Belgium accounts

Belgium sources sthat that Vincent Vadelgarus was born in Strépy, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, sometime in the late 6th or early 7th century; died 677

677

Year 677 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 677 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* According to the Chronicon Pictum, the...

 in Soignies

Soignies

Soignies is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut.The municipality is composed of the Town of Soignies together with the villages of Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Neufvilles, Naast and Thieusies...

; and was a Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monk who established two monasteries in Hainaut

County of Hainaut

The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....

. One of these was at Hautmont

Hautmont

-Twin towns - sister cities:Kamianets-Podilskyi is twinned with: Kalisz in Poland -References:*...

 (now in France), the other at Soignies

Soignies

Soignies is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut.The municipality is composed of the Town of Soignies together with the villages of Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Neufvilles, Naast and Thieusies...

.

Madelgarus was sent by Dagobert I

Dagobert I

Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...

 to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. His wife was Waltrude

Waltrude

Saint Waltrude is the patron saint of Mons, Belgium, where she is known in French as Sainte Waudru, and of Herentals, Belgium, where she is known in Dutch as Sint-Waldetrudis or -Waltrudis. Both cities boast a large medieval church that bears her name.Married to the Count of Hainault, she raised...

.

Irish accounts

However, according to John O'Hanlon, his real name was Maelceadar (Mael Ceadar), he was a Count of Hainault, and he was a native of Ireland. Specking of Vincent Madelgarus's daughter, Madelberta, abbess of Maubeuge

Maubeuge

Maubeuge is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is situated on both banks of the Sambre , east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian border.-History:...

, O'Hanlon states:

"because her religious father is held to have sought from Ireland the shores of France, where he was renowned as a warrior, and where he attained the distinction of being known as Count of Hannonia, or Hainault, in reward for his services, as also because with his religious wife, Waldetrude, he visited Ireland, on a mission entrusted to him, by Dagobert I., King of France. Moreover, on her father's side, St. Madelberta. had Irish blood in her veins, and doubtless she inherited many of those happy dispositions, that rendered her worthy to rank with so many other members of a truly noble and holy family. ... St. Madelberga or Madelberta was the daughter of Saints Maelceadar or Vincentius and Waldetrude. Their children were Landric or Landry, afterwards Bishop of Meaux, or of Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

; Aldetrude and Malberta, their daughters, and Dentelin, who was the youngest of that family."

"In the Low Countries, they represent St. Madelbert in a group, with her father, St. Vincent of Soignies, and her mother St. Waldetrude, St. Aldetrude her sister, as also her brothers, St. Landry, Bishop of Meaux, and St. Dentlin."

Elsewhere in the same volume, O'Hanlon has further remarks to make about Vincent Madelgarus and his family:

"The father of St. Aldetrude was Maelceadar or Maldegarius, also called Vincent, the latter name having been received on account of numerous victories he obtained, and for this reason, too, he was created Count of Hainault, in the Low Countries, by Dagobert, the renowned King of the Franks. This latter monarch to increase those honours gave his relative St. Waldetrude, or Waldetrudis, in marriage. Their alliance was the happy occasion, for giving at a future time four holy children to the Church, viz. : St. Landric, Bishop of Meaux ; St. Dentelinus, Patron of Rosensis, in Cleves ; St. Aldetrude and St. Madelberta."

External links

• Madelgarus' page at Catholic.org
• in the french section