Biography
Hunegund of Homblières
About Hunegund of Homblières
Hunegund is remembered as a seventh-century religious woman of Homblières, near Saint-Quentin.
The fullest account of her life comes from Abbot Berner, writing in the tenth century. His work belongs to a period when monks had replaced the earlier community of women. Little is securely known about the abbey before the 940s, so the story of its early saint must be read as a later tradition.
Berner tells of a woman from a noble family who resisted the marriage her parents intended for her. She persuaded Eudald to accompany her to Rome, where she sought consecration to religious life. The pope gave her the veil. Eudald, furious at her decision, abandoned her and planned to seize her property.
The narrative makes her return miraculous: traveling on foot, she reached home before his mounted party and gave herself and her possessions to the monastery. Eudald eventually repented and undertook to manage its external affairs. His promised gift included enslaved people as well as property; the account reflects that social order alongside its praise of religious generosity.
Berner’s writing did more than recount her past. As Fraser McNair explains, the Life and accounts of her relics helped the monastic community define its identity, seek donations and defend its possessions. Hunegund was honored as one of the abbey’s patrons.
Her shrine became an important expression of that devotion. In 1051 the monks prepared a new reliquary funded by Baldwin, a merchant of Saint-Quentin who had entered their community. Its decoration included apostles and prophets, Christ, and images of Hunegund and Eligius. The elaborate shrine replaced the plain wooden container previously used for her remains.
Devotion continued beyond the abbey. The diocese identifies Hunegund, together with Stephen, as patron of the village of Homblières. Her relics are kept in Saint Stephen’s church. Local remembrance falls on the first Sunday of July, preserving the memory of processions in which parishioners represented Hunegund and her companions.
Her calendar feast is August 25.
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