Bertilia of Mareuil

Saint Bertilia of Mareuil was a woman of noble family from northern France, an anchoress, who reposed in 687.

From an early age she gave herself to the service of God, but her parents married her to a young man named Guthland. At her request the two lived in chastity, as brother and sister, helping the poor and offering hospitality. After her husband's death Bertilia gave her property to the Church and built near Mareuil, in Flanders, a church in honour of Saint Amandus with a small cell beside it for her dwelling, as well as a monastery in Artois.

After a long day of prayer she withdrew to her cell, where she reposed after a short and severe pain. In 1081 Bishop Gerald II of Cambrai enshrined her relics for veneration, and in 1221 they were moved to Mareuil. Pilgrims seeking healing from blindness went to a nearby spring. She is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 3 January (new style).