17th December is the saint’s day for Begga, a 7th century abbess who was also an ancestor of Charlemagne, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty.
Begga was born in 615, one of two daughters of a
high-ranking official in the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia (covering parts of
modern Belgium, Luxemburg, northern France and northern Germany). Her younger
sister Gertrude became a nun but Begga married Ansegis, the son of the bishop
of Metz, and bore him three children.
When Ansegis died suddenly (possibly murdered, possibly due
to a hunting accident), Begga made a pilgrimage to Rome and was so impressed by
the seven churches she found there that she decided to establish seven churches
in the town of Andenne (on the river Meuse) when she returned.
Begga also set up a convent in Andenne and she remained
there as abbess until her death in 693. Her son Pepin became leader of the
Franks by conquering the other kingdoms, and his illegitimate son Charles
Martel continued to expand the Frankish empire into what became the Kingdom of
France.
© John Welford
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