Marian Folktales: The Noble Daughters of Mary
Princess Ada of Avesnes & Her Devotion to Our Lady
Friends,
This will be part of a series on medieval(ish) Marian folktales. I am posting the narration and text of the first one for free, but the rest will be shared for paid subscribers.
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The following is an excerpt from the 17th century collection “Noble Daughters of Mary” compiled by Fr. Ippolito Marracci. It contains a variety of strange, yet wonderful, folktales of our Blessed Mother.
Some of these stories are a bit theologically gray, so remember, I’m sharing these for entertainment and history, rather than to teach a theology lesson.
This collection is also from a larger work recently translated by Fr. Robert Nixon, OSB called Imperatrix Aeterna, which I highly recommend. We dove into it last year on my Patreon and podcast.
Fr. Nixon is doing incredible work translating forgotten spiritual texts from Latin into English, and I hope this also moves you to look into his writings and translations more deeply.
I hope you enjoy,
W.
Princess of Ada
Princess Ada of Avesnes revered the glorious Mother of God with the greatest devotion of heart. Among her works of piety towards the Virgin Queen, each day she recited the ‘Hail Mary’ sixty times—twenty times lying prostrate on the ground, twenty times kneeling, and twenty times standing, either in her chapel or in her bedroom or in some other secret place she chose.
There was a secluded and unfrequented forest called Broqeuroy near Princess Ada’s castle, in which a certain holy hermit lived a life of prayer and solitude. Once he saw a strange vision (as the hermit himself relates), in the middle of the day when he was fully awake.
In this waking vision, blessed Mary appeared to him. The Mother of God sat upon a wonderful throne, with two saints—St. Waldetrude and St. Aldegonde—lying at her feet in supplication. They were complaining bitterly to her about the actions of Ada’s husband, the Prince Theodore, who had foolishly burnt down churches dedicated to them.
They earnestly requested of Mary that she should take revenge upon the prince for his impiety. When these two saints continued to complain long and insistently, the Blessed Virgin responded to them, “I beg you, please desist from your demands! At present I do not wish to punish Prince Theodore, although he admittedly has done this very foolish thing.
For his wife is none other than Princess Ada, and she offers to me every day her faithful and loving service, and through this has become my very dear friend. For this reason, I cannot bear the thought of any misfortune or affliction befalling either her or her husband!”
Upon hearing this, the saints were perplexed. They asked the Queen of Heaven what was the service which Ada offered to her.
Mary replied, “Every day she prays the ‘Hail Mary’. To hear this prayer, which echoes the salutation which the archangel Gabriel spoke to me, brings me more delight than any other earthly thing!
And Princess Ada recites this prayer unfailingly, no less than sixty times each day. She says it twenty times while lying down upon the ground, twenty “times while kneeling and twenty times while standing erect, either in her chapel or her bedroom or in some secret place in solitude.”
But the two disgruntled saints, Waldetrude and Aldegonde, would not be deterred so easily from their complaining, but continued to insist that the Blessed Virgin should take punitive action on their behalf for the churches which Theodore had burnt down. To silence them, Mary said, “All I ask is that you allow me to wait for a while before attending to this matter.
When the appropriate time comes, I promise that I shall administer justice just as is deserved, but in such a way that Princess Ada should not suffer the distress of being permanently separated from her beloved husband.”
Now, Theodore and Ada, though they had been married for a long time, had never had any children. Theodore’s relatives were greatly perturbed by this fact, as it meant that there would be no heir to his princely estates and title.
Accordingly, they resolved to seek to have the marriage dissolved, in order that Theodore might be able to take a new wife who would bear him offspring.
So they went to the local prelate, Odo, the bishop of Cambria, who was also Abbot of the Abbey of St. Martin in Tournai. They advised him that their kinsmen, Prince Theodore, was, in fact, related distantly by blood to his wife, Princess Ada, and that the marriage should therefore be declared to be invalid. Bishop Odo investigated the matter, and found that it was quite true—for Theodore and Ada were, indeed, distantly related by blood.
Therefore, acting in accordance with the strict requirements of canon law, he declared their marriage to be invalid.
So the couple, despite having lived as man and wife for more than twenty years, were separated and—in humble obedience to the ruling of the holy Church—considered themselves no longer to be married. Less than half a year had elapsed since this separation and annulment, when Theodore happened to be hunting alone in the woods.
A certain enemy of his, a violent and cunning man by the name of Isaac of Barlemont, knew him to be hunting without companions and guards, and so waited in hiding in ambush for him.
Taking him by surprise, he slew Prince Theodore, leaving him dead. In due course, his body was found and taken to the nearby monastery at Liessies, where he was buried in the church next to the presidential chair of the abbot. This monastery had, in fact, been established and funded by Theodore and Ada some years previously.
Princess Ada had now apparently lost her husband in a double sense. For firstly, her marriage to Theodore had been declared invalid; and, secondly, his earthly life had been brought to a premature and violent end.
Seeking refuge and consolation in the Lord and renouncing henceforth all worldly splendor and luxury, she betook herself to the monastery which she had founded with Theodore, and in which his mortal remains now rested. She had constructed for herself there a stone tower adjoining the monastery church, and so, in truth, was never really separated from Prince Theodore.
Thus, just as Mary had promised the two saints, Prince Theodore was duly punished for his unfortunate acts of impiety, but Ada was never permanently separated from him. In the peaceful refuge of her tower, the Princess lived out her days in prayer and solitude. And she never ceased to offer her service to our blessed Lady, by reciting the ‘Hail Mary’ sixty times a day—twenty times lying prostrate on the ground, twenty times kneeling, and twenty times standing.
Since Theodore and Ada had begotten no children, in due course their castle, lands and noble titles passed to the prince’s nephew, Gosceguinus.
Gosceguinus heard the story of his aunt’s wonderful piety towards the great Mother of God. Inspired by her example, he himself took up the practice of saying the ‘Hail Mary’ sixty times each day, and required each of his soldiers and servants to do the same.
Now Gosceguinus, despite his devotion to Our Lady, did many wicked things during his life; but thanks to Mary’s merciful and indulgent intercession, he came at last to a good and holy end. For, towards the end of his life when he was afflicted by a grave illness, he entered the same monastery which his uncle Theodore had constructed, and became a monk there.
He finished his life in prayer and penitence, and was buried next to his uncle in the monastery church. Princess Ada herself passed away peacefully in her tower beside the church in about the year 1100.