Rolendis of Gerpinnes

Rolendis of Gerpinnes (Rolende) is a virgin of Belgium, born in the 8th century and reposed around 774 at Villers-⁠Poterie. According to tradition she was the daughter of Desiderius, king of the Lombards in exile in Gaul, and of his wife Ansia. She is venerated in the Western Church and commemorated on 13 May.

The story says she was born about 754 at Pavia, capital of the Lombard kingdom. In 769 she was betrothed to Charlemagne, for an alliance with the Lombards, but was repudiated in 771. King Desiderius then threatened the papal state, which set off war with Charlemagne, called on by Hadrian I; defeated at Pavia in 774, Desiderius was condemned to exile in northern Gaul, at the abbey of Saint-⁠Pierre at Corbie. According to one version of the legend, Rolendis, said to be of great beauty, was promised there in marriage to Oger, son of the king of the Scots. Wishing to devote herself to God in virginity, she refused the marriage and fled to take refuge in the convent of Saint Ursula at Cologne (that of the "eleven thousand virgins"). Falling ill on the way, she sought shelter, and, the legend says, one of her attendants, climbing an oak, saw a building in the distance. She reached the farm-⁠castle of Villers-⁠Poterie and died there; the year retained by tradition is 774.

According to popular tradition, feeling her end approach, she asked for a priest; a blind and lame man was sent to fetch him from Gerpinnes, and she blessed him and he regained his sight. The people carried her embalmed body in procession to the parish church of Gerpinnes, where the cult began at her tomb, with miracles and pilgrims. In May 1103 Otbert, prince-⁠bishop of Liège, visited Gerpinnes to venerate the saint, ordered the body exhumed and the bones gathered in a shrine placed in the crypt of the church. Later, in an unknown year, the parishioners resolved to hold each year at Pentecost a procession with the shrine through the whole parish domain; this is the "Marche de Sainte Rolende", inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage. The account is largely legendary.