Bertha of Val d'Or
Encyclopedia
Saint Bertha, Abbess of Val d'Or, near Avenay
, Reims
, d. c. 690.
Bertha was the wife of St. Gumbert, Lord of Champenois
, a nobleman of royal blood. Gumbert built a nunnery for his wife and her maidens at Avenay
, and retired himself to a monastery on the coast, where he was soon afterwards put to death by pagan marauders.
A legend is that when the people of Avenay suffered from a lack of water, St. Peter appeared to Bertha and showed her a field where there was a good spring which she bought for a pound of silver. It became a holy well which was believed to cure diseases and it supplied both her own nuns and the hamlet of Avenay with water. Bertha was martyred by Gumbert's relatives, who were indignant at the distribution of his money to the poor.
Whether the abbey founded at Avenay followed the Benedictine Rule or the Columban Rule is unknown, even to her main biographer. The whole legend, in fact, is very late and unreliable. St. Bertha's feast is on 1 May.
Avenay
Avenay is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Population:...
, Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, d. c. 690.
Bertha was the wife of St. Gumbert, Lord of Champenois
Champenois
Champenois is a language spoken by a minority of people in Champagne in France and in Wallonia in Belgium. It is one of the langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognized status of a regional language of Wallonia....
, a nobleman of royal blood. Gumbert built a nunnery for his wife and her maidens at Avenay
Avenay
Avenay is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Population:...
, and retired himself to a monastery on the coast, where he was soon afterwards put to death by pagan marauders.
A legend is that when the people of Avenay suffered from a lack of water, St. Peter appeared to Bertha and showed her a field where there was a good spring which she bought for a pound of silver. It became a holy well which was believed to cure diseases and it supplied both her own nuns and the hamlet of Avenay with water. Bertha was martyred by Gumbert's relatives, who were indignant at the distribution of his money to the poor.
Whether the abbey founded at Avenay followed the Benedictine Rule or the Columban Rule is unknown, even to her main biographer. The whole legend, in fact, is very late and unreliable. St. Bertha's feast is on 1 May.