Gundelinde of Niedermünster

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Gundelinde von Niedermünster (* around 680 - 690 ; † after 720 in Niedermünster ) was the first abbess of the Niedermünster monastery in Alsace. She came from the Alsatian ducal dynasty of the Etichonen and was probably the youngest daughter of Duke Adalbert and his wife Gerlinde . In the Catholic Church she is considered a saint , her feast day is March 28th.

Live and act

Gundelinde was educated in Hohenburg Abbey on Mount Odile. The founder and abbess of the monastery was her aunt Odilia . Later Gundelinde, like her sisters Eugenia and Attala , entered the Hohenburg monastery as a religious. At the beginning of the 8th century, Odilia responded to the influx of sick pilgrims to Mount Odile by founding a hospital south of the mountain. To take care of the sick, she set up a convent of her nuns there, Gundelinde among them. The branch became increasingly independent and was eventually expanded to become the Niedermünster monastery. After Odilia's death (around 720), Niedermünster became an abbey and Gundelinde became the first abbess . She stayed there all her life and was buried in the monastery church after her death.

Worship as saints

Relief above the west portal of the monastery church of Niedermünster.

Gundelinde was venerated as a saint after her death, presumably in recognition of her services to the sick and the construction of the monastery. Their bones were later raised and buried in the monastery church in a prominent place. Gundelinde was, at least temporarily, the patroness of the monastery church alongside the Mother of God Maria . A relief above the west portal probably shows Gundelinde and Maria flanking next to Jesus Christ . A stained glass window in the Strasbourg cathedral from the 14th century shows Gundelinde with other saints. After the fall of the monastery in the 16th century, her bones were transferred to the Einsiedeln monastery . Her commemoration day is March 28th, but no separate liturgical feast is recorded.

literature

  • Vera Schauber, Hanns Michael Schindler: saints and namesake in the course of the year. Pattloch 1998.
  • Théodore-François-Xavier Hunkler: Lives of the Saints of Alsace. Colmar 1839.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ KL Roth: St. Odilienberg. In: Alsatia. Yearbook for Alsatian History, Sage, Customs and Language (1856–1857), pp. 65–118, here p. 90.
  2. ^ Théodore-François-Xavier Hunkler: Life of the Saints of Alsace. Colmar 1839, p. 165.
  3. ↑ J.-P. Meyer: Voûtes romanes. Architecture religieuse en Alsace de l'an mil au début du XIIIe siècle. Strasbourg 2003, p. 201.
  4. ↑ Illustration of the glass window and further information in the Index of Christian Art , accessed on October 24, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Gundelinde of Niedermünster
BRIEF DESCRIPTION abbess
DATE OF BIRTH around 680-690
DATE OF DEATH after 720
Place of death Niedermünster