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Edgar, a young servant who loved Irmina, lured her betrothed, Count Hermann, to a cliff above the Mosel by promising him wedding jewels, then seized him and threw himself and the count over the edge.

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December 24 · Widow

Sts. Irmina and Adela

Sts. Irmina and Adela

Edgar, a young servant who loved Irmina, lured her betrothed, Count Hermann, to a cliff above the Mosel by promising him wedding jewels, then seized him and threw himself and the count over the edge.

Traditional feast

December 24
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Widow

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Baring-Gould (1897–98) · original text below · little is known

(The surviving account on this page begins partway through the story.)

Edgar, a young servant who loved Irmina, lured her betrothed, Count Hermann, to a cliff above the Mosel by promising him wedding jewels, then seized him and threw himself and the count over the edge. On the wedding day no bridegroom appeared; days later the count's body was found locked in the dead servant's arms. Irmina was then only fourteen.

King Dagobert then let his daughter become a nun in 676 and founded a convent for her at Trèves, and her sister Adela joined her. Dagobert II's charter for the convent survives, and Bishop Modoald dedicated it, though no trace of the building remains.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 210 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

The count fell into the trap, and accompanied the young man out of the town, across the Mosel bridge, and to the top of the rock where now stands the Mariensaiile.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Build up the community you belong to. This life was lived with and for a community.

Practise small acts of self-denial. The account dwells on fasting and penance; a skipped snack or a phone-free hour is a start.

Read more

The full original · 210 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Venerated at Treves on this day. In Gallican and German Martyrologies generally Irmina alone. Authority: — A Life by John Trithemius, abbot of Spanheim, d. 1516; too late to be of any value.] S. Irmina and her sister S. Adela were daughters of Dagobert II., King of the Franks. He turned the royal bam in the neighbourhood of Trfeves into a convent for his daughters, and it thence took the name of Horreum or Oehren. The story of Irmina is sufficiently tragical. She was engaged in early youth to a Count Hermann, and was passionately attached to him. The day of the marriage was fixed. It was to take place at Trfeves, and she took her way thither with a retinue. There was in her train a young man named Edgar, who had fallen frantically in love with his mistress, and his heart was consumed with jealousy and despair as the day approached when she was to become the bride ot Count Hermann. When Irmina and her attendants reached Trfeves, on the eve of the marriage, Edgar went to the count, and told him in confidence that there was a foreign merchant near the town who had rare jewels for SS. Irmina and Adela.

…sale, and offered to lead Hermann to him, so that he might purchase ornaments from him without Irmina suspecting what was in store for her, and he could place them upon her at the wedding. The count fell into the trap, and accompanied the young man out of the town, across the Mosel bridge, and to the top of the rock where now stands the Mariensaiile. There Edgar suddenly clasped his rival in his arms, and flung himself with the count over the edge of the precipice. The wedding day came, but no bridegroom was to be seen. It was only after some days that the body of the count was found fast locked in the arms of the dead servant of Irmina. Dagobert then allowed his daughter to take the veil, 676, and founded the convent at Trfeves for her. Adela, her sister, took the veil with her. Irmina, according to all accounts, was bom in 662, and therefore was only fourteen when this tragedy took place. Hontheim has published the diploma of Dagobert II. for the founding of the convent, and it was dedicated by Bishop Modoald. Not a trace of the convent remains, but marble pillars and mined walls existed when Hontheim wrote his History of Trfeves.

Feast days

Feast: December 24

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Sts. Irmina and Adela's story, and a nudge to keep going.

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St. Delphinus of Bordeaux

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St. Tarsilla

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St. Levan

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← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.