St Adelaide | ICN (original) (raw)

Empress, wife and mother. This much-loved 10th century saint lived in Alsace. After her first husband, King Lothair of Italy, died in 950, she became the second wife of King Otto the Great (whose first wife had been Edith, sister of the English king).

In 962 Adelaide and Otto were crowned emperor and empress of the Holy Roman Empire, by Pope John XII. After Otto died in 973, Adelaide suffered many family and political troubles. Her son Otto II and grandson Otto III banished her from the court to live with her brother in Burgundy.

Instead of complaining she devoted her life to good works, caring for the poor and sick and building a convent at Seltz. She died there in 999.

St Adelaide was a friend to St Adalbert of Magdeburg, St Willigis and the Cluniac Abbots St Mayeul and St Odilo. in his account of her life, St Odilo said: St Adelaide was 'a marvel of beauty and goodness.'