Feast 6 February Name Hildegund Hildegund | Role Saint Died 1183 | |
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church | ||
Saint Hildegund, O.Praem. (c. 1130–1183) was a Praemonstratensian abbess. Born to nobility, her father was Count Herman of Lidtberg and her mother Countess Hedwig. She was married to Count Lothair of Meer (now Meerbusch), in the modern region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Together they had three children, one of whom did not survive into adulthood. When her husband died, Hildegund took a pilgrimage to Rome, accompanied by her daughter, Hedwig. Upon their return to Germany in 1178, despite the opposition of her family, she took vows as a nun of the Premonstratensian Order. She converted her castle into a monastery, serving as its first abbess.
Her daughter Hedwig also embraced the monastic life and was a part of the community founded by her mother. She came to be given the status of "Blessed". Her son, Hermann Joseph, declared a saint as well, had already entered that same Order (whose members also known as Norbertines) at the age of twelve, and had become a canon regular of the Abbey of Steinfeld, where he developed a great reputation as a mystic.
She should not be confused with another Hildegund of the same era, who lived her life disguised as a man, and was considered by some as a saint.