Emebert of Cambrai, St.

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EMEBERT OF CAMBRAI, ST.

Identification of Emebert is difficult. Some historians claim that he was bishop of Cambrai-Arras after 627 but before 645 to 652 and that nothing else is known of him (J. Lestoquoy, Catholicisme 4:43). Others claim that Emebert was probably the chorbishop of Brabant, son of St. amalberga and the Count of Kontich (Antwerp), and brother of St. gudula and St. Renelda (N. Huyghebaert, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 15:382383). Of this Emebert, it is known only that he willed his villa of Merchtem (Brabant) to the church of Our Lady of Cambrai and died after 712 at Ham (Brabant), where he was buried.

Feast: Jan. 15 (Dioceses of Arras, Cambrai, and Lille).

Bibliography: l. duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule (Paris 19071915) 3:108110. r. podevijn, De hl. Gudula en hare familie (Aalst 1927). h. lancelin, Histoire du diocèse de Cambrai (Valenciennes 1946). m. coens, "Le Lieu de naissance de sainte Renelde d'après sa 'Vita,"' Analecta Bollandiana 69 (1951) 348387.

[É. brouette]