Hunegund of France

Hunegund (died 690) was a 7th-century Frankish saint and nun and founder of a in Northern France. She was betrothed to a Frankish nobleman, but while visiting Rome before their marriage, she chose to become a nun instead. Hunegund built a church on the grounds of a convent in Homblières; eventually her fiancé donated everything that he would have given to her if they had married to the convent, "became her most devoted friend and servant", Before their marriage, Hunegund convinced Eudaldus to travel to Rome so they might visit the tombs of the apostles and "secure [their] special intercession" by receiving the pope's blessing, which would ensure that they had a large family and gain other temporal and spiritual advantages. According to hagiographer Agnes B. C. Dunbar, as they were being presented to the pope, "either in obedience to a sudden inspiration of piety, or in accordance with a deliberate intention", Hunegund threw herself at the pope's feet, made a vow of perpetual virginity, and begged him to allow her to become a consecrated nun.

Instead of following his impulse and killing her, Eudaldus left her without money and servants and returned home, intending to punish her by taking all her property that was supposed to come to him as dowry. When he got there, he found that she was already there, living with the nuns in Homblières, and that she had already donated all her property to the town's convent, which was "subject to no congregation". Hunegund built a church there in honor of the Virgin Mary, became abbess of the convent, and was regarded as its founder. According to scholar Fraser McNair, little additional information is known about the convent and church until the mid 940s. She is sometimes represented kneeling at the feet of the pope.

In the mid-and late 10th century, two hagiographic texts about the life and miracles of Hunegund were written and published based on "legendary material" that was probably known locally in Homblières, following the discovery of her relics and their translation in 946 and the propagation of her cult, by Berner of Homblières, the first abbot after the convent was taken over by the Benedictine order and reinstated as an all-male monastery. The documents celebrated and publicized Hunegund's miracles to create and develop a sense of identity in Homblières and to raise money for the monastery. Berner also sought to restore Hundegund's reputation, which was marred by the lax moral and ethical standards and poor discipline of her community to the point that it needed to be reformed twice in three years, and to justify the consistent and continual holiness of both Hunegard and the monastery. and to emphasize its "continuity of holiness". According to historian Edward M. Schoolman, however, the regional farmers and local clergy were responsible for promoting the importance of Hunegund's festival and her veneration. According to Dunbar, one of her ribs was given to Louis XI.