Berlinda of Meerbeke

Saint Berlindis
Stained glass window of Saint Berlindis in Sint-Pieter en Sint-Berlindiskerk, in Meerbeke, Belgium
Died	c. 702 AD
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	February 3
Attributes	Depicted as a Brabantian nun with a cow and either a pruning hook or branch; sometimes portrayed with Saints Nona and Celsa^[1]
Patronage	Protectress of trees and invoked against cattle diseases^[1]

Berlinda (Latin: Berlindis, Berlenda, Berelenda, other variants; also known as Bellaude; died 702 AD) was a Benedictine nun of noble descent. Her feast day is 3 February. According to legend she was a niece of Amandus, and was disinherited by her father, Count Odelard, after he became sick with leprosy and believed that she would not take proper care of him.

Berlinda fled to a convent at Moorsel, near Aalst, and became a nun. After her father died, she became a hermit at Meerbeke, where her father had been buried. Her tradition states that she spent her life helping the poor and suffering.

References

^ ^a ^b Saint Patrick Catholic Church: Saint of the Day, February 3

Literature

Van Droogenbroeck, F. J., 'Paltsgraaf Wigerik van Lotharingen, inspiratiebron voor de legendarische graaf Witger in de Vita Gudilae', Eigen Schoon en De Brabander 93 (2010) 113–136.
Van Droogenbroeck, F. J., 'Hugo van Lobbes (1033-1053), auteur van de Vita Amalbergae viduae, Vita S. Reinildis en Vita S. Berlendis', Eigen Schoon en De Brabander 94 (2011) 367–402.