Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/224

210 88. CUNEGUND SS. Cunegund (i) (Cunigund, Cu- NIS8A, Cuniza), Mechtund (MonegundX Chrischona (ChkistianAjChbistschon), and Wibrand, June 16, W. PilgrimB. These four are supposed either to have been among the few surviyors of the companions of St. Ursula, and to have died on their return jourDey towards Borne, or else to have been journeying thither to escape some irruption of bar- barians. Munerus, in his Helvetia Sancta^ says the noble virgins, Cunigund, Mechtund, and Christiana, with their maid Wibrand, fell ill at the ancient city of Augusta, between Eheinfeld and Basle. They had crossed the Bhine near the village of Bapperwil, and found a hospice on the banks of the river ; and there Christiana died. When they attempted to take her body to the place of burial, they were unable to move it, until they harnessed two unbroken young bullocks to the cart in which it was laid. The creatures dragged the cart over stones and through thickets, to the top of a hill, about a league below Basle. There Christiana was buried, and there, in later years, a church was built. The other three maidens continued to get worse, and died in the same place. At their own request their bodies were placed in a cart. The bullocks took them to the foot of a gigantic oak, where they were buried. The place is thence called Eichel, or Eicbsel, and a church was built there also. It is in the diocese of Constance. AA.SS, Burgener, Helvetia Sancta. B. Cunegund (2), March G (or Cu- nissa), of Diessen. "f" 1020. Countess of Andechs. Daughter of Conrad, count of Oeningen, on Lake Constance. De- scended from the Emperor Otho the Great. She married Frederick II., count of Andechs, and after his death she be- - came the second founder of the monastery of St. Stephen at Diessen, where she lived and died. Bader, Bavaria Pia. AA,SS., Prseter. St. Cunegund (3), March 3, 22, Sept. 9 (Chtnegundis, Chunigunt, Chu- NiHA, Cunegonda, Cuniza, Konunga, KuNHUTA, Kununga). "f" 1040. Daughter of Siegfried, count palatine of the Bhine, prince of Metz, and of the country about the Moselle. Joint patron of Bamberg, with her husband, Henry, duke of Bavaria, who became king of Germany as Henry n. He was crowned at Maintz ; Cune- gund, at Paderbom. In 1014 they went to Home, and received the imperial crown from Benedict VIII. Bepresented (1) walking over red-hot ploughshares ; ^2^ holding a ploughshare in each hand ; (S^ holding the same lily as St. Henry ; (4) holding a model of a church (as founder of Elauffhugen, or Cappung, near Cassel) ; (5) holding, with her husband, a model of a church (the cathedral of Bamberg). According to legend, Henry and Cune- gund made a vow of virginity before their marriage. The Empress was ac- cused, by certain sons of Belial, of break- ing her vow, or of conduct unbecoming her rank and religious profession. To clear herself from this imputation, she submitted to the ordeal of walking blind- folded and barefooted over red-hot ploughshares. The accomplishment of this feat without injury was received by all as a full refutation of the calumny, and a proof of divine protection. When Henry perceived that he was near death, he ciJled Cunegund's relations and the chief men of the empire, and said, I give back to you and to God this holy virgin, who was lent to me by Christ." There does not seem to be any autho- rity in contemporary records, either for the story of the ploughshares or that of the vow of virginity. Henry and Cunegund built many churches, monasteries, and charitable institutions in various parts of Germany. The most famous was the cathedral of SS. Peter and George, at Bamberg. Cunegund built, at Eauffungen, with her own revenues, a Benedictine monastery, in honour of Christ and His cross, in gratitude for her recovery from a serious illness. Henry made some magnificent gifts to the church attached to it, in- cluding many ornaments and vessels of gold and precious stones, for the service of the altar and the dress of the priests. He died before the monastery was finished, and Cunegund took charge ot the empire until the accession of Conrad