mardi 15 avril 2014

Sainte HUNE (HUNNA) de STRASBOURG, vierge et religieuse











Sainte Hune

Religieuse ( v. 600)

Née au VIème siècle de notre ère, décédée presque centenaire vers l'an 600. Nous avons à notre disposition peu d'éléments vérifiés de la vie de sainte Hune. Nous savons qu'apparentée à un roi de Bourgogne de l'époque mérovingienne, elle fut sans doute l'épouse contrainte et malheureuse d'un seigneur franc. 


La Légende dorée, par contre, fourmille de récits fabuleux à son sujet. 


Enfant mal aimée d'une famille désunie, Hune fut reléguée aux cuisines avec les domestiques du château de la Hunière, tandis que son père guerroyait au loin aux côtés de son roi et que sa mère se livrait aux caresses de ses nombreux amants. L'amour sincère et l'affection que lui portaient les servantes, l'amitié des lavandières qu'elle accompagnait dans leur travail, permirent à la fillette de vivre une enfance simple mais heureuse. 

Cette vie au contact de gens pauvres, sans culture, illettrés aux manières frustes restés païens, n'empêcha pas la jeune Hune d'acquérir un caractère fort, une vive foi chrétienne que ses dons innés mirent très tôt en valeur. Elle jouissait, en plus de ses autres qualités, d'une très grande beauté, qu'un mémorialiste du temps qualifiait de "surnaturelle".



Mariée de force à un vieux noble brutal, Hune refusa farouchement de partager la couche du soudard et, ayant résolument préservé sa virginité, trouva refuge dans un couvent où elle consacra sa vie au service de Dieu, secondant humblement les sœurs dans leurs travaux ménagers les plus pénibles.

Source archidiocèse d'Alsace.

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10121/Sainte-Hune.html

 Sainte Hune (+ 679)

Femme d'un seigneur alsacien, elle est souvent associée à des fontaines ou à des lavoirs et parfois surnommée la sainte blanchisseuse parce qu'elle aurait participé à la lessive avec les villageoises en dépit de son rang. Le village de Hunawihr lui devrait son nom.

SOURCE : http://als.vosges-rando.net/Eglise/Femmes.htm

Saint Hunna

Saint Hunna (born, unknown; died 679) is called “The Holy Washerwoman”.  Saint Hunna was born into a privileged life, the daughter of a duke in Alsace. She matured and married Huno of Hunnaweyer, a nobleman, and together they settled in the diocese of Strasbourg (now France). Together, they produced one son, Saint Deodatus, who eventually became a monk (and then a saint!). Saint Hunna was devoted to the Lord, raising her son with constant teaching, and living the virtues of the faith. She spent her days caring for her home and estate, and in prayer, while her husband traveled on diplomatic and political missions.

But this didn’t seem to be enough for Saint Hunna. In her prayer, she felt called to do more, to serve others. By the Lord, her eyes were opened to the poverty and general squalor that the peasants and servants lived in… and she felt moved to assist. Hunna began making daily trips from the estate into the local villages and fields, visiting her poor neighbors, offering them religious instruction, and working for them. At first, she simply offered to do their laundry, earning her the title, “holy washerwoman.” Hunna would travel from home to home, collecting soiled clothing, and then spend the better part of each day washing and scrubbing the clothing clean. When the clothing was too dirty, or too threadbare to mend, she would replace it with a new article.

As time went on, her washing service expanded to any task that her neighbors needed help with—cooking, cleaning, childcare, even more demanding physical labor. She also instructed in ways of cleanliness, assisting with hygiene. Saint Hunna regularly performed the greatest act of service, bathing those who were unable to bathe themselves.
She was canonized in 1520 by Pope Leo X and her feast is April 15.


Saint Hunna



    St. Hunna, or Huva, came of the reigning ducal family of Alsace and was married to a nobleman, Huno of Hunnaweyer, a village in the diocese of Strasbourg. Because she undertook to do the washing for her needy neighbors, she was nicknamed by her contemporaries "The Holy Washerwoman". Her family seems to have been influenced by St. Deodatus (Dié), Bishop of Nevers, for St. Hunna's son, who was his namesake, was baptized by him and subsequently entered the monastery which he founded at Ebersheim. St. Hunna died in 679 and was canonized in 1520 by Leo X at the instance of Duke Ulric of Würtemberg.

It is difficult to find satisfactory authority for what is recounted above. There is mention of Hunus and of "his holy wife" in the eleventh-century life of St. Deodatus of Nevers, and Henschenius in his note on the passage quotes a French work of John Ruyms upon the saints of the Vosges. See the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv (3rd ed.), p. 731; and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxvi, pp. 343-345. There seems, however, to be a local cultus of St. Hunna, and the Abbé Hunckler in his Saints d'Alsace writes on the subject at some length.


Butler's Lives of The Saints, Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. and Donald Attwater

Nihil Obstat: PATRICIVS MORRIS, S.T.D., L.S.S., CENSOR DEPVTATVS
.
Imprimatur: E. MORROGH BERNARD, VICARIVS GENERALIS WESTMONASTERII: 
DIE XXIII FEBRVARII MCMLIII


Saint Hunna of Stasbourg

 Today, April 15 marks the feast day of a lesser known saint, but one no less important. (She is so "lesser known" that no definitive portraits or pictures were able to be found of her-- therefore, the posted pictures are simple images representing her holy life, but do not necessarily depict the saint herself). Saint Hunna (born, unknown; died 679) is remembered for her love of and service to those less fortunate than herself, despite prevailing prejudice. Hunna’s actions, at a time when the class system was firmly entrenched, created difficulties for herself in her daily life, and embarrassment for her noble husband. Yet, she did not shy away from her service to the poor, as she understood it to be her duty as a Christian.

Saint Hunna was born into a privileged life, the daughter of a duke in Alsace. She matured and married Huno of Hunnaweyer, a nobleman, and together they settled in the diocese of Strasbourg (now France). Together, they produced one son, Saint Deodatus, who eventually became a monk (and then a saint!). Saint Hunna was devoted to the Lord, raising her son with constant teaching, and living the virtues of the faith. She spent her days caring for her home and estate, and in prayer, while her husband traveled on diplomatic and political missions.
But this didn’t seem to be enough for Saint Hunna. In her prayer, she felt called to do more, to serve others. By the Lord, her eyes were opened to the poverty and general squalor that the peasants and servants lived in… and she felt moved to assist. Hunna began making daily trips from the estate into the local villages and fields, visiting her poor neighbors, offering them religious instruction, and working for them. At first, she simply offered to do their laundry, earning her the title, “holy washerwoman.” Hunna would travel from home to home, collecting soiled clothing, and then spend the better part of each day washing and scrubbing the clothing clean. When the clothing was too dirty, or too threadbare to mend, she would replace it with a new article.
As time went on, her washing service expanded to any task that her neighbors needed help with—cooking, cleaning, childcare, even more demanding physical labor. She also instructed in ways of cleanliness, assisting with hygiene. Saint Hunna regularly performed the greatest act of service, bathing those who were unable to bathe themselves.


Saint Hunna demonstrates to us great selflessness, borne out of love for the Lord. She willingly left her life of privilege on a daily basis, eventually being shunned by those of her class and station, to intercede in the lives of those who had no one to care for them. She treated the poor, the sick, the forgotten as equals to herself, offering them basic human respect, love, and charity. Saint Hunna welcomed all into her life as the family of God. The life of Saint Hunna provides a gentle reminder of our own hesitancy to venture beyond our comfortable lives, to actively engage in community service to those in need. We are mindful of the fact that we are called to service and social justice, and that embarking on that mission may be difficult or even painful. We look to Saint Hunna as inspiration—inspiration to embody the love of Christ, and to share that love with others in service.