Itta

Saint Itta (Ida, Iduberga) of Metz was the wife of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and then the founder of the monastery of Nivelles, where she lived as a nun. She was born in 592 and reposed on 8 May 652. She is honoured by both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church.

Her parents are not known with certainty; it has been suggested that she came from a senatorial family originating in Aquitaine and was the daughter of Bishop Arnoald of Metz. Her brother was Saint Modoald, bishop of Trier, and her sister Severa an abbess. After Pepin died in 640, Itta withdrew from the court with her daughter, Saint Gertrude. Around 647, on the advice of Saint Amandus, bishop of Maastricht, she founded the abbey of Nivelles, at first a community of nuns and then a double monastery when a group of Irish monks joined. Gertrude was its first abbess, and Itta lived under her rule, assisting her with advice.

She had another daughter, Saint Begga of Andenne, grandmother of Pepin of Herstal. Her son Grimoald became mayor of the palace, and her second son, Saint Bavo (Allowin), lived as a hermit. She is patron of the French village of Itteville, founded on the site of a farm she had established.