Today, March 16, is the memorial of St. Eusebia.
The saint was born in the year 640. Eusebia came from a family of saints: she was the eldest daughter of St. Adalbald of Ostrevant and St. Rictrudis of Marchiennes; great-granddaughter of St. Gertrude the Elder; sister of St. Maurontius, St. Clotsindis, and St. Adalsindis of Hamay.
After her father’s murder when she was very young, she was sent to the abbey of Hamage, Doudi, France, which her great-grandmother had founded and served as abbess. Gertrude died when Eusebia was 12 years old; the community voted that Eusebia should replace her.
Rictrudis was worried that Eusebia was way too young to govern the abbey. Intending to place the abbey under the protection of a noble house, Rictrudis merged Hamage with her own house of Marchiennes, and ordered all the sisters to move in together under her rule.
Majority of the displaced nuns, Eusebia included, were saddened by this development, which stopped them from fulfilling Gertrude’s final request. Many negotiations later, Eusebia and her community were allowed to go back to their own abbey. They carried Gertrude’s relics and installed Eusebia as the abbess.
The experience made Eusebia wiser and more capable to serve as abbess, much to the approval and reverence of all her sisters in community.
Eusebia died in 680 of natural causes.