Maxellende de Caudry

Saint Maxellende ( - 13 November 670) was the thaumaturgist saint martyr of Caudry. Traditionally, she is associated with the diocese of Cambrai, and is invoked for relief from ocular diseases.

Martyr Maxellende's martyrdom occurred during the Merovingian period, under the episcopate of Vindicien, bishop of Arras and Cambrai. She was the daughter of Huinlinus, a wealthy landowner from Caudry. Her legend holds that she was promised to Harduin d'Armeval, future lord of Solesmes. She resisted the prospective marriage because of her religious commitment, which led Harduin to kill her in 670, and after which he was blinded.

She was buried in the Saint-Souplet church. A few years later, her bones were brought back to Caudry during a procession that Harduin attended. Bursting into tears, he miraculously recovered his sight. Her bones became relics kept in Cambrai, then in Le Cateau-Cambresis, and finally in Caudry. She was revered in the Middle Ages. She is the patroness of the Caudresians and the visually impaired.

Basilica

The church is dedicated to Saint Maxellende. A place of pilgrimage for the blind and partially sighted, the church was raised to the rank of minor basilica by the pontifical brief on September 3, 1991.

Gallery

"Prayer to Saint-Maxellende". "St. Maxellende, virgin and martyr, you who have healed your murderer who had become blind, preserve us the precious gift of sight, heal those who are deprived of it, or who are in danger of losing it. Above all, obtain the light of the mind and the heart so that we may always walk on the paths of the Gospel. You who wanted to devote yourself to God enlighten those who seek their way here below. With the support of your prayer, they further peace and fulfill their vocation. Amen."