Guglielmina

Guglielmina (Saint Guglielma, Guglielma of Hungary) is a probably legendary figure of the 8th century who nevertheless enjoyed a lasting veneration in Italy, especially at Brunate and Morbegno. She has never been officially canonized. She must not be confused with Guglielma of Bohemia of the 13th century.

The story says that, daughter (or sister) of a king of England, she married in 798 Theodo, king of Hungary. He left for the Holy Land and entrusted the kingdom and his wife to his brother. The brother-⁠in-⁠law tried to seduce her and, rejected, accused her of infidelity. Tried and condemned to death, Guglielmina escaped and, in disguise, ended up at the court of the king of France. There too a courtier fell in love with her and, rejected, accused her of infanticide, so she was condemned again; freed once more, she passed to Italy and shut herself in a convent at Brunate, where she led an austere and exemplary life and gained a reputation for holiness and wonder-⁠working. The king, her husband, heard the news, came to ask her forgiveness and took her back, and she spent her last days in peace.

Scholars note that the story follows a widespread pattern, that of the "persecuted maiden", in over two hundred sixty versions, and that no queen of Hungary of this name ever existed. Her cult flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries. A deliberate overlap between her cult and that of Guglielma of Bohemia, condemned as heretical by the Church, has also been suggested, under the protection of the Visconti family. The sources at hand give no sure day of commemoration.