Ida of Louvain

Ida of Louvain (died around 1300) was a Cistercian nun of Roosendael Abbey in the 13th-century Low Countries who is officially commemorated in the Catholic Church as blessed.

For Ida, daughter of Henry II of Louvain and wife of Baldwin II of Hainaut, see Ida, Countess of Hainaut.

Life

Ida was born into a well-to-do family in Leuven, Duchy of Brabant (now Belgium). At the age of 22 she felt a religious vocation but her father was a worldly man who would not accept this and subjected her to various forms of ill-treatment to discourage her.[1] Despite parental disapproval, she first dedicated her life to God as an anchoress, and later became a nun in the recently founded Cistercian Abbey of Roosendael (the Valley of the Roses) in what is now Sint-Katelijne-Waver. One historian has described her as adding "éclat" to the monastery.[2] The only contemporary record of her life is in a series of letters by her confessor, a priest named Hugo.

Legend and veneration

Ida died with a reputation for sanctity and came to be considered a saint.[3][4] She was said to have experienced stigmata and mystical graces.[5] These included miraculous visions and corporeal encounters with appearances of the infant Jesus, where she would hold him, bathe him, play with him and dress him.[3][6] She was beatified for her piety and humility. Her official commemoration, granted by Pope Clement XI in 1719, is April 13.[4][7]

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References
  1. Alphonse Le Roy, "Ida ou Ide (la bienheureuse)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 10 (Brussels, 1889), 6-7.
  2. Alphonse Wauters, Histoire des environs de Bruxelles, vol. 3, p. 662.
  3. David Herlihy (1995). Women, Family and Society in Medieval Europe. Berghahn. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-1-57181-024-3.
  4. Michael J. Walsh (2007). A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. Liturgical Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-8146-3186-7.
  5. The Cistercian fathers, or, Lives and legends of certain saints and blessed of the Order of Citeaux. Translated by H. Collins. 1872. pp. 163–170.
  6. Constance Classen (2012). The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch. University of Illinois Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-252-09440-8.
  7. Basil Watkins (ed.), The Book of Saints (7th ed., London, 2002), p. 273.
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