Ermelinde
Encyclopedia
Saint Ermelinde is a Brabant
Saint of the 6th century. Her parents, rich chatelains, wanted her to marry, but once she refused, they permitted her to follow her vocation and gave her a little land.
She spread her charity to the poor and lived as a hermit
in a forested area, probably around Beauvechain
. Later, she set up a hermitage
in Meldert and spent the rest of her life in prayer
and mortification of the flesh
.
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
Saint of the 6th century. Her parents, rich chatelains, wanted her to marry, but once she refused, they permitted her to follow her vocation and gave her a little land.
She spread her charity to the poor and lived as a hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
in a forested area, probably around Beauvechain
Beauvechain
Beauvechain is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 6,529 inhabitants. The total area is 38.58 km², giving a population density of 169 inhabitants per km²....
. Later, she set up a hermitage
Hermitage (religious retreat)
Although today's meaning is usually a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, hermitage was more commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion.-Western Christian Tradition:...
in Meldert and spent the rest of her life in prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
and mortification of the flesh
Mortification of the flesh
Mortification of the flesh literally means "putting the flesh to death". The term is primarily used in religious and spiritual contexts. The institutional and traditional terminology of this practice in Catholicism is corporal mortification....
.
Worship and devotion
- The parishParishA parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
church of Meldert, in BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , 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...
, (dedicated to Saint Ermelinde) possesses a reliquaryReliquaryA reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
containing the relics of the hermit saint. Every fifty years, the relics are presented in devotion to the parishioners. On the Tuesday of PentecostPentecostPentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, in Meldert, a procession is organised in the honour of Saint Ermelinde. - Saint Ermelinde is also venerated in MoergestelMoergestelMoergestel is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Oisterwijk, about 7 km East of Tilburg.Moergestel was a separate municipality until 1997, when it became part of Oisterwijk....
, in North BrabantNorth BrabantNorth Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...
(in the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe 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...
). In 2008, in Moergestel, a Saint Ermelinde park was inaugrated. - In the LiturgyLiturgyLiturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, Saint Ermelinde is commemorated on 29 October.