Otilia (+720)

Biography

Aldarico very much wanted to have a son, but lo and behold, a daughter was born to him, and she was also blind. He was filled with anger and ordered that the girl be expelled far from his castle. She was taken to a distant convent of nuns who took care of her as best they could. One day Bishop San Erardo arrived at the convent and when he baptized the little blind girl he said to her, "May the eyes of your body be opened, just as the eyes of your soul have been opened." And the miracle occurred. Otilia returned to her house, but Aldarico treated her more as a servant than as a daughter. Soon he realized that Otilia was so kind and charitable to everyone, that he began to take great affection for her. It was decided to marry her to a great German lord, but Otilia wanted to be a nun, and she escaped, disguised as a servant. Her father, full of remorse, ordered to publish a decree by which he forgave his daughter and allowed her to become a nun. Aldarico then built her a convent on a high mountain, and he called it Otilia, and her companions dedicated themselves to prayer, manual labor, and caring for the hundreds of poor and sick people who arrived. to ask for help. After Otilia died, many miracles began to be worked through her intercession, and her tomb was a pilgrimage site where even Saint Leo IX and King Richard I of England came to go. Saint Otilia is Patroness of the region of Alsace.