Glodesind of Metz

Saint Glodesind of Metz was a virgin who founded a convent at Metz in France and was its abbess, in the time of King Childebert II of Austrasia. She lived from 572 to 608 and reposed at the age of thirty.

She belonged to the Carolingian nobility. Her father, Wintrio, was an Austrasian duke with extensive holdings in Champagne, and her mother, Godila, was also the daughter of an Austrasian duke. Her paternal aunt, Rotlinda, was abbess of Ören, a convent at Trier, and the wife of Saint Arnulf, later bishop of Metz. At eleven or twelve, in 590, she was married to a young nobleman, Obelenus, though the marriage was not consummated. Her husband was arrested after bringing her to his castle, for alleged involvement in a conspiracy against the king, held in prison a year and then executed. According to Baring-⁠Gould, they loved each other tenderly, and the blow broke all her ties to earth.

Her father wanted her to remarry, but she fled to Metz and took refuge in the church of Saint Stephen; her parents did not use force. She became a nun and then abbess of the convent built by her parents, serving six years until her death. The miracles that showed her sanctity began twenty-⁠five years after her death, at the first reinterment of her body. She was first buried at a church dedicated to Saint Arnulf and was moved two more times. She is commemorated on 25 July in the Orthodox Church (on 8 July in the West) as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.