Saint Radegund

A princess of Thuringia, St. Radegund was born in 518, and when she was 12, the Franks captured her. At 18, she married King Clotaire I of the Franks. It was not a happy marriage. Radegund was childless, for which her unfaithful husband often mocked her. Her husband murdered her brother.

About 555, she left her husband and sought ecclesial permission to become a nun. She was tonsured at Noyon, and St. Medard of Vermandois consecrated her a deaconess. She later established a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Poitiers. Her nuns followed the rule of Casarius of Arles, and the monastery became a center of learning.

Radegund was active in the affairs of the church and of state; she had a repuation as a peacemaker. She received from Constantinople a relic of the True Cross, after which the monastery was rededicated to the Holy Cross. It also held a large collection of relics.

After Radegund died in 587, her cult became popular in France and in Britain. Jesus College in Cambridge was originally dedicated to St. Radegund.