Bertilla

Saint Bertilla was a Merovingian princess and Frankish saint who lived in the county of Hainaut in Belgium. She was the daughter of Bercarius, king of Thuringia. Married to Walbert IV, a prince of Lower Austrasia whose duchy included Cambrésis, Hainaut, Brabant, Hesbaye and the Ardennes, she had two daughters, Aldegund and Waltrude. Her daughter Waltrude was born in the 620s at Cousolre; she married Vincent Madelgarius and had four children, among them Saints Landry of Soignies, Madelberte of Maubeuge and Dentelin of Mons. Bertilla later became a nun at Maubeuge Abbey, founded by her daughter.

She died around 660 in the pagus Hainoensis, in Austrasia (now Hainaut Province, Belgium), and was buried with her husband at Cousolre, in the old church there, later destroyed. Her daughter Aldegund established near their tombs a convent of twelve Benedictine nuns. Aldegund was buried near her parents when she died in 664, and in 690 her body was moved to Maubeuge by her niece, Saint Adeltrude, who succeeded her as abbess. Bertilla and Walbert IV are both canonized. Their relics were placed in 1661 in the church of Saint-⁠Martin at Cousolre. She is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.