Today I will give a little gift to my cousin, Linda, who commented on my last post. This is her patroness, St. Ermelinda.
Ermelinda (or Ermelinde) was born in 510 in Belgium. Her parents were rich chatelaines and wanted her to marry. In those days, as in most of history, marriage did not just concern the bride and groom, but involved a family's social and economic position. So, when she refused, it was very generous of them to allow her to follow her chosen vocation as a hermitess. They even gave her a little land. She spread her charity to the poor. Later, she set up a hermitage in Meldert and spent the rest of her life in prayer and mortification of the flesh.
She died sometime between 590 and 595 (sources differ). Her feast day is October 29.
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