Saint of the Day – 30 June – Saint Adele of Orp-le-Grand (Died c670) Abbess, Founder, Born in the early 7th Century in modern Belgium and died in c670 of natural causes at her Monastery. Patronage – agaomst eye diseases, ailmnts and vision disorders. Also known as – Adel, Adèlais. Additional Memorial – on the 1st Sunday in October (procession of her Relics through the streets of Orp-le-Grand) and 25 May on some calendars.
Adele of the Merovingian Dynasty noble family, decided to take the veil by entering the Monastery of Nivelles which had been founded by Itte Idoberge, widow of King Pepin the Elder and her daughter ,Saint Gertrude.
Around the year 640, she founded a Monastery at Orp-le-Grand, of which she became the first Abbess.
While Childeric II governed, this new Monastery flourished, so much so, that it led her to construct a larger building which she had dedicated to Saint Martin, into which she moved her entire community.
There are two local traditions regarding St Adele’s life. The first tells how Saint Adele became blind and then miraculously recovered her sight, the second reports that the Saint was born blind and received her sight during her Baptism.
We know little more about her and it is said that Saint Adele of Orp-le-Grand died around the year 670 and was buried in the Crypt of Saint Martin’s Abbey.
Every year on the 1st Sunday of October her Relics are carried in procession, with great participation of the faithful through the streets of Orp-le-Grand.
She is popularly invoked for curing vision disorders and is traditionally represented in religious dress. There is a terracotta statue depicting her in the Church of St Omer.
In homage to Saint Adele, many Churches have been dedicated to her in Saint-Géry, Fromiée and Hemptinne. In Brye, in Hainaut, next to the Chapel which bears her name, there is a well built in the 18th Century, where pilgrims draw miraculous water to bathe their eyes.
The celebration and remembrance for Saint Adele of Orp-le-Grand is generally held on 30 June.
AnaStpaul 