Saint of the Day – 14 October – Saint Angadrisma of Beauvais (Died c 615)

Saint of the Day – 14 October – Saint Angadrisma of Beauvais (Died c 615) Virgin, Abbess, miracle-worker. Born in c 615 in the Diocese of Thérouanne, France and died in c 696 at the Oroër-des-Vierge Abbey, Beauvais, France of natural causes. Patronages – against drought, against fire, against natural disasters, against slander, of Beauvais, France, City of and of the Diocese of Beauvais-Noyon-Senlis. Also known as – Andragasyna, Angadreme, Angadresima, Angadrême, Angradesma.

The Roman Martyrology states today : “Near Beauvais in Neustria, now in France, Saint Angadrisma, Abbess of the Monastery founded by Saint Brolph and called the Oratory because she had several places of prayer, in which she ceaselessly served the Lord.”

Angadrisma lived in the Diocese of Thérouanne in northern France. She was the daughter of Robert I, Bishop of Tours and a cousin to Lambert, the Bishop of Lyons.

Her education was profoundly influenced by St Homer, Bishop of the Diocese and by her cousin, St Lambert, who at that time was a Monk in Fontanelle.

It was probably their influence that supported the girl in her desire to become a nun, and which encouraged her, at a young age, to make a private vow of her Virginity. she was, however, promised in an arranged marriage, to St Ansbert of Chaussy. To avoid the wedding, Angadrisma prayed fervently that she would become physically repellent. Her prayers were answered when she afflicted with leprosy.

The young gentleman, Ansbert, later became the Bishop of Rouen, married another person and Angadrisma was free to receive the religious habit from the hands of St Ouen, the Archbishop of Rouen; from that day her illness disappeared. She became Abbess of the Benedictine Convent of Oroër-des-Vierges, near Beauvais.

Many miracles are attributed to her and she is credited with having extinguished a fire that threatened to destroy the Convent . She led the sisters in prayer, holding aloft the relics of the holy Founder St Ebrulf of Ouche.

When the Convent was destroyed by the Normans in 851, the Saint’s relics were transferred to the Church of St Michele in the City. During the French Revolution they were again moved and placed in the Cathedral of Beauvais, which is a spectacular building, see below.