Odilia of Alsace

Holy Venerable Odile of Alsace (also called Odilia or Ottilia; born about 662, died about 720) was abbess of the Hohenburg monastery, the patroness of Alsace and of good eyesight. She is a saint venerated in the Orthodox Church and in the Roman Catholic Church. She was canonized in the eleventh century. Her commemoration is on 13 December, and in Alsace on 14 December.

The Life of Odile was composed from traditions. She was born about 662, the daughter of the ruler Adalric (or Eticho), who lived in the time of King Childeric II and received the duchy as a relative of the king. Odile was born blind, but at baptism she saw.

She founded a monastery, which was the first convent of Alsace (Hohenburg, also called the monastery on the mount of Saint Odile or Mont Sainte-⁠Odile). She prayed to God for the forgiveness of her father's sins, delivered him from hell and worked other miracles. The day of her death is reckoned as 13 December.

In 1354, in the presence of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles IV of Luxembourg (1316 to 1378), her tomb was opened to take out a relic for the cathedral of Saint Vitus in Prague. Those present witnessed another miracle: the body of Saint Odile was found well preserved. An asteroid, (401) Ottilia, discovered in 1895, was named in honour of Odile of Alsace. Old images of her from the thirteenth century have survived, carved in stone, in monastic dress, but with long hair.