Adèle OF FRANCE ¹⁹³⁶

  General Notes:

Widow of the Count of Flanders, she received the veil from Pope Alexander II in 1067 and retired to the Benedictine monastery of Messines, near Ypres in Belgium, where she died on 8 January 1079.

4th child of King Robert II the Pious of France (c. 972 - 1031) and Countess Constance of Arles (986 - 1032). Married in 1027 to Richard III, Duke of Normandy (c. 1001 - 1027, who died the same year in August, they had no children). She had to remarry in 1028 to Baldwin V (1012 - 1067), Count of Flanders; they had 3 children, including Mathilde***, married in 1053 to William the Conqueror.
With Baldwin she founded a Benedictine monastery in Messines (Mesen in Dutch), which was opened around 1060, with a church dedicated to Our Lady (quite large, about 70 m x 25 m, because the city, a renowned and prosperous cloth centre, had more than 10,000 inhabitants at the time - less than 1,000 today)
Widowed again in 1067, Adèle retired to this monastery where she died on January 8, 1079; she will be buried in the crypt of the church.
Time, the revolution of 1789, and especially the atrocious battles of the 14-18 war, destroyed everything and the crypt with its more or less collapsed vaults was filled with rubble and forgotten by everyone. From 1927 to 1930, on the ruins of the church, another smaller one was built (in the shape of a Greek cross, with no more than 250 seats) dedicated to Saint Nicholas (with a stained glass window featuring Adèle); During the construction work, we stumbled upon the crypt (which was restored in 1928 in full respect of the original Romanesque style and thus became the crypt of the new church) where the remains of Saint Adele still lay. The tomb was then given a new slab, placed on the ground, engraved in Latin and Dutch, with the stylized silhouette of Adèle. The escutcheon on the right with the fleurs-de-lis recalls the royal ancestry of the saint; the one on the left with the crescent moon, the fleurs-de-lys and the 2 crosiers recalls the consecration of the building to Mary. The Latin writing says: HIC QUI SCRIPTA LEGIS JACET ADALA FILIA REGIS. HEC LOCA SANCTA PIE FUNDANS IN HONORE MARIE and means: here you read this writing lies Adèle, daughter of a king, pious foundress of this holy place in honor of Mary.
The Dutch text reads: IN DEZE CRYPTE LAG BEGAVEN ADALA VAN FRANKRIJK GRAVIN VAN VLANDEREN STICHTERES VAN DE VOORMALIGE ABDIJ VAN MESEN GESTORVEN - se termine in " Latin " VIII JANRI MLXXIX and means: in this crypt was buried Adèle of France, Countess of Flanders**, founder of the ancient abbey of Messines who died on January 8, 1079.
An anecdote to forget (???), to meditate on (???): during the 1914-18 war, in the crypt used as an infirmary, Adolf Hitler was treated.
* also called Adelaide.
** in the time of Saint Adele there was only one Flanders (with variable geometry, depending on conquests and cessions)), but, since then, Belgium has divided its share of Flemish territory into East Flanders and West Flanders; don't forget that nowadays there is also Flanders (or Flanders) in France and also in Holland.