Sigolena of Albi

Saint Sigolena of Albi
Statue of St Sigolena the Deaconess (upper) on the South Portal of Albi Cathedral
Abbess of Troclar, Deaconess
Born	7th or 8th century
Died	769[1] Monastery of Troclar, France[2]
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Albi Cathedral
Feast	24 July
Attributes	Crosier
Patronage	Albi, France

Saint Sigolena of Albi (fl. 7-8th. c.) was an Albigensian[a][3] deaconess[4] and saint from Albi, France.

Sigolena was born into a noble family of Aquitaine.[5]

Upon her marriage to Gislulf at the age of 12,[6] she offered her husband all of her possessions to "gain the freedom of her body". Her husband granted her desire for a Josephite marriage and encouraged her piety and charity. After ten years of marriage her husband died unexpectedly.[6] At age 24, she had difficulties convincing her parents she did not wish to remarry. After being consecrated by the city's bishop as a deaconess, she was eventually able to persuade her father to build her a convent on his own land.[4]

She was initially buried at Insula.[6]

Her church in Metz was situated near that of Saint Ferreolus of Besançon.[7] Sigolena's biography was written by an anonymous author.[8]

Miracles

During her life on earth, the miracles attributed to her include the cleansing of 2 lepers, the healing of 3 blind people (including a priest), and at least 9 exorcisms. Upon her death, when the nuns removed her garments to wash her body, they reported that "a wonderful odour suddenly became sprinkled around that same place".[6]

Veneration

The relics of St Sigolena are in Albi Cathedral.[9]

Her feast day is July 24.[5]

Notes

1. In this period, an Albigensian refers solely to one from the city of Albi. The heresy of Albigensianism would not arise until the 12th century.

References

1. "St. Sigolena of France". The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Archived from the original on 28 June 2016.
2. "Fiesta Santa Sigolena de Albi 24 de Julio". El Rincón de Edy. July 24, 2020.
3. "Sainte Sigolène".
4. Wemple, Suzanne Fonay (1985). Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900 (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 142, 151. ISBN 978-0-8122-1209-9.
5. Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame (1905). "St. Sigolena". A Dictionary of Saintly Women, Volume 2. Bell. p. 224. Sigolena of Albi.
6. "The Latin Life of *Segolena (abbess of Troclar, 7th c., S02435) records her life, death and miracles. Written possibly at Albi or Troclar (both south-west Gaul), 642/c.700". The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity. University of Oxford. 2021. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024.
7. Claussen, M.A. (2004). The Reform of the Frankish Church: Chrodegang of Metz and the Regula Canonicorum in the Eighth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-521-83931-0.
8. York, Laura (2002). "Sigolena of Albi (fl. 7th c.)". In Commire, Anne (ed.). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Connecticut: Yorkin Publications. ISBN 0-7876-4074-3.
9. "Fiesta Santa Sigolena de Albi 24 de Julio". El Rincón de Edy. July 24, 2020.

Further reading

• Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, ed. A History of Women in the West, vol. II: Silences of the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard, 1992.