MONTHLY DEVOTIONAL FOR 15th DECEMBER
December 15, 2023
John 13:35
December 16, 2023
FEAST OF SAINT ADELAIDE OF BURGUNDY
FEAST DAY – 16th DECEMBER
The daughter of Rudolf II, king of Burgundy, and Bertha of Swabia, Adelaide, (born c. 931—died December 16, 999), was the consort of the Western emperor Otto I and, later, regent for her grandson Otto III. One of the most influential women of the 10th-century Europe, she helped strengthen the German church while subordinating it to imperial power.
Adelaide was married (947) to Lothar, who succeeded his father, Hugh of Arles, as king of Italy in the same year. After Lothar died in 950, Berengar II of Ivrea, his old rival, seized the Italian throne and imprisoned Adelaide in 951 at Garda. Adelaide was to have a tumultuous life that paralleled the struggle for political power of the times, something she symbolized.
After her escape four months later, she asked the German king Otto I the Great to help her regain the throne. Otto marched into Lombardy in September 951, declared himself king, and married her in October or November of that year. They were crowned emperor and empress by Pope John XII in Rome in 962.
She promoted Cluniac monasticism and strengthened the allegiance of the German church to the emperor, playing an important role in Otto I’s distribution of ecclesiastical privileges and participating in his Italian expeditions.
After Otto’s death on May 7, 973, Adelaide exercised influence over her son Otto II until their estrangement in 978, when she left the court and lived in Burgundy with her brother King Conrad. At Conrad’s urging, she became reconciled with her son.
Before his death in 983, Otto appointed her his regent in Italy. With her daughter-in-law, Empress Theophano, she upheld the right of her three-year-old grandson, Otto III, to the German throne.
She lived in Lombardy from 985 to 991, when she returned to Germany to serve as sole regent after Theophano’s death (991). She governed until Otto III came of age in 994, and, when he became Holy Roman emperor in 996, she retired from court life, devoting herself to founding churches, monasteries, and convents.
She was canonized by Pope Urban II in 1097. Her Feast Day is 16th December. She is the patron Saint of abuse victims, people in exile, prisoners, second marriages, stepparents, widows, and parents of large families.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, please help us fill our heart with love, peace and charity for our family and expel from it all divisive thoughts. Please touch the hearts of our family through the intercession of Saint Adelaide, so that we can be whole, united and dedicated to you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
St. Adelaide of Burgundy, pray for us that we may keep the faith when we have to endure difficult situations, and be able to fulfill our duties with generosity in spite of them. Please save our family from evil, turmoil and betrayal, by placing our petitions before the Lord. Amen
