Saint Reinelde

From her earliest years, she gave great promise that was to be fully realized. Thus, her parents surrounded her with their care and solicitude, in order to make the seeds of virtue that God had placed in her innocent heart grow. When she reached the age of adolescence, she found herself sought after, because of her birth and her brilliant qualities, by a great number of young lords, all of whom aspired to the honor of having such an accomplished person as their wife.

Reinelde knew how to decline all these pretensions with prudence, and declared openly that she would live only for God, to whom she wished to dedicate her goods, her virginity, and her entire existence. Already she was preparing herself for the fulfillment of this generous sacrifice through the practice of good works. Fasting, vigils, and prayers were her delights; she relieved the poor, the sick, and the infirm, and provided them with all the help that was in her power. Her presence brought joy, peace, and trust in God everywhere. She spoke incessantly of Him with a feeling of happiness that was betrayed in her features, and which penetrated the hearts of all who heard her. In her home, she was always seen to be submissive to the wishes of her parents, and full of sweetness and affability toward the servants, to whom she rendered even more services than she received.

When Witger and his wife, already advanced in age, each retired

Alias: Ernelle, Renelle, Reinilde.

To a monastery to quietly end their days there, Saint Reinelde and her sister Saint Gudula, who was animated by the same sentiments, prepared to make the sacrifice of their goods to God and to consecrate them to good works. After taking all the measures that prudence commanded, they went to the Abbey of Lobbes, where their father had r ecently died, an abbaye de Lobbes Monastery where Ermin was a monk and later abbot. d where their venerable mother Saint Amalberga, then at the monastery of Maubeuge, was soon after to have his mortal remains transported.

The religious having told them that this place, according to their rule, was forbidden to persons of the female sex, and that no woman had ever entered it, Saint Gudula withdrew and went to live almost immediately in the monastery of Morselle, on the banks of the Meuse. As for Reinelde, full of confidence in God who undoubtedly inspired this resolution in her, she remained for three days and three nights near the abbey, never ceasing to beseech the Lord to grant her prayers and to make known to her His holy will. In the middle of the third night, while all the religious were resting, the doors of the church suddenly opened, without anyone laying a hand on them, and the monastery bell was heard. Awakened by this strange noise, the brothers ran from all sides to find out the cause. What was their surprise to encounter Saint Reinelde, in prayer and with arms extended before the image of the Savior! They immediately asked her the reason for the noise they had heard, and how she had been able to enter the church. «If you did not wish to introduce a sinner like me into it,» replied the humble servant of Jesus Christ, «God, whose mercy is infinite, opened it to her despite her sins, and it is by His power that you see me entered here». Upon hearing these words, the superior of the monastery and his religious recognized the high sanctity of the Virgin of Condé and the astonishing miracle that God had just performed in her favor: all then prostrated themselves before her, begging her to address prayers to heaven for their community. Saint Reinelde, in turn, asked them to recommend her to the Lord, so that in all things she might accomplish His adorable will.

After having rendered her homage to God and made an offering of a portion of her goods to the apostle Saint Peter, patron of the monastery, Saint Reinelde, accompanied only by a manservant and a maidservant of proven virtue, undertook the pilgrimage to t he Holy Land Terre Sainte Region visited during their only excursion from seclusion. . The various details of this distant journey are not known; it is only seen that upon her return, she brought back a great number of precious relics, among others, a piece of the Holy Sepulchre, wood from the True Cross, and from the ga bois de la vraie Croix The cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified, the central object of the feast. rment of the Blessed Virgin.

Returned to the midst of her own, Reinelde continued the edifying and mortified life she had led until then. All the inhabitants of the region called her the Saint and showed her the profound respect with which her eminent piety imbued them. The humble Virgin faithfully returned these homages to God, and took advantage of them to draw souls to Him and to make Christian virtues flourish everywhere around her.

It was while she was engaged in the exercise of all kinds of good works that barbarian tribes suddenly descended upon the country and caused appalling ravages there. At the approach of danger, a large number of inhabitants had retreated into caves, forests, and other inaccessible places to keep their lives safe. As for Saint Reinelde, trusting in God and placing her fate in His hands, she remained in the church with two people, a cleric called Grimoald or Grimold and a servant by the n ame of G Grimoald Subdeacon and companion in martyrdom of Saint Reinelde. ondulphe. There, with arms outstretched in the form of a cross and prostrated humbly before the altar of Gondulphe Servant and companion in martyrdom of Saint Reineldis. the martyr Saint Quentin, she asked Jesus Christ for the grace to shed her blood for Him, just as He had deigned to shed His for the salvation of men.

The barbarians, like furious animals, threw themselves with rage and violence upon the whole region: soon they arrived in the abandoned village, and heading toward the church, they slaughtered the three victims who had, as it were, devoted themselves for the salvation of the entire people. Saint Reinelde and the subdeacon Saint Grimoald had their heads severed; Gondulphe, without one being able to explain the reason for such a torture, had his head pierced with large nails. After this massacre, the idolaters tried to set fire to the church, but all their attempts were useless. When they had ravaged the whole country, they returned toward the coasts of Frisia, and it was then that the inhabitants, upon returning to their village, found the bloody remains of the three Martyrs, whom they buried in the church with all the honors due to holy bodies.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Numerous healings have been performed at the tomb of Saint Reinelde; her Acts cite, among others, that of a seven-year-old paralytic, and a great number of blind and lame people. Multiplied ex-votos recall the memory of these benefits of the Virgin martyr. There were several elevations of her body: one, which appears to be the first, was made in 806 by the bishops of Cambrai, Tournai, and Liège; another, which took place under the pontificate of Saint Gregory VII, by Gerard, bi saint Grégoire VII Pope during whose pontificate Saint Gausbert died. shop of Cambrai and Arras. In the years 1170 and 1352, the abbots of Lobbes, Jean and Pierre, visited these holy relics and exposed them to the veneration of the people. Finally, in 1621, the illustrious François van der Burch, archbishop of Cambrai, himself visited this place so dear to the piety of the faithful.

The cult of Saint Reinelde has always been very famous in Hainaut and Brabant, and especially in the village where she was martyred. She is invoked particularly for the healing of inveterate ulcers, wounds, and other similar infirmities. For this purpose, the water of a fountain, located about half a quarter of a league from the church, and which also bears the name of Saint-Reinelde Fountain, is used with great success. God has very often rewarded with extraordinary healings the faith and piety of the infirm and the sick who came to seek it, or to whom it was brought. One sometimes sees people who travel to this place, not only from Halle, but also from very distant lands.

Devotion towards Saint Reinelde often brings many pilgrims to her precious relics. Especially on the day of her feast, July 16, one sees multitudes arriving from all the neighboring villages. Work is then suspended, and the inhabitants take advantage of this rest to fulfill their religious duties.

The feast of the Holy Trinity also attracts an immense gathering of pilgrims to Saintes: on that day, a very solemn processi on is h Saintes City in Aquitaine where Psalmodius initially retired. eld in which the relics of the martyred Virgin are carried triumphantly on a chariot, along with the two shrines that contain those of Saint Grimoald and Saint Gondulphe.

The shrine that contains the precious remains of Saint Reinelde is made of gilded copper and is of very beautiful workmanship: on both sides one sees twelve small silver statuettes representing the Apostles. The Patroness alone occupies one of these faces of the shrine, and the Blessed Virgin the opposite face. This statue of Saint Reinelde is also made of silver and is about thirty centimeters high: she is represented in pilgrim's costume, a staff in her left hand and a palm in her right hand.

Besides the indulgences granted by the sovereign Pontiffs in favor of the pious faithful who would come to honor the Saint in the place where she shed her blood for Jesus Christ, a confraternity, established by the inhabitants of Saintes and neighboring places, still attracts abundant blessings upon the whole region. The rules of this association are very wise and very suitable for helping all those who follow them with fidelity to advance in virtue.

There is near Halle, on the road that leads to Enghien, a village that bears the name of Sainte-Reinelde, and where this holy Martyr is also very venerated.

In Condé, reports a very respectable eyewitness, the place where the castle she inhabited existed is still pointed out. From all sides, people come to invoke her before her statue placed in the church, and the pilgrims all go to draw from the well of Saint Reinelde water which has often, it is said, performed remarkable healings. This well is found today in the vast enclosure of the arsenal: it is surrounded by waist-high coping and maintained with care and respect by the artillery commander. The church of Condé also possesses a very ancient reliquary on which one reads the following invocation: "Saint Reinelde, native of Condé, pray for us."

We have borrowed this biography from the Life of the Saints of the dioceses of Cambrai and Arras, by Abbé Destombes.