St. Vincent Madelgarius

Marriage and family were St. Vincent Madelgarius's first school of holiness. Born about 615, he married St. Waldetrudis, also called Waudru. Their four children, Landericus, Madelberta, Aldetrudis, and Dentelinus, were all venerated as saints.

Around 653 Waldetrudis entered religious life. Madelgarius then took the Benedictine habit and the name Vincent at Hautmont, a monastery he founded. He later established another abbey on his estate at Soignies, where he died and where his September 20 feast was kept. In Artois and Hainault, the feast was observed on July 14 under his earlier name.

The medieval biography written centuries later borrowed whole passages from the lives of other saints, so its colorful details cannot safely enlarge this simple outline. The firm life is already beautiful: a husband and father who helped form a holy household, then answered a monastic vocation and founded communities of prayer.