Saint Reine and Blessed Aldebert

Heaven blessed their union. These spouses, united to one another by the bonds of a truly Christian affection, applied themselves both to serving God with fidelity and to practicing all kinds of good works. Their high position never inspired pride in them, and the riches they possessed served only to help the poor and to found pious establishments. "Never did the needy depart from their dwelling without having felt the effects of their liberality: he who was naked received clothing to cover himself; he who was pressed by hunger or thirst, food and relief; all those, in short, who were unhappy found in them friends and benefactors."

It pleased God to reward, even in this world, the very virtuous and holy conduct of these two spouses. "He gave them ten daughters, who formed around them like a crown of holiness." All followed in their footsteps, and when they reached the age to make a decision, they resolved to consecrate their virginity to Jesus Christ. It was to provide their children with the means to fulfill this pious design that the blessed Aldebert and Saint Reine, his wife, had the Abbey of Denain built on their lands, near the banks of the Scheldt, under the invocation of the Most Hol abbaye de Denain Site of the abbey's foundation and present-day town. y Virgin. Before dying, they had the consolation of seeing this house of prayer and religion flourish, where pious young women from the region had eagerly gathered around their children.

Some hagiographers seem to believe that Saint Reine herself directed this community for a few years. The authors of the Gallia Christiana even place her at the head of the catalog of abbesses , but perhaps thi Gallia Christiana Encyclopedic work on the history of the Church in France. s indication should only be seen as an acknowledgment of the significant part she played in the foundation. This is, at the very least, the most generally accepted opinion.

At the beginning of the Revolution of 1793, one could still see, in the parish church of Denain, the tombs of the blessed Aldebert, of Saint Reine, his wife, and of Saint Renfroie, their eldest daughter; but the bodies had been transferred, at a time which is not known, into the monastery church, and placed in beautiful reliquaries near the high altar. Saint Reine is ordinari Sainte Reine Wife of Aldebert and founder of the Abbey of Denain. ly represented with a crown on her head, no doubt because she belongs to the royal family of Pepin. She is also given the abbatial crozier, either because she was the first abbess of the monastery of Denain, or because she is considered the principal founder.

The relics of Saint Reine were transported several times to Saxony, wher e th Saxe Region where the relics were transported. e monastery of Denain held assets that she had bequeathed to it, and which unjust plunderers sought to seize. This practice was quite common in the Middle Ages and entirely in accordance with the religious ideas of that era. Molanu s place Molanus Hagiographer cited for his ignorance of the saint's history. s the feast of the Blessed Aldebert on April 21, and that of Saint Reine on July 1; as for Saint Renfroie, she is honored on October 8.

One finds in the Bollandi sts a proper Bellandistes A society of Jesuit scholars who publish the Acta Sanctorum. office for Saint Reine, to whom the name of founder of the monastery of Denain is given. This office was celebrated on July 1, the day of her feast, and on March 17 in memory of the translation of her relics to the land of the Saxons.

The abbey founded by Saint Reine was the nucleus of the city of Denain, which recognizes this family of Saints as its patrons and protectors.

Vies des Saints de Cambrai et d'Arras, by Abbé Destombes.