{{Infobox saint |name=Bertha of Artois |birth_date=c. mid 7th century |death_date=4 July 725 |feast_day=4 July |venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]] |image= |imagesize= |caption= |birth_place=[[Artois]] |death_place=[[Blangy-sur-Ternoise]] (near [[Lille]]), [[département]] of [[Pas-de-Calais]], [[Nord-Pas de Calais]], [[France]] |titles=Abbess |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date=[[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]] |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=a [[nun]] kneeling before an [[altar]] with her daughter |patronage=[[widows]] |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= |prayer= |prayer_attrib= }}
'''Bertha of Artois''' or '''Bertha of Blangy''' (mid 7th century – 4 July 725) was a [[Franks|Frankish]] and [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Abbess]] of noble blood.
== Life == Bertha was the daughter of Count [[Rigobert]], the [[Mayor of the Palace]] under King [[Clovis II]] prior to [[Ebroin]]. Her mother, Ursana, was the daughter of the King of [[Kent]] (in [[England]]).{{sfn|Hoever|1955|p=254}}
At the age of twenty Bertha married Siegfried or Sigfrid, a relation of the king.{{sfn|Hoever|1955|p=254}} When her husband Siegfried died in 672, after nearly twenty years of marriage and five daughters, Bertha was determined to become a [[Religious order#Catholic tradition|Religious]]. In the year 682 or 685 Bertha had founded a convent at Blangy, [[Artois]] (now [[Blangy-sur-Ternoise]]). She retreated there with her two eldest daughters, Deotila and Gertrude.{{sfn|Holböck|2002|p=114}} Later, her daughter Deotila succeeded her as Abbess, when Bertha retired to live the life of a [[recluse]], solely devoted to prayer.{{sfn|Hoever|1955|p=254}} Bertha died at an advanced age of natural causes on 4 July 725.{{sfn|Hoever|1955|p=254}} Her [[feast day]] is celebrated on 4 July. (See "Ste. Berthe et son Abbaye de Blangy", Lille, 1892).<ref name=CE>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Bertha |volume=2 |first=Herbert |last=Thurston |inline=1}}</ref>
== Hagiography == Two buildings which Bertha constructed had fallen down, but an [[angel]] in a vision supposedly guided her to another spot, and there after many difficulties a nunnery was built, which she entered with her two eldest daughters, Deotila and Gertrude.<ref name=CE/>
A still later legend represents Gertrude as much persecuted by the attentions of a great noble, Roger, who wished to marry her by force, but she was saved from his violence by her mother's firm courage and trust in God.<ref name=CE/>
Some time before her death Bertha is said to have resigned her office of abbess and to have shut herself up in a little cell built against the church wall.<ref name=CE/>
The whole story of Bertha, as her biographers agree, is of a very late date<ref name=CE/> but not entirely legendary.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book|editor1-first=Herbert J.|editor1-last=Thurston|editor2-first=Donald|editor2-last=Attwater|title=Butler's Lives of the Saints|volume=3|location=Allen, TX|publisher=Christian Classics|year=1956|page=14-15}} * {{cite book|first1=Ferdinand|last1=Holböck|title=Married Saints and Blesseds: Through the Centuries|location=San Francisco|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2002|isbn=0-89870-843-5}} * {{cite book|title=Lives of The Saints, For Every Day of the Year|editor1-first=Hugo|editor1-last=Hoever|location=New York|publisher=Catholic Book Publishing Co.|year=1955}}
== External links == * {{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1769|website=Catholic Online - Saints & Angels|title=St. Bertha of Artois}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0704.shtml#bert|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229133629/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0704.shtml#bert|archive-date=2019-12-29|title=Saint of the Day, July 4 - Bertha of Blangy|website=SaintPatrickDC.org}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= France}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertha Of Artois}}
[[Category:725 deaths]] [[Category:Frankish abbesses]] [[Category:Christian female saints of the Middle Ages]] [[Category:Angelic visionaries]] [[Category:7th-century Frankish nobility]] [[Category:8th-century Frankish saints]] [[Category:7th-century Frankish nuns]] [[Category:7th-century Christian nuns]] [[Category:8th-century Frankish nuns]] [[Category:8th-century Christian nuns]] [[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]