind (572−608) was a saint, nun, abbess, and founder of a convent in Metz, France, during the time of King Childebert II (575−596) of Austrasia. She was a member of the Carolingian nobility. When she was 11 or 12 years old, she married a young nobleman, who was arrested by the French government shortly after their wedding and executed a year later. Instead of remarrying as her family wanted, she fled to Metz and took refuge at the Church of St. Stephen. Her family gave up forcing her to marry, and she became a nun and later, the abbess of a convent that was built by her parents. She was abbess for six years until her death in 608 at the age of 30. Her feast day is 8 July. The miracles that established her sainthood did not begin to occur until 25 years after her death, after the first time her body was reinterred. Glodesind was initially interred on the grounds of a church dedicated to Saint Arnulf, but was moved two more times; the final time at a cemetery built on the grounds of her convent in 830, over 200 years after her death. Her sepulcher became a pilgrimage site, and numerous miracles and healings were reported there. Glodesind (572−608; also called Chlodsendis, Clodeswide, Closind, Closseinde, Clothsend, Clotsend, Glossine, and other names) was a saint, nun, abbess, and founder of a convent in Metz, France, during the time of King Childebert II (575−596) of Austrasia. According to hagiographer Jo Ann McNamara, Glodesind was first in the chain of saints associated with the Austrasian nobility. Her father, Wintrio, was an Austrasian duke with extensive holdings in Champagne and was "one of the most formidable nobles in the east Frankish kingdom". Her mother, Godila, was also the daughter of an Austrasian duke. Glodesind's paternal aunt, Rotlinda, was abbess of Ören, a convent at Trier, Germany, and the wife of Saint Arnulf, who was a member of the Carolingian nobility and one of their most important saints; he became bishop of Metz in 614.