Rictrude (c.614-688) was abbess of Marchiennes Abbey

Marchiennes Abbey

Marchiennes Abbey was a French monastery located on the Scarpe in Marchiennes.It was founded around 630 by Adalbaud, duc de Douai, and Irish monks, disciples of saint Columbanus, on the advice of Saint Amand. One of its founders was Rictrude, who made it double monastery in 643. In around 1024 it...

, in Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

. The main early source for her life is the Vita Rictrudis of Hucbald

Hucbald

Hucbald was a Frankish music theorist, composer, teacher, writer, hagiographer, and Benedictine monk...

, commissioned by the abbey, and written in 907 by Hucbald

Hucbald

Hucbald was a Frankish music theorist, composer, teacher, writer, hagiographer, and Benedictine monk...

..

She was from a noble family in Gascony

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

. She married Adalbald, later murdered. In Hucbald's account, this is shown deliberately as a model marriage.

Four of her five children were Clotsindis, her daughter and successor as abbess, Adalsindis, Eusebia and Maurantius.

She is a Catholic saint, feast day 12 May. All four children are also saints.