Saint Ansfried of Utrecht (died May 3, 1010 near Leusden

Leusden

Leusden is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located about 3 kilometres southeast of Amersfoort....

) was Count of Huy

Huy

Huy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia, home to about two-thirds of the Walloon population...

 and the sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...

.

He was married to Heresuint or Hilsondis. After his wife's death, Ansfried wanted to become a monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

. However, the emperor Otto made him a bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

. Ansfried became the bishop of Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

 (995–1010), today in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

. Before that Ansfried had founded the abbey of Thorn

Thorn, Netherlands

Thorn is a town in the municipality of Maasgouw, in the Dutch province of Limburg. It lies on the rivers Meuse and Witbeek. It's known as 'the white village' for its white-washed brick houses in the centre of town.-History:...

, near the present-day border between Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and the Netherlands. In the abbey of Thorn, Ansfried invested his daughter as abbess. As bishop, he founded the abbey of Heiligenberg

Heiligenberg (Leusden)

The Heiligenberg is an estate near the Dutch town of Leusden.The estate is located on a 12 meter high hill, the "Heiligenberg" , which dates from the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. On this hill, then known as Hohorst, bishop Ansfridus of Utrecht founded a small abbey around the year 1000...

. He then became a monk after he became blind. His feast day was May 3 but was later moved to May 11.

External links

• Saints of May 11: Ansfrid