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Saint Ava is a Roman Catholic saint. Ava was the daughter of Pepin. She was cured of blindness by St. Rainfredis. She then became a Benedictine nun dianant, Hainaut, located today in Belgium, and was elected abbess c. 845.
Her feast day is April 29.
Saint Ava presided as a Benedictine nun dianant in the County of Hainaut in what is now known as Belgium. This would have made her a woman of great spiritual and material standing even without the bolstering influence of Saint Rainfredis having cured her of her blindness.
Saint Ava was an abbess by the time of her death, the highest office a woman could hold within the religious hierarchy of the Catholic faith at that time. Her veneration is now relatively obscure.
Saint Ava's father, King Pepin II, was subject to rumors that he renounced Christianity to adopt the Viking way of life, including the worship of Woden, or Odin, as he is more widely recognized. His tenure as king was marked by unfavorable outcomes, including poorly chosen alliances with Viking chieftains and multiple unsuccessful military campaigns. These missteps led to a significant loss of his power and prestige, culminating in his abdication. Pepin II ultimately passed away outside of Aquitaine.
