H

A life spent serving ordinary people.

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February 3 · Priest, Confessor

St. Hadelin

St. Hadelin

A life spent serving ordinary people.

Traditional feast

February 3
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Priest
Confessor

Their story

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

Hadelin was a disciple of St. Remacle and went with him when Remacle resigned as bishop of Tongres to retire to the monastery of Staveloo. The story is told that while Hadelin slept in the sun, Remacle saw an angel shading him with its wings.

In 669 Remacle sent him near Dinant on the Meuse, and he lived in a cave at Celles, where a church later rose on the site of his chapel. His hermitage has never lacked a successor. His body was moved to Vise in 1338. He is patron of five churches in the dioceses of Liége and Namur.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 193 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

S. Hadelin was one of the disciples of S. Remacle, and when that Saint resigned his bishopric of Tongres, that he might retire from the world into the peaceful monastery of Staveloo, lately founded by S. Sigebert, King of Austrasia, he took with him the pious and humble Hadelin.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Make time for silence. Solitude and withdrawal to pray shape this life.

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

Learn from the kind of life it was. A life spent serving ordinary people.

Read more

The full original · 193 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Martyrologies of Ado, of Wyon, Menardus, those of Liége, Cologne, &c. Authorities:—Two ancient lives, one by Notker, B. of Liége (971-1007).

S. Hadelin was one of the disciples of S. Remacle, and when that Saint resigned his bishopric of Tongres, that he might retire from the world into the peaceful monastery of Staveloo, lately founded by S. Sigebert, King of Austrasia, he took with him the pious and humble Hadelin. On their way they rested on a bare plain, under a glaring sun, for their afternoon repose. S. Remacle remained awake, whilst his companion slept, and saw an angel bending over Hadelin, shading him with his wings from the burning heat. Remacle sent Hadelin into the neighbourhood of Dinant, on the Meuse, in 669, and finding a quiet retreat at Celles, on the Lesse, he dwelt there in a cave, and built a little chapel, on the site of which rose in after years a collegiate church. S. Hadelin is the patron of five churches in the diocese of Liége and Namur. His hermitage still exists, and from his time has never been without a pious successor. The body of the Saint was buried there, but was translated to Vise in the diocese of Liége, in 1338. His translation is commemorated on October 11th.

Feast days

Feast: February 3

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

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

Also on February 3
C

Sts. Celerinus

February 3 · Deacon, Confessor, Martyrs
F

St. Fortunatus

February 3 · Martyr
St. Blaise

St. Blaise

February 3 · Bishop, Martyr
← 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), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. 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.