Saint Herlindis of Maaseik

Saint Herlindis (or Harlindis) (c.695 in Maaseik – 745 or 753 in Aldeneik, near Maaseik), sister of Saint Relindis, was a Frankish saint and abbess. Herlindis and Relindis were the daughters of the Frankish nobleman Adelard, who had his daughters brought up at the Benedictine monastery in Valenciennes. In 730 Herlindis's parents set up a Benedictine monastery at Aldeneik for his daughters. Herlindis was consecrated as its first abbess by Willibrord, and held the role until her death, after which Relindis was named to succeed her by Saint Boniface. The two sisters are usually portrayed together, sometimes also with a few nuns, holding either an abbess's staff or a model of the monastery. Her feast day is 12 October, or on 13 February in Liège (on the same day as Relindis). The Casula of Saints Harlindis and Relindis (also known as the Casula of Maasik or the Maasik embroideries) is the earliest extant example of large-scale embroidery from England. It dates from the late 8th or 9th century and was found in Aldeneik Abbey, in Belgium. It is richly decorated in elaborate embroideries of silk and metal thread on a linen base. The casula was not made by the saints themselves, though for centuries it was thought that Harlindis and Relindis made it. Embroidery was seen as an important way to show high social status, and people who could produce it were highly regarded. This is likely why the embroideries came to be associated with the saints, rather than just with the church. Based on analysis of the embroidery style and garment, it most likely dates from after these saints lived so would have had to have been embroidered by someone else. The embroideries were, however, all made at the same time and in the same workshop, though the casula itself has undergone many changes and alterations since it was first made. In the 8th and 9th centuries, cassocks were shaped garments. While this one is rectangular, it looks like it was altered at some point.