Hildegard of Kempten, Bl.
HILDEGARD OF KEMPTEN, BL.
Wife of charlemagne; b. 758; d. Thionville, Lorraine, France, April 30, 783. She was born of a family allied to the dukes of Swabia and may have been illegitimate. She became the second wife of Charlemagne, to whom she bore four sons and five daughters, including louis i the Pious. In 773, she rebuilt and endowed the Benedictine Abbey of kempten. She founded many churches and was a close friend of lioba. Hildegard was buried at the Abbey of St. Arnulf of Metz, to which she had made a considerable donation. In 872, the nuns of Kempten obtained part of her remains; these were elevated in 963, and since then she has been venerated. Fictitious elements are conspicuous in the accounts of her life.
Feast: April 30.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum April 3:797–811. j. lechner, Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtforschung 21 (1900) 37–75. a. dilger-fischer in Ulm und Oberschwaben 34 (1955) 167–170. j. fleckenstein, Forschungen zur oberrheinischen Landesgeschichte 4 (Freiburg 1957) 71–136, esp. 118–. r. gazeau, Catholicisme 5:740.
[l. meagher]