Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Saint. Odile was the daughter of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace, and his consort, Bereswinda. According to a ninth century account of her life, she was born blind and raised outside of her family due to her handicap. At the age of twelve she is said to have been taken to a monastery where she was baptized and miraculously regained her sight. Eventually reconciled with her father, she was credited with nursing him during an illness to recovery. He founded an abbey for his daughter on what is now known as Mont Sainte Odile, a peak in the Vosges mountain range in Alsace, and she became the first abbess. She founded a second abbey at the base of the mountain, but it was destroyed by fire in 1542. The Sanctuaire du Mont Sainte Odile, also known as Hohenburg Abbey, for which she served as the first abbess, became a popular site of pilgrimage. She was particularly popular with common people, her popularity usually attributed to her patronage of those who were blind or visually impaired in the era before the invention of the corrective lens. Odile was for centuries popularly considered the patron saint of Alsace, due to her association with the region, but this was only officially recognized by Pope Pius VII in 1807.
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Saint. Odile was the daughter of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace, and his consort, Bereswinda. According to a ninth century account of her life, she was born blind and raised outside of her family due to her handicap. At the age of twelve she is said to have been taken to a monastery where she was baptized and miraculously regained her sight. Eventually reconciled with her father, she was credited with nursing him during an illness to recovery. He founded an abbey for his daughter on what is now known as Mont Sainte Odile, a peak in the Vosges mountain range in Alsace, and she became the first abbess. She founded a second abbey at the base of the mountain, but it was destroyed by fire in 1542. The Sanctuaire du Mont Sainte Odile, also known as Hohenburg Abbey, for which she served as the first abbess, became a popular site of pilgrimage. She was particularly popular with common people, her popularity usually attributed to her patronage of those who were blind or visually impaired in the era before the invention of the corrective lens. Odile was for centuries popularly considered the patron saint of Alsace, due to her association with the region, but this was only officially recognized by Pope Pius VII in 1807.
Bio by: CMWJR
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