Vincent Madelgar came from a noble family at Strepy-les-Binche in Hainault. About 635 he married the noblewoman Waldetrude, also venerated as a saint. Their four children are all honoured as saints: Landric, Bishop of Meaux; Dentelin, who died aged seven; and Aldetrude and Madelberte, both abbesses of Maubeuge.

King Dagobert I thought highly of him, and he probably went to Ireland on the king's business. His eleventh-century Life says Dagobert made him ruler of Ireland, but the Catholic Encyclopedia says there is no historical basis for this. He is said to have brought back missionaries, among them Fursy, Foillan and Ultan.

About 642 he founded the monastery of Hautmont near Maubeuge and became a monk there, while Waldetrude took the veil in a cell that grew into the monastery of Mons. Wanting more solitude, about 670 he withdrew with a few monks to a new monastery at Soignies, where he died on 14 July.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 164 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

In 653, moved by the words of S. Authbert, he resolved to become a monk. His wife gladly consented to the separation, for she also desired to close her days in the grey, quiet cloister, apart from the excitement and distraction inseparable from a position in the world such as their rank and wealth gave them. After a residence of some years in Hautmont, where he enjoyed the society of S. Etto, S. Ursman, S. Authbert, and other Saints, he constructed another monastery at Soignies, which he had dedicated to S. Mary and SS. Peter and John, to which he betook himself, with a few monks.

Founder and abbot of the monasteries of Hautmont and Soignies, b. of a noble family at Strepy les Binche, Hainault, early in the seventh century; d. at Soignies, 14 July, 677. That he was not of Irish descent, as stated by Jean du Pont and some Irish writers, has been proved by Mabillon and the Bollandists [Jesuit scholars who since the 1600s have critically studied the lives of the saints]. About 635 he married the noble Waldetrude, also venerated as a saint, and by her had two sons and two daughters, all of whom are honoured as saints. Their names were: Landric, Bishop of Meaux; Dentelin, who died as a boy of seven years; Aldetrude and Madelberte, both of whom became abbesses of Maubeuge. It is probable that Vincent visited Ireland on a mission of King Dagobert I, who esteemed him very highly, though there is no historical basis for the statement made in his anonymous life, written about the eleventh century, that King Dagobert made him ruler over Ireland. He is said to have brought with him from Ireland a number of missionaries, chief among whom were Sts. Fursy, Foillan, Ultan, Eloquius, Adalgisus, and Etto. About 642 he founded the monastery of Hautmont, near Maubeuge, where he himself became a monk about 643, being invested with the religious garb by Bishop St. Aubert of Cambrai, while his wife took the veil and lived in a cell which later became the monastery of Mons. His holy life and his fame as a spiritual guide attracted to the monastery many of his former friends, who put themselves under his spiritual direction. In the hope of finding great seclusion he erected a new monastery at Soignies whither he withdrew with a few of his monks about 670.

LAILEU, Vie de St. Vincent Madelgaire et de Ste Waudrau, son epouse, princes et patrons du Hainaut (Tournai, 1886); Acta SS., III, July, 628-659; Mabillon, Acta SS. Bened., II, 643-5; Analecta Bollandiana, XII (Brussels, 1893), 422-440; O'HANLON, Lives of the Irish Saints, VII (Dublin, s.d.), 227-234; DU PONT, Memoriale immortale de vita et virtutibus S. Vincentii (Mons, 1649).