Ida of Herzfeld, St.

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IDA OF HERZFELD, ST.

Widow; d. Herzfeld, Sept. 4, 825, or possibly 813. Ida was the sister of Abbot adalard and of wala. A descendant of Charles Martel and a member of the court of charlemagne, she married Egbert, a Saxon duke, and was the mother of Bl. warin. As a widow she lived at Herzfeld, where she was distinguished for piety, penance, and charity, exercised especially at the church founded by Egbert and herself in Herzfeld (Diocese of Münster). Bishop Dodo (980) exhumed her remains. There are pilgrimages to her tomb, where she is invoked especially by expectant mothers. A monk of werden, named Uffing, wrote her vita.

Feast: Sept. 4, Nov. 26.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Sept. 2:255270. Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores (Berlin 1825) 2:569576. i. hellinghaus, Die hl. Ida von Herzfeld (Kaldenkirchen 1925). Heilige Ida von Herzfeld: Festschrift zur tausendjährigen Wiederkehr ihrer Heiligsprechung, ed. g. jÁszai (Munster 1980). g. marsot, Catholicisme 5:1172.

[g. j. donnelly]