Odile of Alsace

Odile of Alsace, also known as Odilia and Ottilia, born – at Mont Sainte-Odile), is a saint venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. She is a patroness saint of good eyesight and of the region of Alsace.

Saint Odile is commemorated with a feast day on 13 December, and on 14 December in Alsace.

Biography

Odile was the daughter of Etichon (also known as Athich, Adalrich or Aldaric), Duke of Alsace and founder of the Etichonid noble family. According to the 9th century "Life of Odilia", she was born blind. Her father did not want her because she was a girl and handicapped, so her mother Bethswinda had her brought to Palma (perhaps present day Baume-les-Dames in Burgundy), where she was raised by peasants.

A tenth-century legend relates that when she was twelve, Odile was taken into a nearby monastery. Whilst there, the itinerant bishop Erhard of Regensburg was led, by an angel it was said, to Palma where he baptised her Odile (Sol Dei), whereupon she miraculously recovered her sight. Her younger brother Hughes had her brought home again, which enraged Etichon so much that he accidentally killed his son. Odile miraculously revived him, and left home again.

She fled across the Rhine to a cave or cavern in one of two places (depending on the source: the Musbach valley near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, or Arlesheim near Basel, Switzerland.) Supposedly, the cliff face opened up in order to rescue her from her plight. In the cave, she hid from her father. When he tried to follow her, he was injured by falling rocks and gave up.

When Etichon fell ill, Odile returned to nurse him. He finally gave up resisting his headstrong daughter and founded the Augustine monastic community of Mont Sainte-Odile Abbey (also known as Hohenburg Abbey) for her. in the Hochwald (Hohwald), Bas-Rhin, where Odile became abbess and where Etichon was later buried. Some years later Odile was shown the site of Niedermünster at the foot of the mountain by St. John the Baptist in a vision. There she founded a second monastery, including a hospital. Here, the head and an arm of St. Lazarus of Marseille were displayed but later transferred to Andlau. The buildings of the Niedermünster burned down in 1542, but the local well is still said to cure eye diseases.

St. Odile died around 720 at the convent of Niedermünster. At the insistent prayers of her sisters she was returned to life, but after describing the beauties of the afterlife to them, she took communion by herself and died again.

Veneration

thumb|left|A depiction of St. Odile in [[Mont Sainte-Odile, Alsace, France.]]

The cult of St. Odile spread rapidly, and spread outside France to Germany. She was mentioned in the litanies of Freising, Utrecht and Ratisbon at least from the 9th century. Amongst the common people, pilgrimages to her shrine were popular, and were by no means limited to the masses; from Charlemagne onwards, emperors also conducted pilgrimages in her honour. Indeed, Charlemagne granted immunity to the convent at Hohenberg, which was later officially ratified by Louis the Pious on 9 March 837. In the 18th century the spring became part of the church building: in 1714 the source was included by enlarging the building, in 1780 the cave with the source in it was renovated and decorated in the fanciful style of the time.

Places where she had been

Barr, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France
Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany: St. Odile's Church
Arlesheim, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland

Other places

Absberg, Bavaria, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Bandung, Indonesia (Santa Odilia's Parish Church )
Bettringen, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Buttisholz, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland (St. Odile's chapel )
Eppingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Mountain )
Fehren, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland (St. Odile's Church )
Gohr, Dormagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Graz, Styria, Austria (St. Odile's Institute for the Blind )
Hofen, Bönnigheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Kersbach, Forchheim, Bavaria, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Losheim am See, Saarland, Germany
Möschenfeld (Grasbrunn), Bavaria, Germany: St. Odile's Church )
Offenhausen, Bavaria, Germany (St. Odile's Chapel )
Paris, France, Sainte-Odile, Paris
Plochingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Chapel )
Randegg (Gottmadingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Sankt Ottilien, Eresing, Bavaria, Germany (Abbey St. Odile )
Schorndorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Mountain )
Stuttgart-Münster, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (St. Odile's Church )
Tangerang Regency, Indonesia (Citra Raya Parish Church of Santa Odilia )
Walzenhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
Wengen, Burgheim, Bavaria, Germany (St. Odile's Church )

Gallery

File:St. Odilia, 1500.jpg|St. Odile, with a pair of eyes in a chalice. Stained glass from c. 1500.

File:St.Jakob Abenberg - St.Ottilie.jpg|Relief from St James parish church in Abenberg, Germany

File:Stundenbuch christophorus.JPG|St. Odile depicted with St Christopher. Illumination from the Book of Hours of Christopher I, Margrave of Baden-Baden, c. 1519.

File:Mont Sainte Odile 051.JPG|Twelfth century stele depicting Duke Aldaric delivering the deeds of the abbey to his daughter. Defaced during the French Revolution. From Mont Sainte-Odile.

File:Heilige Odilie.jpg|St. Odile as portrayed by the Master of Meßkirch, c. 1535–40

File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Saints Christina and Ottilia - Google Art Project.jpg|1506. Saints Christina and Ottilia by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553)

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References

External links

Short biography of St Odilia of Alsace with many images of statues and old prayer cards
Mont Sainte-Odile
"The Pagan Wall of the Mount Sainte Odile", Text in basic English French original

Prayers to the patroness of good eyesight

Prayer to St Odilia
Litany of St Odilia