The Most Famous

RELIGIOUS FIGURES from Belgium

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This page contains a list of the greatest Belgian Religious Figures. The pantheon dataset contains 3,187 Religious Figures, 21 of which were born in Belgium. This makes Belgium the birth place of the 23rd most number of Religious Figures behind Austria, and Ireland.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Belgian Religious Figures of all time. This list of famous Belgian Religious Figures is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Belgian Religious Figures.

Photo of Father Damien

1. Father Damien (1840 - 1889)

With an HPI of 65.19, Father Damien is the most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 44 different languages on wikipedia.

Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai or Saint Damien De Veuster (Dutch: Pater Damiaan or Heilige Damiaan van Molokai; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889), born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious institute. He was recognized for his ministry, which he led from 1873 until his death in 1889, in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to people with leprosy (Hansen's disease), who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokaʻi. During this time, he taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. Father Damien also cared for the patients and established leaders within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents' ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi with them, providing both medical and emotional support. After 11 years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien contracted leprosy. He continued with his work despite the infection but finally succumbed to the disease on 15 April 1889. Father Damien also had tuberculosis, which worsened his condition, but some believe the reason he volunteered in the first place was due to tuberculosis. Father Damien has been described as a "martyr of charity". Damien De Veuster is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. In the Anglican Communion and other Christian denominations, Damien is considered the spiritual patron for leprosy and outcasts. Father Damien Day, 15 April, the day of his death, is also a minor statewide holiday in Hawaii. Father Damien is the patron saint of the Diocese of Honolulu and of Hawaii. Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009. Libert H. Boeynaems, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, calls him "the Apostle of the Lepers." Damien De Veuster's feast day is 10 May. Father Damien was born Jozef ("Jef") De Veuster, the youngest of seven children and fourth son of the Flemish corn merchant Joannes Franciscus ("Frans") De Veuster and his wife Anne-Catherine ("Cato") Wouters in the village of Tremelo in Flemish Brabant in rural Belgium on 3 January 1840. His older sisters Eugénie and Pauline became nuns, and his older brother Auguste (Father Pamphile) joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus Fathers). Jozef was forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm. His father sent him to a college at Braine-le-Comte to prepare for a commercial profession, but as a result of a mission given by the Redemptorists in 1858, Joseph decided to pursue a religious vocation. Jozef entered the novitiate of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary at Louvain and took in religion the name of Damien, presumably after the first Saint Damien, a fourth-century physician and martyr. He was admitted to the religious profession on 7 October 1860. His superiors thought that he was not a good candidate for the priesthood because he lacked education. However, he was not considered unintelligent. Because he learned Latin well from his brother, his superiors decided to allow him to become a priest. During his religious studies, Damien prayed daily before a picture of St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionaries, to be sent on a mission. Three years later when his brother Father Pamphile (Auguste) could not travel to Hawaiʻi as a missionary because of illness, Damien was allowed to take his place. On 19 March 1864, Damien arrived at Honolulu Harbor on Oʻahu. He was ordained into the priesthood on 21 May 1864, at what is now the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. In 1865, Damien was assigned to the Catholic Mission in North Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi. While he was serving in several parishes on Oʻahu, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was struggling with a labor shortage and a public health crisis. Many of the Native Hawaiian parishioners had high mortality rates due to infectious diseases such as leprosy (from which he later died), smallpox, cholera, influenza, syphilis, and whooping cough, brought to the Hawaiian Islands by foreign traders, sailors and immigrants. Thousands of Hawaiians died of such diseases, to which they had not acquired immunity. It is believed that Chinese workers carried leprosy (later known as Hansen's disease) to the islands in the 1830s and 1840s. At that time, leprosy was thought to be highly contagious and was incurable. In 1865, out of fear of this contagious disease, Hawaiian King Kamehameha V and the Hawaiian Legislature passed the "Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy." This law quarantined the lepers of Hawaii, requiring the most serious cases to be moved to a settlement colony of Kalawao on the eastern end of the Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Molokaʻi. Later the settlement of Kalaupapa was developed. Kalawao County, where the two villages are located, is separated from the rest of Molokaʻi by a steep mountain ridge. From 1866 through 1969, about 8,000 Hawaiians were sent to the Kalaupapa peninsula for medical quarantine. The Royal Board of Health initially provided the quarantined people with food and other supplies, but it did not have the workforce and resources to offer proper health care. According to documents of that time, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi did not intend for the settlements to be penal colonies. Still, the Kingdom did not provide enough resources to support them. The Kingdom of Hawaii had planned for the lepers to be able to care for themselves and grow their crops. However, due to the effects of leprosy and the peninsula's local environmental conditions, this was impractical. By 1868, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), "Drunken and lewd conduct prevailed. The easy-going, good-natured people seemed wholly changed." While Bishop Louis Désiré Maigret, the vicar apostolic of the Honolulu diocese, believed that the lepers needed a Catholic priest to assist them, he realized that this assignment had high risk. He did not want to send any one person "in the name of obedience." After much prayer, four priests volunteered to go, among them Father Damien. The bishop planned for the volunteers to take turns in rotation assisting the inhabitants. On 10 May 1873, the first volunteer, Father Damien, arrived at the isolated settlement at Kalaupapa, where there were then 600 lepers, and was presented by Bishop Louis Maigret. Damien worked with them to build a church and establish the Parish of Saint Philomena. In addition to serving as a priest, he dressed residents' ulcers, built a reservoir, built homes and furniture, made coffins, and dug graves. Six months after his arrival at Kalawao, he wrote to his brother, Pamphile, in Europe: "...I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ." During this time, Father Damien cared for the lepers and established leaders within the community to improve the state of living. Father Damien aided the colony by teaching, painting houses, organizing farms, and organizing the construction of chapels, roads, hospitals, and churches. He also dressed residents, dug graves, built coffins, ate food by hand with lepers, shared pipes with them, and lived with the lepers as equals. Father Damien also served as a priest during this time and spread the Catholic faith to the lepers; it is said that Father Damien told the lepers that despite what the outside world thought of them, they were always precious in the eyes of God. Some historians believed that Father Damien was a catalyst for a turning point for the community. Under his leadership, basic laws were enforced, shacks were upgraded and improved as painted houses, working farms were organized, and schools were established. At his request and of the lepers, Father Damien remained on Molokaʻi. Many such accounts, however, overlook the roles of superintendents who were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. Pennie Moblo states that until the late 20th century, most historical reports of Damien's ministry revealed biases of Europeans and Americans, and nearly completely discounted the roles of the native residents on Molokaʻi. However, it could be asserted that Moblo does not account for the separation of civil authorities and religious authorities. As was customary in the time period, Father Damien's work was reported to Europeans and Americans in order to raise funds for the mission. How the colony was governed would be outside the scope of the written accounts and not important to raise funds for the charitable works of Father Damien. King David Kalākaua bestowed on Damien the honor of "Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalākaua." When Crown Princess Lydia Liliʻuokalani visited the settlement to present the medal, she was reported as having been too distraught and heartbroken at the sight of the residents to read her speech. The princess shared her experience, acclaiming Damien's efforts. Consequently, Damien became internationally known in the United States and Europe. American Protestants raised large sums of money for the missionary's work. The Church of England sent food, medicine, clothing, and supplies to the settlement. It is believed that Damien never wore the royal medal, although it was placed by his side during his funeral. Father Damien worked in Hawaii for 16 years, providing comfort to the lepers of Kalaupapa. In addition to giving the people faith, he built homes for them and he treated them with his medical expertise. He prayed at the cemetery of the deceased and he also comforted the dying at their bedsides. In December 1884, while he was preparing to bathe, Damien inadvertently put his foot into scalding water, causing his skin to blister. He felt nothing and realized that he had contracted leprosy after working in the colony for 11 years. This was a common way for people to discover that they had been infected with leprosy. Despite his illness, Damien worked even harder. In 1885, Masanao Goto, a Japanese leprologist, came to Honolulu and treated Damien. He believed that leprosy was caused by a diminution of the blood. His treatment consisted of nourishing foods, moderate exercise, frequent friction to the benumbed parts, special ointments, and medical baths. The treatments relieved some of the symptoms and they were very popular with the Hawaiian patients as a result. Damien had faith in the treatments and said that he only wanted to be treated by Goto, who eventually became a good friend of Father Damien. Despite the fact that the illness was slowing his body down, Damien engaged in a flurry of activities during his last years. With his remaining time, he tried to advance and complete as many projects as possible. While he was continuing to spread the Catholic Faith and aid the lepers during their treatments, Damien completed several building projects and improved orphanages. Four volunteers arrived at Kalaupapa to help the ailing missionary: a Belgian priest, Louis Lambert Conrardy; a soldier, Joseph Dutton (an American Civil War veteran who left behind a marriage which had been broken by his alcoholism); a male nurse from Chicago, James Sinnett; and Mother (now Saint) Marianne Cope, who had been the head of the Franciscan-run St Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, New York. Conrardy took up Damien's pastoral duties. Cope organized a working hospital. Dutton attended to the construction and maintenance of the community's buildings. Sinnett nursed Damien during the last phases of his illness. With an arm in a sling, with a foot in bandages, and with his leg dragging, Damien knew that his death was near. He was bedridden on 23 March 1889, and on 30 March, he made a general confession. Damien died of leprosy at 8:00 a.m. on 15 April 1889, at the age of 49. The next day, after the Mass was said by Father Moellers at St. Philomena's, the whole settlement followed the funeral cortège to the cemetery. Damien was laid to rest under the same pandanus tree where he first slept upon his arrival on Molokaʻi. In January 1936, at the request of King Leopold III of Belgium and the Belgian government, Damien's body was returned to his native land in Belgium. It was transported aboard the Belgian ship Mercator. Damien was buried in Leuven, the historic university city which is close to the village where he was born. After Damien's beatification in June 1995, the remains of his right hand were returned to Hawaii and re-interred in his original grave on Molokaʻi. Father Damien had become internationally known before his death, because he was seen as a symbolic Christian figure who spent his life caring for the afflicted natives. His superiors thought that Damien lacked education and finesse but they considered him to be "an earnest peasant hard at work in his own way for God." News of his death on 15 April was quickly carried across the globe by the modern communications of the time, by steamship to Honolulu and California, telegraph to the East Coast of the United States, and cable to England, reaching London on 11 May. Following an outpouring of praise for his work, other voices began to be heard in Hawaiʻi. Representatives of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Hawaii criticized his approach. Reverend Charles McEwen Hyde, a Presbyterian minister in Honolulu, wrote to his fellow pastor Reverend H. B. Gage of San Francisco in August. Hyde referred to Father Damien as "a coarse, dirty man," who contracted leprosy due to "carelessness." Hyde said that Damien was mistakenly being given credit for reforms which had actually been implemented by the Board of Health. Without consulting Hyde, Gage had the letter published in a San Francisco newspaper, generating comment and controversy in the US and Hawaiʻi. The white people of the period consistently overlooked the role which had been played by the Hawaiians themselves, among whom were several who had prominent leadership positions on the island. Later in 1889, the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his family arrived in Hawaii for an extended stay. He had tuberculosis, a disease which was also considered incurable, and he was seeking some relief for it. Moved by Damien's story, he became interested in the priest's controversy and went to Molokaʻi for eight days and seven nights. Stevenson wanted to learn more about Damien at the place where he had worked. He spoke with residents of various religious backgrounds in order to learn more about Damien's work. Based on his conversations and observations, he wrote an open letter to Hyde in which he addressed the minister's criticisms and he had it printed at his own expense. Stevenson's letter became the most famous account of Damien, featuring him in the role of a European who was aiding a benighted native people. In his "6,000-word polemic," Stevenson praised Damien extensively, writing to Hyde: If that world at all remember you, on the day when Damien of Molokai shall be named a Saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage. Stevenson referred to his journal entries in his letter: ...I have set down these private passages, as you perceive, without correction; thanks to you, the public has them in their bluntness. They are almost a list of the man's faults, for it is rather these that I was seeking: with his virtues, with the heroic profile of his life, I and the world were already sufficiently acquainted. I was besides a little suspicious of Catholic testimony, in no ill sense, but merely because Damien’s admirers and disciples were the least likely to be critical. I know you will be more suspicious still, and the facts set down above were one and all collected from the lips of Protestants who had opposed the father in his life. Yet I am strangely deceived, or they build up the image of a man, with all his weakness, essentially heroic, and alive with rugged honesty, generosity, and mirth. Since then, historians and ethnologists have also studied Damien's work and residents' lives on Molokaʻi. For example, Pennie Moblo, in researching the myth and the controversy surrounding the priest, has concluded they did not develop from the religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, but instead from changes in relationships on Hawaiʻi between and among the royalty, European-American planters, missionaries, and native Hawaiians in the years leading up to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the U.S. takeover. During this period, Damien had J.K. Kahuila, a Hawaiian Protestant minister in his care, put in irons and deported to Oahu because he believed the man was too rebellious. Kahuila got a lawyer and demanded an investigation of Damien. Moblo concludes that in most 19th- and 20th-century accounts, "the focus on Damien eclipses the active role played by Hawaiians and preserves a colonially biased history." Mahatma Gandhi said that Father Damien's work had inspired his social campaigns in India, leading to the independence of his people and the securing of aid for needy Indians. Gandhi was quoted in T.N. Jagadisan's 1965 publication Mahatma Gandhi Answers the Challenge of Leprosy: The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, counts by the thousands those who, after the example of Fr. Damien, have devoted themselves to the victims of leprosy. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism. In 1977, Pope Paul VI declared Father Damien to be venerable. On 4 June 1995, Pope John Paul II beatified him, by which he would be known by the official spiritual title of Blessed. On 20 December 1999, Jorge Medina Estévez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the November 1999 decision of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to include Blessed Damien in the national liturgical calendar with the rank of an optional memorial. Father Damien was canonized on 11 October 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. His feast day is celebrated on 10 May. In Hawaii, it is celebrated on the day of his death, 15 April. Prior to his beatification, two miracles were attributed to Father Damien's posthumous intercession. On 13 June 1992, Pope John Paul II approved the cure of a religious sister in France in 1895 as a miracle attributed to Venerable Damien's intercession. In that case, Sister Simplicia Hue began a novena to Father Damien as she lay dying of a lingering intestinal illness. It is stated that the pain and symptoms of the illness disappeared overnight. In the second case, Audrey Toguchi, a Hawaiian woman who suffered from a rare form of cancer, had remission after having prayed at the grave of Father Damien on Molokaʻi. There was no medical explanation, as her prognosis was terminal. In 1997, Toguchi was diagnosed with liposarcoma, a cancer that arises in fat cells. She underwent surgery a year later and a tumor was removed, but the cancer metastasized to her lungs. Her physician, Dr. Walter Chang, told her, "Nobody has ever survived this cancer. It's going to take you." Toguchi was still alive in 2016. In April 2008, the Holy See accepted the two cures as evidence of Father Damien's sanctity. On 2 June 2008, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted to recommend raising Father Damien of Molokaʻi to sainthood. The decree that officially notes and verifies the miracle needed for canonization was approved by Pope Benedict XVI and promulgated by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins on 3 July 2008, with the actual ceremony of beatification taking place in Rome and celebrations in Belgium and Hawaii. On 21 February 2009, the Holy See announced that Father Damien would be canonized. The ceremony of canonization took place in Rome on Sunday, 11 October 2009, in the presence of King Albert II of the Belgians and Queen Paola as well as the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, and several cabinet ministers,. In Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama affirmed his deep admiration for St. Damien, saying that he gave voice to the voiceless and dignity to the sick. Four other individuals were canonized with Father Damien that the same day: Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Sister Jeanne Jugan, Father Francisco Coll Guitart and Rafael Arnáiz Barón. Damien is honored, together with Marianne Cope, with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 15 April. Director David Miller made a short film about Father Damien's life entitled The Great Heart (1938), released by MGM. The first full-length film about Father Damien was Molokai (1959), a Spanish production which was directed by Luis Lucia with Javier Escrivá, Roberto Camardiel, and Gérard Tichy playing the main roles. Ken Howard played the title role in the television film Father Damien: The Leper Priest (1980); he replaced David Janssen, who died suddenly after several days of shooting. Stephanie J. Castillo's documentary Simple Courage (1992) explores Damien and his work, drawing parallels between the treatment of persons who have leprosy and the stigma which is associated with persons who have HIV/AIDS. "Simple Courage" was rewarded an EMMY Award in 1993. The Belgian film producer Tharsi Vanhuysse produced and Paul Cox directed the film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999) with David Wenham as Damien. Interviews which were conducted by former residents are featured in the documentary The Soul of Kalaupapa: Voices of Exile (2011). It focuses on the efforts of Belgian-born Father Damien in the 19th century and the efforts of Jonatana Napela, a Hawaiian LDS convert who works with persons with leprosy in Kalaupapa and collaborates on ecumenical efforts. Screenwriter and film director John Farrow wrote the biography Damien the Leper (1937). In 1939, RKO Pictures purchased the book for a feature film titled Father Damien, to be directed by Farrow and star Joseph Calleia. The project was not realized. The poetic dramatization Father Damien (1938) was written by Edward Snelson, later Joint Secretary to the Government of India (1947), KBE, and dedicated 'To G.,' the actress Greer Garson, to whom he had been married in 1933. The one-person play Damien by Aldyth Morris was broadcast nationally on PBS in the United States in 1978 and again in 1986 on "American Playhouse." The broadcast received several recognitions, including a Peabody Award. The 2016 novel God Made Us Monsters by William Neary explores Father Damien's rise to sainthood. The Father Damien Statue on the steps of the State Capitol Building honors him, and a replica is displayed in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol. Statues in memory of Damien can be found in many Belgian cathedrals, such as the Tournai Cathedral, St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, and St Martin's Cathedral, Ypres. A monument stands in front of St. Benedict's Catholic Church in Honaunau (Hawaii) and is often decorated with Leis. In 2005, Damien was honored with the title of De Grootste Belg, chosen as "The Greatest Belgian" throughout that country's history, in polling conducted by the Flemish public broadcasting service, VRT. He ranked third on Le plus grand Belge ("The Greatest Belgian") in a poll by the French-speaking public channel RTBF. In 1952, the Picpus Fathers (SS .CC) opened the Damien Museum, (Dutch: Damiaanmuseum ) in Tremelo, Belgium, in the house where Damien was born and grew up. In 2017, the museum was completely renovated. With his canonization highlighting his ministry to persons with leprosy, Father Damien's work has been cited as an example of how society should minister to HIV/AIDS patients. On the occasion of Damien's canonization, President Barack Obama stated, "In our own time, as millions around the world suffer from disease, especially the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, we should draw on the example of Father Damien’s resolve in answering the urgent call to heal and care for the sick." Several clinics and centers nationwide catering to HIV/AIDS patients bear his name. There is a chapel named for him and dedicated to people with HIV/AIDS, in St. Thomas the Apostle Hollywood, an Episcopal parish. The Damien The Leper Society is among charities named after him that work to treat and control leprosy. Damien House, Ireland, is a centre for "peace for families and individuals affected by bereavement, stress, violence, and other difficulties with particular attention to Northern Ireland". Saint Damien Advocates is a religious freedom organization that says it wants to carry on Father Damien's work with orphans and others. Schools which are named after him include Damien High School in Southern California, Saint Damien Elementary School in Calgary, Canada, and Damien Memorial School in Hawaii. St. Damien of Molokaʻi Catholic Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, dedicated in 2010, is believed to have been the first Roman Catholic church in the continental United States to be named for Saint Damien after his canonization. A Traditional Latin Mass church, it is operated by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) and was authorized in 2010 by Eusebius J. Beltran, Archbishop of Oklahoma City. Pontiac, Michigan (in the Catholic archdiocese of Detroit) has a St. Damien parish. Marianne of Molokaʻi was canonized in 2012. Kalaupapa National Historical Park American Catholic Servants of God, Venerables, Beatified, and Saints List of American saints and beatified people Father Damien, patron saint archive Daws, Gavan (1984). Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-0920-3. Eynikel, Hilde (1999). Molokai: the Story of Father Damien. Staten Island: Alba House. ISBN 0-8189-0872-6. Stewart, Richard (2000). Leper Priest of Moloka'i. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-2322-2. Farrow, John. Damien the Leper. (first edition 1937; latest edition 1998) ISBN 978-0-385-48911-9 Bunson, Margaret; Bunson, Matthew (2009). Apostle of the Exiled: St. Damien of Molokai. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59276-610-9. Edmond, Rod (2006). Leprosy and Empire: A Medical and Cultural History. Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories. Vol. 8. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86584-0. Gould, Tony (2005). A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World. Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-30502-8. Michaels, Barry (2009). Saint Damien de Veuster: Missionary of Moloka'i. Boston: Pauline Books & Media. ISBN 978-0-8198-7128-2. Media related to Father Damien at Wikimedia Commons Saint Damien of Molokai Kalaupapa National Historic Park – about the human and natural community of Father Damien's work Works by or about Father Damien at Internet Archive

Photo of Gertrude of Nivelles

2. Gertrude of Nivelles (626 - 659)

With an HPI of 63.88, Gertrude of Nivelles is the 2nd most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Gertrude of Nivelles, OSB (also spelled Geretrude, Geretrudis, Gertrud; c. 628 – 17 March 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium. The early history of Gertrude's family is not well documented. The anonymous author of her Early Middle Ages biography, Vita Sanctae Geretrudis, only hints at her origins: "it would be tedious to insert in this account in what line of earthly origin she was descended. For who living in Europe does not know the loftiness, the names, and the localities of her lineage?" Gertrude's father, Pepin of Landen (Pippin the Elder), a nobleman from east Francia, had been instrumental in persuading King Clothar II to crown his son, Dagobert I, as the King of Austrasia. Due to her position at the palace, Gertrude's mother, Itta of Metz, was likely acquainted with Amandus, the Bishop of Maastricht. When Dagobert succeeded his father and the court moved to Neustria, Pippin and his family (including young Gertrude) moved with the king's court. Thus, Gertrude became introduced to politics during her childhood in the royal court. Arnulf of Metz, Pippin's close ally, was one of several royal counselors who received ecclesiastical posts after a secular career. McNamara argues that Arnulf retired into religion at the time of Clothar's death in 628, but he kept close ties to the family by marrying his son to Gertrude's sister, Begga. However, later scholars have disagreed. Gertrude's biography begins with her father hosting a banquet when Gertrude was ten years old. That the king accepted Pippin's invitation to the dinner at all shows Pippin's standing as well as that of his family. At this feast, the King asked Gertrude if she would like to marry the "son of a duke of the Austrasians.... for the sake of his worldly ambition and mutual alliance." Gertrude declined and "lost her temper and flatly rejected him with an oath, saying that she would have neither him nor any earthly spouse but Christ the Lord." Marriage alliances were important in this era although scholars disagree as to the extent parents or kings asserted power over spousal choice. The marriage between Gertrude's sister Begga and Ansegisel helped set the stage for a Carolingian takeover of Austrasia. The marriage of their son Pepin the Middle and Plectrude later secured the lands of Plectrude's parents Hugobert and Irmina of Oeren between the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers, because Plectrude was an only child. Begga's sons enhanced Pepin's power by marrying women with political connections in the north and northwest. All agree that the girl's personal feeling mattered little. One scholar speculated that if Pippin I had lived longer, he would likely have forced Gertrude to marry the son of the Austrasian duke, thus giving power to the Pippinids sooner to supplant the Merovingians. Dagobert died in 639 and was succeeded in Neustria by Clovis II and in Austrasia by Sigebert III. When Pippin died, Gertrude's brother Grimoald competed with Otto to become the new mayor of the palace. After Otto died in battle, "the dignity of mayor of Sigebert's palace and control of all the kingdom of Austrasia was thus decisively assured to Grimoald" and the Pippinids. The mention of Gertrude's decided rejection of her Austrasian suitor is unique for the era. At least one scholar considers it to have been deliberately included by the chronicler as expressing her character. The reference to a prior betrothal to Christ becomes common in later saints' lives. The suitor, while irritated, is not emotionally affected by this rejection. After Dagobert's death, Pippin returned to the east in 640, taking Gertrude with him. Soon after, Pippin himself died, giving Gertrude the freedom to take the veil and enter the monastic life. Scholars debate the date of the death of Pippin. Some sources date it as late as 650, although others date it much earlier. The Vita describes how Itta, in order to prevent "violent abductors from tearing her daughter away by force," shaved her daughter's hair, leaving only a crown shape. This action, known as tonsuring, marked Gertrude for a life of religious service. There were constant requests by "violators of souls" who wished to gain wealth and power by marrying Gertrude. As detailed in the Vita, only Itta's foundation of the Abbey of Nivelles stopped the constant flow of suitors interested in marrying Gertrude in order to ally with her wealthy family. Susan Wemple argues that Gertrude's story is an example of mothers dominating their daughters in Merovingian times in an effort to "safeguard [their] daughters' sexual purity and secure [their] future." Mothers, she says, were required to raise their daughters to be obedient and disciplined, and the standard "maternal feelings" were "vigilance and worry" The biographer of Gertrude mentions that after the death of Pippin the Elder in 640, his widow Itta pondered daily on what was to become of her and her daughter. Upon the advice of Amand, she ordered the construction of a monastery to which she and Gertrude could retire. According to Wemple, "A mother's importance was acknowledged in law insofar as she had the right to assume the guardianship for her fatherless children. In the propertied classes, this meant that a widow could exercise considerable power by managing the estates of her minor children and arranging for their marriages." Itta lost this right after the death of her husband Pippin because their sons had come of age. She still had the option to find a suitable husband for Gertrude. Catherine Peyroux has said that Itta established the monastery in order to protect her and her daughter in the event that her sons fell out of favor with the ruling dynasty, as well as to safeguard the family lands from plunder or seizure through forced marriage. Christianity was not at all widespread in Gertrude's place and time. It was only the development of cities and the initiative of bishops that led to a vast movement of evangelism, and a flowering of monasteries in the 7th and 8th centuries. Gertrude's Vita describes how Bishop Amand came to Itta's house, "preaching the word of God. At the Lord's bidding, he asked whether she would build a monastery for herself and Christ's handmaid, Gertrude." Itta founded Nivelles, a double monastery, one for men, the other for women. However, after they entered the religious life, Gertrude and her mother suffered "no small opposition" from the royal family. During this period, trials for the family are mentioned involving the usurper Otto's bid to replace the Pippinids at the side of the king. There is some precedent for Gertrude and Itta's move to the monastery at Nivelles. According to Wemple, "during the second half of the seventh century, women in Neustrian-Burgundian families concentrated on the creation of a network of monasteries rather than on the conclusion of politically advantageous unions, while families whose holdings were in the northeastern parts of the kingdom, centering around the city of Metz, were more concerned with the acquisition of power through carefully arranged marriages." Itta's move to start a monastery was thus not completely out of the ordinary, and may have in fact been the norm for a widowed noblewoman. Upon Itta's death at about the age of 60 in the year 652, twelve years after the death of her husband Pippin, Gertrude took over the monastery. At this time, Gertrude took the "whole burden of governing upon herself alone," placing affairs of the family in the hand of "good and faithful administrators from the brothers." Some have argued that this implies that Gertrude ruled the monastery with an abbot. Frankish double monasteries were almost always led by an abbess, or jointly by an abbess and abbot. However, when Suzanne Wemple used Nivelles as an example of the latter, claiming that Gertrude ruled Nivelles jointly with Amand "around 640," she casts doubt on her own theory by mistaking the date. Many later scholars date the foundation of Nivelles between 647 and 650. The Vita states that in Gertrude, "temperance of character, the sobriety of her heart and the moderation of her words she anticipated maturity." She was "an intelligent young woman, scholarly and charitable, devoting herself to the sick, elderly, and poor," and as knowing much of the scripture by memory. Gertrude also memorized passages and books on divine law, and she "openly disclosed the hidden mysteries of allegory to her listeners." Her Vita describes Gertrude as building churches, and taking care of orphans, widows, captives, and pilgrims. Upon becoming abbess, Gertrude "obtained through her envoy's men of good reputation, relics of saints and holy books from Rome, and from regions across the sea, experienced men for the teaching of the divine law and to practice the chants for herself and her people." Fouracre and Gerberding assert that the men from across the sea are from Britain and Ireland and also highlight this as an example of the importance of Rome to the Franks long before Charlemagne ever had a relationship with the Pope. This is supported by Peyroux, Wemple, and the ancient Chronicles of Fredegar. She welcomed foreigners, lay or religious. She especially welcomed Irish monks who, since the sixth century, traveled to evangelize. Among the numerous pilgrims that visited the monastery of Nivelles were the two brothers, Foillan and Ultan, both Irish monks on their way from Rome to Peronne, where their brother Fursey, lay buried. According to Wemple, "The Irish monasteries, with the ancient tradition of oral learning, were at the time the most distinguished centers of scholarship". In the Additum Additamentum Nivialense de Fuilano, an addendum to the Vita Sanctae Gertrudis, there is a story about several events involving Irish monks led by Foillan that involve Gertrude and the Abbey of Nivelles. Before the foundation of Nivelles, Irish monks led by Foillan traveled to Francia, from Fursey's monastery in Ireland to escape pagan raids. They were received by Erchinoald, mayor of the palace, but were later expelled by him and moved to live with Itta and Gertrude. Grimoald and the Pippinids were happy to accept them and built the monastery of Berbrona for them with the help of Itta and Gertrude. In other works this monastery is referred to as Fosses. There is much praise of Gertrude in the text. Sometime later, Foillan went on a journey, saying mass in Nivelles before leaving. Ian Wood says that the purpose of Foillan's journey was to visit his benefactors, but he provides no evidence for this claim other than a citation of the Additamentum. After only a day of traveling, Foillan and his three companions were betrayed and murdered by an evil man who offered them shelter for the night in his house and then sold their belongings. Upon learning that Foillan did not reach his destination, the brothers of his monastery began to search for him. However, it was Gertrude who succeeded in finding Foillan's body 77 days after he was murdered, on the anniversary of his brother Fursey's death. The four bodies were immediately brought to Nivelles. "Dido, Bishop of Poitiers, and the mayor of the palace, Grimoald, a man of illustrious standing," arrived by chance, or, as the text hints, divine intervention at Nivelles shortly before the bodies and the two men carried Foillan into Nivelles "on their own shoulders." Foillan's body was then taken to his own monastery "and when noblemen had flocked from all sides to meet him and carried him on their own shoulders" he was buried at Fosses. The first miracle attributed to Gertrude in the Vita takes place at the altar of Pope Sixtus II the Martyr as Gertrude was standing in prayer. "She saw descending above her a flaming pellucid sphere such that the whole basilica was illuminated by its brightness." The vision persisted for about half an hour and later was revealed to some of the sisters at the monastery. The anonymous author of the Vita believes that this vision represents a "visitation of the True Light." The second miracle attributed to Gertrude in the Vita took place as the anonymous author and his friend were peacefully sailing over the sea on the monastery's business. This account is felt by some to indicate that the author was an Irish monk. In the account, an incredible storm appears as well as a sea monster, causing great despair as "the sailors... turned to their idols," evidence of the persistence of paganism at the time. In desperation, the author's friend cries out to Gertrude to save himself and his companions from the storm and monster. Immediately the storm subsides and the monster dives back into the deep. Before her death, Gertrude appointed her niece Wulfetrud as Abbess of Nivelles. Wulfetrud's position was precarious because her father, Grimoald I, had usurped the Austrasian throne. According to Ian Wood, "It was the Neustrian court that had ended Grimoald's usurpation of the Austrasian throne." The Vita states that "out of hatred of her father that kings, queens, and even priests... wished to drag her from her place" and steal Wulfetrude's property. Wulfetrud was only 20 years old at the time. Wilfetrud's appointment was a testament to Gertrude's power and influence within the abbey and the Catholic Church itself. According to the Vita, Wulfetrud kept her position "through the grace of God." At the same time, however, Gertrude was unable to help "Grimoald or his daughter against Clovis II." Gertrude is portrayed as leading a devout life until her death.It is possible that after taking the veil in ca. 640, she never left the monastery cloister, thus escaping politics and local affairs. Gertrude is described as "exhausted by a life of charity, fasting and prayer" at the end of her short life. The Cambridge Medieval History says that "because of too much abstinence and keeping of vigils... her body was sorrily exhausted with serious illness." Gertrude's Vita describes her, after relinquishing her role as abbess, spending her time praying intensely and secretly wearing a hair shirt. According to her biographer, Gertrude felt the time of her death approaching and asked a pilgrim from the Fosses monastery when she would die. This pilgrim is commonly believed to be Ultan, Foillan's brother. Fouracre and Gerberding dispute that Ultan was Abbot of Fosses, but there is some speculation. Ultan prophesied that Gertrude would die on 17 March, the very next day, and also the feast day of Saint Patrick. Furthermore, Ultan prophesied that "she may pass joyously because blessed Bishop Patrick with the chosen angels of God... are prepared to receive her." True to the prophecy, Gertrude died the next day after praying all night and taking communion. Shortly after her death, the monk Rinchinus as well as the author of the Vita noticed a pleasant odor in cell with her body. Just before her death in 659, Gertrude instructed the nuns at Nivelles to bury her in an old veil left behind by a traveling pilgrim and Gertrude's own hair shirt. She died in poverty, 17 March 659, at the age of thirty-three years. Gertrude's choice of burial clothing is a pattern in medieval hagiography as an expression of humility and piety. Her death and the image of her weak and humble figure is, in fact, a critical point in her biographer's narrative. Her monastery also benefitted from this portrayal because the haircloth and veil in which Gertrude was interred became relics. Bonnie Effros contends that identification with tombs like Gertrude's signaled higher privilege and prestige within the church. Tombs covered with cloths often functioned as altars for those who had access to them. At Nivelles, her relics were only publicly displayed for feast days, Easter, and other holy days. Gertrude is the patron saint of the City of Nivelles. The towns of Geertruidenberg, Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom in North Brabant, also are under her patronage. Gertrude was also the patron saint of the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosiers or Crutched Friars). In the Crosier Church in Maastricht, the Netherlands, a large mural from the 16th century depicts eight scenes from her life and legend. The legend of Gertrude's vision of the ocean voyage led her to be as well the patron saint of travelers. In memory of this event, medieval travelers drank a so-called "Sinte Geerts Minne" or "Gertrudenminne" before setting out on their journey. Her attention to the care of her garden led her assistance to be invoked by gardeners, and also against rats and mental illness. Le Tour Sainte-Gertrude is a traditional procession around Nivelles. The abbesses and the canons used to regularly make a long journey outside the walls of the abbey in emulation of Gertrude, to meet the farmers, the poor and the sick. Many of the pilgrims participate in costume, as they accompany a cart bearing a reliquary containing Gertrude's relics. In May 2004, the Saint Gertrude Tour was proclaimed "Oral and Intangible Heritage Masterpiece of the French Community." The hundred years-old secondary school "Collège Sainte-Gertrude de Nivelles" founded by the Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier in the city owes its name to the saint. The Vita was originally thought to have been written in the eleventh century, but this was later disproven with the discovery of a version dating from the eighth century. Bruno Krush argues that the work is written around the same time that the events it describes take place, and there is wide agreement that it was written before 670, and after 663. The time range is determined using a combination of Latin style, references by contemporary works, the accuracy of the events (indicating a close proximity to their occurrence), and references in the text to known events. The Vita is one of just a few sources dating from seventh century France, and one of only three from Austrasia (all of which deal with Gertrude). This makes the Vita very important as a source for Charlemagne's ancestry as well as placing the "Cradle of the Carolingians" in the middle Meuse in Brabant as opposed to Moselle in Luxembourg, where Pepin II and Plectrude had large tracts of land. The author of Vita writes as a first-hand witness to the events he describes. Although it is perfectly plausible that he could have been a monk or nun, and there some debate on this topic. Based on his reference to himself "with another brother," the author is most likely male. The Vita was originally written for Abbot Agnes, who succeeded Wulfetrud upon her death. As indicated by Charlemagne's inclusion of Arnulf of Metz in his family tree (in a work by Paul the Deacon, a Lombard), there were incentives to being associated with saints in Carolingian times. Fouracre and Gerberding argue that there were large incentives to being associated with saints in the seventh century as well, casting doubt on the genealogy presented in many sources. However, these scholars argue that the close temporal relationship of the three Austrasian sources to the life of Gertrude as well as the monastic audience of the works make them more than likely credible. According to Catherine Peyroux, who believes that because author is writing very near Gertrude's lifetime, account must at least be "essentially plausible to Gertrude's contemporaries." Gertrude's relationship with Arnulf of Metz is a persistent source of confusion for scholars and students alike. Numerous sources point to a relationship between Gertrude and Arnulf, while others believe this relationship is invented. In particular, the debate focuses on Arnulf's relationship with Ansegisel, the husband of Begga, Gertrude's sister. Sources that include Arnulf in the Pippinid family state that Arnulf is that father of Ansegisel. Sources making the opposite claim do not. Ian Wood recommends focusing only on the four earliest sources for this information, as later sources are based on these few documents. He starts with the continuations of the chronicles of Fredegar, which do not mention this connection, and are based on an earlier work. He says that "since Childebrand himself was the half-brother of Charles Martel, it is not surprising that the Fredegar continuator add the information contained in the Liber Historiae Francorum material largely concerned with Austrasia and Frisia" in 751. However, he adds no information regarding Arnulf at this time. The Liber is one of the earliest works detailing the history of this period and makes no mention of the relationship between Arnulf and Ansegisel. Moving to a later source, Wood shows how the Annales Mettenses Priores radically change the picture (from the Liber, the earliest source for the late seventh century, written in 727). The Annales allude to the power held by previous members of the family, especially by Pippin I. They also allude to Pippin I's relationship to Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, although they do not specify the nature of that relationship. In addition they talk with great admiration of Pepin II's grandmother, Itta, and his Aunt, Gertrude. From the start, therefore, the Annales Mettenses Priores announce their intention of turning the history of the seventh and eighth centuries into a history of the Pippinids, or the Carolingians they were to become." As a result of this shift, Wood argues that "For the period up until 714, therefore, Annales Mettenses Priores produce a substantially different account of events from that offered by the Liber Historiae Francorum, making Pepin the center of attention, and conferring on him complete power from the Battle of Tertry onwards." This change in focus, while not invalid per se, certainly is problematic, because the Annales were written long after the time period they describe. This is especially important, notes Wood, because "as a reading of history the so-called Metz Prior Annals have been extremely influential, providing the most popular interpretation of the late Merovingian period. Nevertheless, they show the Pippinids and Merovingian history as the Carolingians wished to see them." Despite this different focus, even the Metz Annales do not state that Arnulf is Ansegisel's father, saying only that he is a great ally of Pippin. Wood believes that the shift in focus of the Metz Prior Annals is deliberate, citing the need to glorify the sanctity of the newly powerful Pippinids. "The other asset which the family was to develop, its sanctity, was beginning to be realized only in the last decades of the seventh century. Although Arnulf of Metz is thought to have been Pepin II's grandfather, the evidence for this is not early, and even the Annales Mettenses Priores were uncertain about the nature of the relationship between Arnulf and the Pippinids." According to Wood, this link comes first from Paul the Deacon (Gesta episcoporum Mettensium) and is suspect, as Paul was not familiar with the events he was writing about and had limited access to reference materials. Of the other early sources that might establish a link between Ansegisel and Arnulf, all that is left is the Vita Arnulfi, or "Life of Arnulf." However, according to Wood, it is "not clear that the Vita Arnulfi... was written in the seventh century." It is possible that this work was a forgery, created later to sanctify the Carolingian line. This argument is not without base, because after Gertrude died in 659, "her sanctity was unquestionably promoted by the family in the late seventh century" beginning with her 'Vita in 670. The assignment of Gertrude as patron of cats and the designation of the cat as one of her attributes seems to date from the 1980s. It is not mentioned at all in Madou's extensive historical survey from 1975. A more superficial association of Gertrude with the cat as a mouse hunter goes further back. Her veneration as protector against rats and mice dates from the early 15th century during the Black Plague and spread from Southwestern Germany to the Netherlands and Catalonia. Some 20th-century folkloristics research conflated her with the Germanic goddess Frigg, who may have been depicted riding a cat. The authoritative Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (published in multiple volumes, 1927–1942) does not verify the connection to cats. The first major English-language publication presenting her as patron of cats is a 1981 catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Gertrude of Nivelles". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Collet, Emmanuel. "Sainte Gertrude de Nivelles: Culte, Histoire, Tradition." Nivelles: Comité de Sainte Gertrude, 1985. Delanne, Blanche. Histoire de la Ville de Nivelles: Des Origines au XIIIe siècle. Nivelles: Impr. Havaux, 1944. Donnay-Rocmans, Claudine (1979). La Collégiale Sainte-Gertrude de Nivelles (in French). Gembloux: Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0262-6. Effros, Bonnie. Caring for Body and Soul: Burial and the Afterlife in the Merovingian World. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1965. MacNeill, Eoin. "Beginnings of Latin Culture in Ireland". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review of Letters, Philosophy and Science, 20 (1931) McNamara, Jo Ann and John E. Halbord with E. Gordon Whatley. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992. Madou, Mireille, De heilige Gertrudis van Nijvel. Brussels, 1975 (the most extensive study on her veneration). Madou, M.J.H., "S. Gertrude de Nivelles". In: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, 20 (1984), 1065–1068 Peyroux, Catherine (1998). "Gertrude's Furor: Reading Anger in an Early Medieval Saint's Life". In Rosenwein, Barbara H. (ed.). Anger's Past: The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. pp. 36–55. ISBN 978-0-8014-3266-8. Unknown. The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar. Trans. J.M. Walace-Hadrill. London: Nelson, 1960. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 1. Ed. Paul Fouracre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Wemple, Suzanne Fonay. Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500–900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981. Wood, Ian N. (1994). The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. London: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-21878-9. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3563 Ordinal : ca. 1293–1298. manuscript, MS Lat 422, is held at the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

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3. Bavo of Ghent (589 - 654)

With an HPI of 60.94, Bavo of Ghent is the 3rd most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Saint Bavo of Ghent (also known as Bavon, Allowin, Bavonius, Baaf; AD 622–659) is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint. He was the son of Pepin of Landen and the brother of saints Begga and Gertrude of Nivelles.

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4. Gudula (b. 646)

With an HPI of 60.33, Gudula is the 4th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Saint Gudula was born in the pagus of Brabant (in present-day Belgium). According to her 11th-century biography (Vita Gudilae), written by a monk of the abbey of Hautmont between 1048 and 1051, she was the daughter of a duke of Lotharingia called Witger and Amalberga of Maubeuge. She died between 680 and 714. Her name is connected to several places: Moorsel (where she lived) Brussels (where a chapter in her honour was founded in 1047) Eibingen (where the relic of her skull is conserved). In Brabant she is usually called Goedele or Goule; (Latin: Gudila, later Gudula, Dutch: Sinte Goedele, French: Sainte Gudule).

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5. Begga (615 - 693)

With an HPI of 57.88, Begga is the 5th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Saint Begga (also Begue, Beghe, Begge) (615 – 17 December 693) was the daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and his wife Itta of Metz. She is also the grandmother of Charles Martel, who is the grandfather of Charlemagne.

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6. Lutgardis (1182 - 1246)

With an HPI of 57.49, Lutgardis is the 6th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Lutgardis of Aywières (Dutch: Sint-Ludgardis; 1182 – 16 June 1246; also spelled Lutgarde) is a saint from the medieval Low Countries. She was born in Tongeren, known as Tongres in French (which is why she is also called Lutgardis of Tongres or Luitgard of Tonger(e)n), and entered monastic life at the age of twelve. During her life various miracles were attributed to her, and she is known to have experienced religious ecstasy. Her feast day is 16 June.

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7. Clemens August of Bavaria (1700 - 1761)

With an HPI of 57.26, Clemens August of Bavaria is the 7th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Clemens August of Bavaria (German: Clemens August von Bayern) (17 August 1700 – 6 February 1761) was an 18th-century member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.

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8. Adalard of Corbie (751 - 827)

With an HPI of 57.13, Adalard of Corbie is the 8th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Adalard of Corbie (Latin: Adalhardus Corbeiensis; c. 751, Huise – 2 January 827) was the son of Bernard who was the son of Charles Martel and half-brother of Pepin; Charlemagne was his cousin. He is recognised as a saint within the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church.

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9. Juliana of Liège (1193 - 1258)

With an HPI of 56.93, Juliana of Liège is the 9th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Juliana of Liège (also called Juliana of Mount-Cornillon), (c. 1192 or 1193 – 5 April 1258) was a medieval Norbertine canoness regular and mystic in what is now Belgium. Traditional scholarly sources have long recognized her as the promoter of the Feast of Corpus Christi, first celebrated in Liège in 1246, and later adopted for the Catholic Church in 1264. More recent scholarship includes manuscript analysis of the initial version of the Office, as found in The Hague, National Library of the Netherlands (KB 70.E.4) and a close reading of her Latin vita, a critical edition of which was published in French by the Belgian scholar and current (2023) bishop of Liège, Jean-Pierre Delville. Newer scholarly work notes the many references to her musical and liturgical performances. Modern women scholars recognize Juliana as the "author" of the initial version of the Latin Office, Animarum cibus, which takes its title from the beginning of its first antiphon.

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10. Rimbert (830 - 888)

With an HPI of 56.59, Rimbert is the 10th most famous Belgian Religious Figure.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Saint Rimbert (or Rembert) (c. 830 - 11 June 888 in Bremen) was archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, in the northern part of the Kingdom of East Frankia from 865 until his death in 888. He most famously wrote the hagiography about the life Ansgar, the Vita Ansgari, one of the most popular hagiographies of middle ages.

People

Pantheon has 25 people classified as Belgian religious figures born between 589 and 1992. Of these 25, 2 (8.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Belgian religious figures include Jozef De Kesel, and Fanny Lecluyse. The most famous deceased Belgian religious figures include Father Damien, Gertrude of Nivelles, and Bavo of Ghent. As of April 2024, 3 new Belgian religious figures have been added to Pantheon including Juliana of Liège, Jan Pieter Schotte, and Fanny Lecluyse.

Living Belgian Religious Figures

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Deceased Belgian Religious Figures

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Newly Added Belgian Religious Figures (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Religious Figures were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 11 most globally memorable Religious Figures since 1700.