Letare Taxandria: Regionalism and Hagiographic Interactions between Sint-Oedenrode, ’s-Hertogenbosch, and Liège in the Medieval Cult and Liturgy of St Oda ^†

Abstract

“Rejoice, Texandria, for Oda!” Thus begins the series of chants and readings commemorating the virgin St Oda, patron of the village that took her name—Sint-Oedenrode—in the late medieval liturgy of the town of ’s-Hertogenbosch. Overt praise for the surrounding region, Texandria, extending across the northern limits of the duchy of Brabant and diocese of Liège, is a recurring theme in the liturgy inspired by the saint’s legend. Yet how did Oda, of Scottish origin, become so closely associated with this remote region? And what was the significance of her liturgical veneration in ’s-Hertogenbosch, to which Sint-Oedenrode was enfranchised? Exemplifying interactions between central and secondary places within a specific region, this study argues for the relevance of the historical approach to urban–rural dynamics in medieval hagiography and its related liturgy. Recognition that smaller towns and villages played important roles in regional networks prompts more focused attention to regional priorities in the legends and liturgies of local saints. That Oda’s cult is attested by a diversity of extant documentary evidence—historical, hagiographic, and liturgical, including newly discovered liturgical readings—facilitates interpretation of her veneration in ’s-Hertogenbosch and of the intertextual connections between her legend and those of other saints, notably Lambert, associated with the duchy and diocese. As suggested by this example, regionalism merits greater scrutiny as an integral component of civic religion.

1. Introduction

Scholars of urban and rural history in medieval Europe have increasingly sought to explore complexities in the varied, multidirectional interactions that connected towns and their hinterlands. Urban historian Peter Stabel has astutely observed, “The countryside has never been a passive player…. Both town and country had agency in defining their mutual relationship” (Stabel 2015, p. 322). Situated along the continuum between the polarized dichotomies of “urban” and “rural” are secondary places—smaller towns and villages—that have been recognized as significant players among the various intermediaries participating in regional and interregional networks.1 The dynamics of this phenomenon have been examined from economic, geographic, political, social, and cultural perspectives. Yet to what extent are they evident in medieval hagiography and liturgy? How did the legends of the patron saints of secondary places influence liturgical practices in larger centers? And more broadly, how did hagiography participate in the web of sources that narrated histories and voiced identities distinct to an individual region?

Oda of Sint-Oedenrode is an ideal candidate through whom to witness hagiographic interactions between a rural village that acquired civic rights, a ducal town whose bailiff governed other settlements in its vicinity, an episcopal city, and a rural region on the periphery of a vast diocese. St Oda became the patron saint of the settler community known initially—by hagiographic accounts in the eighth century—as Rode, which later took her name, located in the region of Texandria on the northern frontier of the diocese of Liège. Episcopal and aristocratic support for Oda’s cult led to the establishment of a collegiate church (with a resident chapter of secular clergy) under her patronage as well as her affiliation with the diocesan patron, St Lambert, and the capital, Liège, through the legend of her miraculous cure in the episcopal city. Episcopal interest in Oda’s cult is first documented ca. 1100, shortly after the bishop placed rural Texandria under the supervision of an archdeacon in an effort to exert greater control throughout the diocese. By the thirteenth century, aristocratic interest in Oda’s cult coincided with the civic enfranchisement of Sint-Oedenrode by the duke of Brabant, who extended to the local inhabitants the rights of the recently established ducal town of ’s-Hertogenbosch (literally “the Duke’s Wood”).2 Eclipsed economically by ’s-Hertogenbosch and under administrative supervision by its governing bailiff, Sint-Oedenrode and its patron saint would retain a connection with the Texandrian part of the duchy of Brabant in the late-fifteenth-century idealization of Brabantine identity. This regional association is equally prevalent in the chants and readings commemorating St Oda, preserved in liturgical sources from early-sixteenth-century ’s-Hertogenbosch, that draw from her legend to praise the local places essential to her cult—Rode, Liège, and above all Texandria.

To the extent that the cult of St Oda intersects with these aspects of regional history and local liturgy, her legend (compiled ca. 1175–ca. 1250) interacts with diverse types of sources—hagiographic, historical, and liturgical. New evidence of the quotation of the Vita sancte Ode in the unstudied readings of her office liturgy, specifically the nine readings of matins, survives in a previously overlooked liturgical imprint (F-Pn RES B-7881) that at once complements and supplements the well-known early-sixteenth-century choirbooks preserving the ’s-Hertogenbosch rite.3 Not only do St Oda’s matins readings provide the hagiographic narrative to which the previously documented chants allude, facilitating a more comprehensive interpretation of the chant texts, but details of word choice and order link these liturgical readings to a contemporaneous hagiographic compendium, the Agyologus Brabantinorum by Johannes Gielemans (1427–1487), promoting a nascent form of Brabantine patriotism. Topographic references in St Oda’s readings also recall details of her legend transmitted in a thirteenth-century account of the episcopal lineage, the Gesta pontificum Leodiensium by Giles of Orval (d. ca. 1251). A more complete understanding of St Oda’s liturgy thus exposes the extent to which the performance of hagiographically inspired liturgical texts celebrated regional history and its former significance—exemplified by the vocalization of the name Texandria in St Oda’s liturgy some two to three centuries after its demise and replacement by the name Campinia/Kempen in historical sources.4

The newly discovered hagiographic readings of St Oda’s office more than merely confirm the previously held assumption that the Vita sancte Ode was intended for liturgical performance. References to St Lambert, Liège, Texandria, and Rode, shared by the readings and chants, connect Oda’s liturgy to a larger collection of hagiographic and historical sources that document the development of her cult and its regional significance, suggesting potential reasons for her veneration in late medieval ’s-Hertogenbosch and how the narrative of her liturgy could have been heard. Liturgical praise for Rode as the epicenter of Oda’s cult and for Oda as the founder of its church reflects the complementary relationship between the hagiographic account of the settlement of Rode and the documentary history of its church. The ensuing discussion begins by examining the depiction of places and people in St Oda’s late-twelfth-/thirteenth-century legend that are most relevant to her regional cult. Subsequent contextualization of the Vita sancte Ode, drawing from roughly contemporaneous historical documents, focuses on the development of Oda’s cult and church resulting from episcopal and aristocratic—including Brabantine—initiatives in Sint-Oedenrode and its surrounding region. With this earlier regional history in mind, attention turns to the more immediate ducal context in which the ’s-Hertogenbosch rite emerged and the compatibility of Oda’s liturgy with late fifteenth-century conceptions of a distinctly pan-Brabantine identity. More broadly, it can be argued that the regional focus on Texandria common to the hagiographic, historical, and liturgical documentation of St Oda’s cult suggests an alternative to the prevailing emphasis on municipal and lay corporate sponsorship of urban-centric rituals in research on premodern forms of civic religion.5

2. Places and Episcopal Connections in the Legend of St Oda: Rode, Texandria, Liège, and St Lambert

The legend of St Oda, like so many medieval hagiographic texts, enhances the story of the saint’s life with vivid hagiographic, biblical, and locational references. The Vita sancte Ode virginis was written by an otherwise unknown individual, self-identified as Godfrey “brother and priest of the church of Rode (Rodensis ecclesie frater et sacerdos)”, sometime between ca. 1175 and ca. 1250 and exists in various copies dating from the fifteenth century and later (see the extant copies listed in

Table 1. Sources for the Vita sancte Ode and related texts (based on Bijsterveld 2016a; Hazebrouck-Souche 2007b, vol. 36, pp. 437–39).

15th century (complete versions) A-Wn ser. nr. 12707, vol. 2, fols. 92r–100r = Agyologus Brabantinorum (1476–1483) by Johannes Gielemans, autograph manuscript from Rooklooster near Brussels; fols. 92r–98r include the Vita sancte Ode (BHL 6263–6264) and the Translatio (BHL 6265); fols. 98r–100r, Epistola apologetica (BHL 6266–6267) F-Pm Ms 1733 fols. 152v–160v = Legendary of the priory of Korsendonk, copied by cantor Anthonius de Bergis supra Zoniam (1498); fols. 152v–160v feature the Vita sancte Ode (BHL 6263–6264) borrowed from vol. 2 of the Agyologus Brabantinorum (1476–1483) by Johannes Gielemans B-Br Ms II 2328 fols. 135r–151r = Collection of vitae for female saints, originally from the Gregoriushuis of the Brethren of the Common Life in ’s-Hertogenbosch, 15th century; contains the Vita sancte Ode (BHL 6263–6264) and the Translatio (BHL 6265)

15th century (abridged versions) A-Wn ser. nr. 12814, fols. 964r–v = Abridged version of the Vita sancte Ode in vol. 4 of the Sanctilogium (1470–1482) by Johannes Gielemans, autograph manuscript from Rooklooster near Brussels D-B Theol. Lat. fol. 706, fols. 220v–222r = Abridged version of the Vita sancte Ode (BHL 6268) in the legendary of Hermannus Greven (1450–1480) Historiae plurimorum sanctorum ex diversis libris collectae (printed in Cologne in 1483 and in Leuven in 1485)

16th–17th century B-Br Ms 8471–8475, fols. 1r–13r = Contains 3 hagiographic texts by Wilhelmus van de Ven: fols. 1r–13r, poem praising St Oda, entitled Encomiastica descriptio (1570) B-Br Ms 8994–8997, fols. 48r–v = Collection of hagiographic texts in Latin and Dutch, includes documents relative to St Oda’s relics in Oedenrode B-Bb Ms no. 167, fols. 230r–249v = Copy of the Vita sancte Ode (BHL 6263–6264) and the Translatio (BHL 6265) transcribed from a manuscript from the Porta Caeli Wilhelmite cloister of Baseldonk near ’s-Hertogenbosch, 17th century; source for Van der Straeten’s edition

).6 Godfrey peppered this legend with references to the cult of St Lambert in the episcopal city of Liège, the rural region of Texandria (spelled “Taxandria” or “T[h]essandria”), and the initial establishment of Oda’s cult center in Rode—place names that would resound in St Oda’s liturgy. The following analysis focuses on hagiographic details that facilitate an understanding of the significance of place in Oda’s cult as it developed initially in Sint-Oedenrode and flourished subsequently in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Oda belongs to a group of obscure saints whose lives were likely invented to legitimize the holiness of settler sites in rural areas of the Low Countries (Mulder-Bakker 2002). Although her hagiographer borrowed heavily from the legend of her namesake, St Oda of Amay who was venerated as a widow,7 St Oda of Rode resembles other female saints of the region in her Celtic origins (similar to Dymphna of Gheel), her cure—from blindness—at the tomb of a saint whose cult was localized in the Low Countries (like St Begga of Andenne and St Gudula of Brussels), her rejection of marriage and escape from her father (like Dymphna and Landrada of Munsterbilzen), and settler activities in a remote area (like Dymphna).8 According to her legend,9 Oda was believed to have lived in the late-seventh and early-eighth century, the blind daughter of a Scottish king.10 Having heard of the miracles occurring at the tomb of St Lambert in Liège, her father sent her to pray at this thaumaturgic site. Cured there of her blindness, Oda returned to her homeland where she professed her dedication to a virginal life, thus thwarting her father’s plans for her marriage. To escape from her father’s ire, Oda embarked on a pilgrimage to the city of Rome and the rural shrine of Mount Garganus,11 then returned to the Low Countries and retreated to a hill near the Dommel river, where she had the land cleared and lived in a secluded shelter. Following her death, attributed to the severity of her asceticism, lights were seen shining over her tomb and miracles occurred there, attesting to her cult. The identification of Oda’s settler activities, specifically the construction of her “peasant’s hut (tugurium)” requiring her assisting colonizers “to gnaw the earthen sods (rodere cespites terre)”, aligns Oda’s settlement of the land with the etymology of the site—later called Rode (from rodere) by the local inhabitants.12 Thus, the legend credits Oda not only with the sanctification of this remote place but additionally as the holy founder and model for its settler community.13

The destination of Oda’s final pilgrimage and region in which she ultimately settles is designated in the Vita sancte Ode as Texandria. Godfrey specifies that Oda is led there by God, just like Abraham was led to the land of Canaan (referencing Genesis 12: 1–5), thereby associating Texandria with a promised land. Oda travels around this area, then enters the interior wilderness (“intraret heremum interiorem”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 96r; B-Br Ms II 2328 fol. 145r; Van der Straeten 1958, p. 103) to live in solitude in a place covered with trees, thickets, and green grass (“locum arboribus fructetisque consitum herbaque viridi”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 96r; B-Br Ms II 2328 fol. 145r; Van der Straeten 1958, p. 103). That this land was formerly uncultivated is emphasized by the exertion required to construct Oda’s humble dwelling, as the inhabitants “undertook to renew and even to gnaw the earthen sods with newly ploughed land and rough labor” (“Et novare ceperunt ac rodere cespites terre cum novali ac rudi labore”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 96r; B-Br Ms II 2328 fol. 145r; Van der Straeten 1958, p. 103). As discussed below, emphasis on Oda’s natural surroundings would later resound in the chants of the ’s-Hertogenbosch liturgy.

St Oda’s ultimate settlement in the remote region of Texandria on the diocesan periphery is preceded by her cure by the martyred bishop St Lambert in the episcopal city of Liège at the diocesan center. The description of Liège in Oda’s legend demonstrates the extent to which Godfrey of Rode was familiar with St Lambert’s legend and its civic context, even though Oda of Rode is now thought to be unrelated to the blind virgin named Oda who appears in the posthumous miracles integrated into the Vita Lamberti (see the principal sources in

Table 2. Principal medieval narratives of St Lambert’s martyrdom.

Title	BHL #	Edition
Vita prima sancti Lamberti (mid-8th century)	4677–81	AASS 44.574a–81d
Carmen de sancto Landberto (early-10th century)	4682	MGH Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini 4, 141–57
Stephen of Liège, Vita secunda sancti Lamberti (early-10th century)	4683	AASS 44.581e–89a
Anselm of Liège, Gesta Pontificum Trajectensium et Leodiensium (mid-11th century)	4684	MGH Scriptores 7, 189–324
Sigebert of Gembloux, Vita prior sancti Lamberti and Vita altera sancti Lamberti (late-11th century)	4686 and 4687	PL 160.759a–810c
Nicholas of Liège, Vita quarta sancti Lamberti (mid-12th century)	4688	AASS 44.602d–17f
Giles of Orval, Gesta Pontificum Leodiensium (mid-13th century)		MGH Scriptores 25, 1–129

).14 Eighth- and eleventh-century versions of the Vita Lamberti consistently feature this virgin’s miraculous cure among the first of a series of events that lead to the translation of Lambert’s relics from Maastricht to Liège—signaling the actual relocation of the episcopal city.15 In the Vita sancte Ode, the translation of St Lambert’s relics to Liège precedes St Oda’s miraculous cure.16 After the martyred bishop Lambert is buried in Maastricht, his episcopal successor, Hubert, translates his remains to Liège, where they are concealed in an oratory honoring the martyred saints Cosmas and Damian built by Bishop Monulphus—referencing a hagiographic detail introduced in the twelfth-century Vita quarta sancti Lamberti by Canon Nicholas (d. ca. 1146).17 Among St Lambert’s hagiographers, Nicholas of Liège (a canon at the cathedral) was one of the most creative, embellishing the bishop’s life with newly invented tales, including this fictional chapel that enhanced the site of Lambert’s martyrdom with preexisting episcopal and martyrial associations. In the Vita quarta sancti Lamberti, Bishop Monulphus, having been touched by a prophetic spirit, anticipates the future civic preeminence of Liège. In the Vita sancte Ode, the translation of Lambert’s relics—despite their concealment—produces so many miracles, pious acts, and wonders that their fame circulates to external lands, as far as the Scottish isles.18 Godfrey thus expands the civic associations of the oratory in Lambert’s legend to emphasize the broader extra-regional influence of St Lambert’s cult.

The ensuing description of Oda’s visit to Liège in the Vita sancte Ode shares topographic similarities with the legend of St Oda’s cure by St Lambert that circulated in a roughly contemporaneous gesta episcoporum—the Gesta pontificum Leodiensium by the Cistercian monk Giles of Orval (d. ca. 1251)—focusing on episcopal deeds.19 According to the Vita sancte Ode, Oda and her entourage approach the town of Liège from a mount on which is located an oratory dedicated to St Walburge,20 thereby enhancing Oda’s journey with topographic precision by aligning the location of her arrival with the actual route from the region of Texandria.21 Overlooking the town, Oda and her companions exclaim to one another, “Behold Liège, behold the monastery of St Lambert!” (“Ecce Leodium, ecce sancti Lamberti monasterium”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 94r; B-Br Ms II 2328 fol. 139v). Oda immediately praises God and prays that her sight be restored. Having been cured on the spot, Oda enters the town and goes to the church of St Lambert, where she gives thanks to God and his saint—blessed Lambert, the martyr of Christ—and makes generous donations. Significantly, the miracle occurs not in immediate proximity to the site of Lambert’s martyrdom but on the urban periphery—in the northern direction of Texandria, the ultimate destination of Oda’s pilgrimage.22

St Oda’s regional and episcopal connections were celebrated more than two centuries after the completion of the Vita sancte Ode through the medium of the liturgy. The place references in this hagiographic narrative are quoted or paraphrased in the newly discovered readings of Oda’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch office (see Appendix B) and were further embellished in the chants of the ‘s-Hertogenbosch rite (outlined in Table 3 and discussed in more detail in Section 4). Yet what motivated the initial creation of the Vita sancte Ode in Rode, and how did St Ode come to be venerated in ’s-Hertogenbosch? Historical evidence, including documents that circulated alongside St Oda’s legend, illuminates the immediate circumstances of Godfrey’s hagiographic writing and reveals recurring patterns in the combined episcopal and aristocratic promotion of St Oda’s cult.

3. St Oda’s Cult and the Emergence of Sint-Oedenrode: From Rural Settlement to Civic Franchise

St Oda’s cult is integral to the early history of the place that took her name—Sint-Oedenrode, the Dutch equivalent of the Latin designation Sancta Oda de Rode. Extant evidence of Oda’s legend and veneration intersects with documented episcopal and aristocratic interests in this frontier region at the northern limit of a remote part of the diocese of Liège. Appended to the Vita sancte Ode is the Translatio sancte Ode (see Table 1) documenting episcopal oversight of the early-twelfth-century elevation and translation of Oda’s relics, an event that constituted official recognition of Oda’s sanctity. Later aristocratic investment in the church housing Oda’s remains and the village of Rode, attested in a series of charters, is contemporaneous with the probable completion of the Vita sancte Ode in the mid-thirteenth century. The following overview of this evidence demonstrates how episcopal and aristocratic initiatives converged in Texandria and in the initial growth of Sint-Oedenrode.

The region of Oda’s settlement and burial was located in the northern part of the vast diocese of Liège, at the frontier with the dioceses of Utrecht and Cologne. Texandria originally comprised a large yet sparsely populated sandy terrain bordered by two rivers—the Escaut to the west and the Meuse to the north and east—and the Hesbaye region to the southeast (see the map in Figure 1).23 The Translatio sancte Ode identifies Texandria as a land converted not long ago by St Lambert (“hec terra [Thessandria] nuper a sancto Lamberto conversa”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 97v; B-Br Ms II 2328 fol. 149v), and indeed Texandria was believed to have been evangelized by both St Lambert, the diocesan patron, and St Willibrord, the apostle of the Frisians and first bishop of Utrecht. The existence of a large number of churches bearing Lambert’s titular patronage in this remote region attests to enduring belief in Lambert’s pastoral activities there and the local strength of his cult.24 Yet not until the very end of the tenth century was Texandria integrated into the bishop’s sphere of influence. An archdeacon of Texandria is first documented in 1086 during an era when the bishop of Liège sought to expand his control of the diocese through the creation of seven rural archdeaconries (Dierkens 1986, pp. 352–53; Bijsterveld 2000, p. 47; Bijsterveld 2018, pp. 317–18; Van Asseldonk 2021, p. 126).25 As representatives of the bishop who oversaw clerical discipline and proper administration, archdeacons were necessary to supervise the growing number of collegiate churches and parishes grouped into deaneries throughout the diocese (Kupper 1981, pp. 332–34; Dierkens 1986, pp. 351–54). Yet the bishop also sought to support his spiritual authority in this region by exercising secular control within the smaller district (pagus) of Texandria where he acquired landed property, competing with the bishop of Utrecht and archbishop of Cologne (Bijsterveld and Toorians 2018, pp. 38–39; Van Asseldonk 2021, pp. 116–17). Thus, just prior to the official recognition of Oda’s cult, the bishops of Liège undertook various means to increase their power in this formerly neglected territory.

There is no documentary evidence of Oda’s cult prior to the elevation and translation of her relics by Bishop Otbert of Liège at the request of Arnold of Rode “lord of the people of Rode (Rodensium domino)” sometime between 1091 and 1119—recorded in the Translatio sancte Ode appended to copies of Oda’s legend (A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 96r; Van der Straeten 1958, p. 108). Members of the Rode lineage with the name Arnulf and Arnold appear in contemporaneous charters, and indeed Arnulf is designated as a member of the bishop’s noble retinue between 1094/95 and 1125 (Bijsterveld 2016c, pp. 18–20; Bijsterveld 2018, pp. 324–25). The family likely took their name from the stronghold and church they had built in the vicinity of Oda’s cult site,26 in keeping with late-eleventh-century aristocratic customs. Thus, it was under the custody of the Rode family that Oda’s cult was legitimized by the bishop. The Translatio specifies that Oda’s relics were brought into the church of the village of Rode and deposited at the altar. Based on this evidence, historian Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld suspects that an embryonic community of secular clergy may already have existed at this church by ca. 1100 (Bijsterveld 2018, pp. 339, 343–44).27 This practice would be in keeping with the contemporaneous emergence of secular ecclesiastical communities devoted to the veneration of other obscure female saints in this region, such as St Berlindis of Meerbeke and St Odrada of Alem.

A key source for St Oda’s legend is the oral testimony of Bishop Philip of Osnabrück (r. 1141–1173, suffragan to the archdiocese of Cologne), identified in the prologue to Oda’s legend as a descendant of the most noble seigniory of the people of Rode (“qui ex nobilissimo Rodensium dominio progenitus”; A-Wn ser. nr. 12707 vol. 2, fol. 92r; Van der Straeten 1958, p. 90; Bijsterveld 2018, p. 349). This statement suggests that Philip was either a member of the Rode family or originated from this region (Van der Straeten 1958, p. 76). Earlier in his clerical career, between 1129 and 1134, Philip had served as provost of the collegiate church of St Lebuinus in Deventer, approximately 100 km northeast of Rode. Yet even after assuming his episcopate, Philip retained connections to his homeland. As documented in the Annales Rodenses completed ca. 1180, Philip returned in 1148 to dedicate a chapel in the village of Hooidonk, located just eight kilometers from Rode (Steurs 1981, p. 140; Bijsterveld 2018, p. 349). Even in his old age, Philip could provide valuable information about St Oda’s legend, as attested in the prologue stating that the author had visited him specifically for this purpose. Based on the documentation of Philip’s connections to Rode and the date of his death, Bijsterveld proposes that the first parts of the Vita sancte Ode were begun in 1173 or shortly thereafter (Bijsterveld 2018, pp. 349–50).

Both the cult of St Oda and status of Rode increased substantially in the thirteenth century. By the time that St Oda’s patronage of the collegiate church in Rode is attested on “the seal of the Blessed virgin Oda (sigillum Beate Oude virginis)” affixed to charters dated 1207–1225 and 1230 (Bijsterveld 2016d, p. 85; Bijsterveld 2018, p. 344), the village of Rode had been inherited by the counts of Guelders (ca. 1180) and was subsequently sold to the duke of Brabant in 1229 or 1231 (Bijsterveld 2018, pp. 326–31). At least two fifteenth-century copies of Oda’s legend locate her remains specifically in Brabant (“in Brabantia apud Rode”),28 and indeed under Brabantine patronage religious life at St Oda’s church was reformed, and the population of Rode acquired new privileges. In 1232, Duke Henry I of Brabant (1165–1235), likely seeking to strengthen control of this newly acquired region, granted the peasants of Rode and all newcomers the civic rights of the ducal town of ’s-Hertogenbosch (Heesters and Rademaker 1972, p. 52; Steurs 1981, pp. 135, 137–38; Steurs 1993, p. 213; Janssen 2009, p. 28).29 As the duke’s vassals, the Rode community would henceforth benefit from the duke’s protection and was also required to respect the franchise. The duke, in turn, may have sought to attract new inhabitants and to profit from increased agrarian activity.

Shortly after the civic enfranchisement of Rode, the duke sought to revive local church life. In a charter dated 1248, Duke Henry III of Brabant (d. 1261) established a dean in “the church of Blessed Oda of Rode (ecclesia Beate Ode de Rode)” to discipline the negligent clergy.30 The resident dean was to be elected by the chapter of canons and presented to the duke, who granted him a benefice in the parish church of St Martin, located in Eerschot on the opposite side of the Dommel. The duke also established a resident scholaster to oversee the church school. These reforms were subsequently confirmed by Bishop-elect Henry of Gueldre (r. 1247–1274) in a charter from 1252, naming the duke of Brabant as patron of the church of Rode (Frenken 1956, pp. 120–21). The civic enfranchisement of Rode and ducal patronage of its church no doubt inspired the veneration of St Oda in ’s-Hertogenbosch, documented by ca. 1500.

Equally significant is episcopal involvement in the legitimization of Oda’s cult and oversight of her church’s reform. In the aforementioned charter from 1252, confirming Duke Henry III’s reforms of the collegiate church of Oda of Rode, Bishop-elect Henry of Gueldre emphasized that it was the diocesan patron, St Lambert of Liège, who had cured St Oda’s blindness31 and that the dean was overseen by the archdeacon of Texandria (Frenken 1956, p. 121). The thirteenth-century reform of clerical life in Rode thus sought to renew the cult of the local virgin who had benefited from and promoted the sanctity of the diocesan patron believed to have evangelized this region. In subsequent centuries, hagiographic connections between St Oda of Rode and St Lambert of Liège gained a more enduring voice through the medium of the local liturgy. The fact that both saints were so explicitly associated with Texandria gives additional diocesan resonance to the chants naming Texandria in St Oda’s mass and office.

4. The Legend of St Oda in the Late Medieval Liturgy of ’s-Hertogenbosch: Praising the Brabantine Patria

It is generally assumed that the Vita sancte Ode was intended for liturgical performance (Van der Straeten 1958, p. 78). Although no sources preserving the liturgy of the saints from the collegiate church of Rode have survived for the period prior to the creation of the new diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch in 1559 (Roelvink 2016, p. 148), evidence of the chants and readings prescribed for St Oda’s feast day (27 November) exists in late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century sources (listed in Appendix A) for the church of Sint-Jan in ’s-Hertogenbosch—the ducal town to which Rode was enfranchised. When Duke Henry I of Brabant granted these civic rights to the residents of Rode in 1232, the ’s-Hertogenbosch Sint-Janskerk, first documented only ten years prior (in 1222),32 was under the jurisdiction of the cathedral of Liège and was overseen locally by the pastor of the neighboring village of Orthen.33 Over the next two centuries, the status of the Sint-Janskerk would increase substantially, with the founding of the prestigious Confraternity of Our Lady (in 1318),34 the establishment of a chapter of thirty canons (by the bishop of Liège in 1366), and, through the incorporation of the parish of Orthen, ordinance as a parish in its own right (by the pope in 1413). Having thus been promoted from the position of a daughter parish (ecclesia filia) to that of mother (ecclesia matrix), the chapter further expanded their pastoral oversight over the parishes of other neighboring villages in Brabant—Nuland (1419–1423), Geffen (1419–1423), Dinther (1440–1441), Heesch (1440–1442), and Rosmalen (1451–1452)—with a church dedicated to St Lambert (Bijsterveld 1993, Appendix 3; Sanders 2017, pp. 94–106). This newfound autonomy may have motivated efforts to codify specifically local, regional, and diocesan liturgical practices—evident in the service books copied for the Sint-Janskerk shortly after 1500 (Saucier 2023). With documented ducal and episcopal support, the local cult of St Oda—connected to that of St Lambert through the episcopal city and diocesan periphery—would have been ideally suited to this goal.

The liturgical narrative of St Oda’s legend can be reconstructed from three complementary sources preserving the late medieval rite of ’s-Hertogenbosch.35 Chants and readings for the mass and office of St Oda are transmitted in two previously studied choirbooks (NL-SHsta 216-1 ca. 1500 and NL-SHsta 216-2 ca. 1530) and in a largely overlooked liturgical imprint (F-Pn RES B-7881 ca. 1525) for the Sint-Janskerk (see Appendix A). As noted by musicologist Véronique Roelvink, an intonation book for the cantor (NL-SHsta 216-1, fols. 85r–v, 108r–110r) contains the chant incipits for two versions of St Oda’s office and the gradual (NL-SHsta 216-2, fols. 114r-115v) contains the chants for St Oda’s mass (Roelvink 2016). The only mass item in these sources that is specific to St Oda’s legend is the sequence Christo plaude plebs mundata that paraphrases in rhymed verse details from the Vita sancte Ode (discussed below).36 The texts for St Oda’s office draw more consistently from her vita to narrate her saintly attributes and key events from her legend, particularly concentrated in the readings and chants of matins. As shown in Table 3, comparative study of the intonation book (NL-SHsta 216-1) with the liturgical imprint (F-Pn RES B-7881, specifically the summer section entitled Festa composita siue peculiaria ecclesie collegiate sancti Ioannis apostoli & euangeliste in Buscoducis) demonstrates that this printed source preserves complete texts not only for the previously identified revised version of St Oda’s versified office in NL-SHsta 216-1 (fols. 108r–110r) but also for the previously unknown readings of matins modeled on the Vita sancte Ode (discussed below).37 Rubrics throughout F-Pn RES B-7881 specify that it was intended to supplement the more traditional service books following the use of the cathedral of Liège (Saucier 2023). Documenting local awareness of both diocesan and non-diocesan use, this liturgical imprint constitutes an invaluable source for the ensuing analysis of St Oda’s liturgy.

Table 3. Office chants and readings for the feast of St Oda, Virgin (27 November), Observed in ’s-Hertogenbosch, ca. 1500–ca. 1525 (sources and abbreviations are given in the footer to this table).

Liturgical Reference	Incipit/AH or LMLO #	Sources	Synopsis (Textual Source When Known)
1V-A1	Letare Taxandria AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Texandria rejoices for Oda, of Scottish origin
1V-A2	Virgo solitarie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Praise for Oda, the solitary virgin who serves Christ
1V-A3	Oda virgo sapiens AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, the wise virgin, despises the deceitful
1V-A4	Corpore sanctissima AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the most holy saint to commend her body to the earth; her soul lives in heaven
1V-A5	Hierusalem filia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, daughter of Jerusalem, to pray to God for the benefit of supplicants
1V-H	Iesu corona virginum AH 23 no. 440	#1, 2, 3	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
1V-R	Regnum mundi et gaudium AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2, 3	Oda is serenaded with celestial odes by the virginal choir
1V-Am	Letetur	#3
1V-Am	Ave Oda virgo Christi AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, Christ’s virgin, to hear the choral odes; supplication for heavenly joys
Compline-A	Oda Cristi nomine	#2
Compline-Nunc dimitis	Implorante virgine	#2
M-I	Ad regem	#3
M-I	Sponso pudicicie iubilemus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With Christ, bridegroom of chastity, the choir rejoices and gives odes to Oda
M-A1	Beata Oda	#3
M-A1	Generosa sanguine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Born with noble blood, the virgin Oda rejoices to be crowned
M-A2	Cum adhuc	#3
M-A2	Sponsa sponsi thalamo AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The virgin, the bride in the marriage bed of the bridegroom, produces a scent from balsam
M-A3	Accepta	#3
M-A3	Innocentem manibus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With his own hands, God leads this blameless one from the blind, from the filth of the world
M-Lc1	Beata et venerabilis Oda	#1	Blessed Oda is the blind daughter of a Scottish king (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R1	Votivis Ode virginis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Sweetly sounding praise for the feast of the virgin Oda
M-Lc2	Cecitas hec non erat mortis	#1	Christ illuminates the blind; [Oda’s] eyes are open to God, whom she sees “face to face” (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R2	De stirpe virgo regia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The virgin Oda, sprung from Scottish lineage, shines with virtue; she is sanctified by Christ
M-Lc3	Sic Esaias vidit dominum	#1	The blessed virgin proposes to serve the Lord (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R3	Interiori lumine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With light for inner glory, the virgin contemplating the bridegroom becomes a temple of purity
M-A4	Huius vite	#3
M-A4	Corporali specie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With physical sight for her father, she prepares herself for love
M-A5	Gravis et	#3
M-A5	Cecitate primitus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	At first cast off by blindness, she is renewed by divine inspiration
M-A6	Gaudium est	#3
M-A6	Christum super omnia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Esteeming Christ above all, she leaves her father and fatherland
M-Lc4	Porro rex pater beate	#1	Oda’s father seeks a cure for his daughter’s blindness (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R4	Gratia Christi oculis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With the grace of Christ and the merits of Lambert giving light to her eyes, Oda rejoices for these miracles; with darkness removed, the renowned virgin is formed
M-Lc5	Ante hos autem dies	#1	St Hubert translates St Lambert’s relics to Liège; Oda’s father sends her to this thaumaturgic site (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R5	Visu accepto celitus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	From heaven restored with vision, she abides in every way by celestial things; pious Oda is a servant to Christ in this world
M-Lc6	Beata igitur et venerabilis Oda	#1	Oda praises Liège and the church of St Lambert, where she is cured of blindness (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R6	Patrem linquens et patriam AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda leaves her homeland to live an angelic life in Texandria, where she takes refuge in the forest
M-A7	Ieiuniis	#3
M-A7	Virginis confessio Ode AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The faith of God’s virgin Oda is pleasing to the Son
M-A8	Innocenter	#3
M-A8	Populo Taxandrie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The people of Texandria are enriched by God and his virgin
M-A9	Cotidie	#3
M-A9	Novum cantans canticum AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Singing a new song to the Lord, the choir beseeches the honored one [Oda] to lead them to the heavenly realm
M-Lc7	Pater autem eius	#1	Oda returns to her homeland, where she takes an oath of chastity and evades marriage through pilgrimage (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R7	In loco solitario AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	[Oda] is in a solitary place, being devoted to the Lord alone; with Oda, the virginal choir sings odes to Christ
M-Lc8	Unde reverenda Christi ancilla	#1	Oda’s pilgrimage ends in Texandria, where she raises the church of Rode (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R8	Celi coniuncta incolis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	United with the inhabitants of heaven, she is enriched with the highest rewards; worthy to God, Oda gives celestial signs to the land
M-Lc9	Cum autem eam vellet dominus	#1	Oda’s terminal illness, reception of the viaticum, and heavenly sleep (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R9	Christum patrem luminum AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the virgin [Oda] to make Christ, the spouse of virgins, gentle with supplicants, that he may lead them from the vale of crime to the blessed realm
L-A1	In choro sanctorum	#3
L-A1	Oda virgo domino AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, the virgin reigning with the Lord, shines forth with the radiance of a lily
L-A2	Corde	#3
L-A2	In his terre terminis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Summons to sing joyfully to God with odes of the virgin Oda
L-A3	Media	#3
L-A3	Dei sub velamine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Under the veil of God, the exalting saints rejoice for Oda
L-A4	Benedictionibus	#3
L-A4	Benedicant omnia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Let all things bless Oda, flower of the world
L-A5	Prudentum	#3
L-A5	Letans in cubilibus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Summons to Oda rejoicing in the resting places of the highest ruler
L-H	Iesu corona AH vol. 23 nr. 440	#1	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
L-Ab	Audita	#3
L-Ab	Benedictus domine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the Lord, blessed by the virgin Oda who is dedicated to him, to allow supplicants to enjoy blessings of peace
2V-A1	Oda Deo grata AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, who is pleasing to God, that she may allow supplicants to live in blessed enlightenment
2V-A2	Laus decus Oda gregis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, daughter of the king, joins supplicants to the companions of Christ
2V-A3	Nobilis Oda Dei AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, noble virgin of God, begs that supplicants be carried to the holy realms
2V-A4	Oda fide digna AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, worthy by faith, to attest that supplicants are safe with her
2V-A5	Virgo matrona vite AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the virgin that supplicants be encircled with the girdle of justice
2V-H	Iesu corona AH 23 no. 440	#1, 2	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
2V-R	Vulnerata charitate	#1, 2	Wounded with charity, crowned with chastity, blessed Oda went quickly to the realm of glory; through her intercession, God may divert all tribulation from supplicants
2V-Am	Factum est	#3
2V-Am	Gaudens Roda rosa data AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Rode rejoices for the marvelous virgin, Oda; supplication for purification from sin and heavenly joys

Sources for this feast, ordered from most complete to least: #1 F-Pn RES B-7881 (unfoliated); #2 NL-SHsta 216-1, fols. 108r–110r = revised version (incipits only); #3 NL-SHsta 216-1, fol. 85r–v = initial version (incipits only). The orthography of the incipits in this table follows that of F-Pn RES B-7881. Abbreviations: 1V (first vespers), 2V (second vespers), A (antiphon), Ab (Benedictus antiphon), Am (Magnificat antiphon), H (hymn), I (invitatory), L (lauds), Lc (lection), M (matins), R (responsory); AH (Analecta hymnica medii aevi), LMLO (Late Medieval Liturgical Offices).

Table 3. Office chants and readings for the feast of St Oda, Virgin (27 November), Observed in ’s-Hertogenbosch, ca. 1500–ca. 1525 (sources and abbreviations are given in the footer to this table).

Liturgical Reference	Incipit/AH or LMLO #	Sources	Synopsis (Textual Source When Known)
1V-A1	Letare Taxandria AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Texandria rejoices for Oda, of Scottish origin
1V-A2	Virgo solitarie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Praise for Oda, the solitary virgin who serves Christ
1V-A3	Oda virgo sapiens AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, the wise virgin, despises the deceitful
1V-A4	Corpore sanctissima AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the most holy saint to commend her body to the earth; her soul lives in heaven
1V-A5	Hierusalem filia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, daughter of Jerusalem, to pray to God for the benefit of supplicants
1V-H	Iesu corona virginum AH 23 no. 440	#1, 2, 3	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
1V-R	Regnum mundi et gaudium AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2, 3	Oda is serenaded with celestial odes by the virginal choir
1V-Am	Letetur	#3
1V-Am	Ave Oda virgo Christi AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, Christ’s virgin, to hear the choral odes; supplication for heavenly joys
Compline-A	Oda Cristi nomine	#2
Compline-Nunc dimitis	Implorante virgine	#2
M-I	Ad regem	#3
M-I	Sponso pudicicie iubilemus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With Christ, bridegroom of chastity, the choir rejoices and gives odes to Oda
M-A1	Beata Oda	#3
M-A1	Generosa sanguine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Born with noble blood, the virgin Oda rejoices to be crowned
M-A2	Cum adhuc	#3
M-A2	Sponsa sponsi thalamo AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The virgin, the bride in the marriage bed of the bridegroom, produces a scent from balsam
M-A3	Accepta	#3
M-A3	Innocentem manibus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With his own hands, God leads this blameless one from the blind, from the filth of the world
M-Lc1	Beata et venerabilis Oda	#1	Blessed Oda is the blind daughter of a Scottish king (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R1	Votivis Ode virginis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Sweetly sounding praise for the feast of the virgin Oda
M-Lc2	Cecitas hec non erat mortis	#1	Christ illuminates the blind; [Oda’s] eyes are open to God, whom she sees “face to face” (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R2	De stirpe virgo regia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The virgin Oda, sprung from Scottish lineage, shines with virtue; she is sanctified by Christ
M-Lc3	Sic Esaias vidit dominum	#1	The blessed virgin proposes to serve the Lord (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R3	Interiori lumine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With light for inner glory, the virgin contemplating the bridegroom becomes a temple of purity
M-A4	Huius vite	#3
M-A4	Corporali specie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With physical sight for her father, she prepares herself for love
M-A5	Gravis et	#3
M-A5	Cecitate primitus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	At first cast off by blindness, she is renewed by divine inspiration
M-A6	Gaudium est	#3
M-A6	Christum super omnia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Esteeming Christ above all, she leaves her father and fatherland
M-Lc4	Porro rex pater beate	#1	Oda’s father seeks a cure for his daughter’s blindness (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R4	Gratia Christi oculis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	With the grace of Christ and the merits of Lambert giving light to her eyes, Oda rejoices for these miracles; with darkness removed, the renowned virgin is formed
M-Lc5	Ante hos autem dies	#1	St Hubert translates St Lambert’s relics to Liège; Oda’s father sends her to this thaumaturgic site (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R5	Visu accepto celitus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	From heaven restored with vision, she abides in every way by celestial things; pious Oda is a servant to Christ in this world
M-Lc6	Beata igitur et venerabilis Oda	#1	Oda praises Liège and the church of St Lambert, where she is cured of blindness (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R6	Patrem linquens et patriam AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda leaves her homeland to live an angelic life in Texandria, where she takes refuge in the forest
M-A7	Ieiuniis	#3
M-A7	Virginis confessio Ode AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The faith of God’s virgin Oda is pleasing to the Son
M-A8	Innocenter	#3
M-A8	Populo Taxandrie AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	The people of Texandria are enriched by God and his virgin
M-A9	Cotidie	#3
M-A9	Novum cantans canticum AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Singing a new song to the Lord, the choir beseeches the honored one [Oda] to lead them to the heavenly realm
M-Lc7	Pater autem eius	#1	Oda returns to her homeland, where she takes an oath of chastity and evades marriage through pilgrimage (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R7	In loco solitario AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	[Oda] is in a solitary place, being devoted to the Lord alone; with Oda, the virginal choir sings odes to Christ
M-Lc8	Unde reverenda Christi ancilla	#1	Oda’s pilgrimage ends in Texandria, where she raises the church of Rode (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R8	Celi coniuncta incolis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	United with the inhabitants of heaven, she is enriched with the highest rewards; worthy to God, Oda gives celestial signs to the land
M-Lc9	Cum autem eam vellet dominus	#1	Oda’s terminal illness, reception of the viaticum, and heavenly sleep (Vita sancte Ode)
M-R9	Christum patrem luminum AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the virgin [Oda] to make Christ, the spouse of virgins, gentle with supplicants, that he may lead them from the vale of crime to the blessed realm
L-A1	In choro sanctorum	#3
L-A1	Oda virgo domino AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, the virgin reigning with the Lord, shines forth with the radiance of a lily
L-A2	Corde	#3
L-A2	In his terre terminis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Summons to sing joyfully to God with odes of the virgin Oda
L-A3	Media	#3
L-A3	Dei sub velamine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Under the veil of God, the exalting saints rejoice for Oda
L-A4	Benedictionibus	#3
L-A4	Benedicant omnia AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Let all things bless Oda, flower of the world
L-A5	Prudentum	#3
L-A5	Letans in cubilibus AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Summons to Oda rejoicing in the resting places of the highest ruler
L-H	Iesu corona AH vol. 23 nr. 440	#1	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
L-Ab	Audita	#3
L-Ab	Benedictus domine AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the Lord, blessed by the virgin Oda who is dedicated to him, to allow supplicants to enjoy blessings of peace
2V-A1	Oda Deo grata AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, who is pleasing to God, that she may allow supplicants to live in blessed enlightenment
2V-A2	Laus decus Oda gregis AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, daughter of the king, joins supplicants to the companions of Christ
2V-A3	Nobilis Oda Dei AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Oda, noble virgin of God, begs that supplicants be carried to the holy realms
2V-A4	Oda fide digna AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to Oda, worthy by faith, to attest that supplicants are safe with her
2V-A5	Virgo matrona vite AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Appeal to the virgin that supplicants be encircled with the girdle of justice
2V-H	Iesu corona AH 23 no. 440	#1, 2	Hymn commemorating Oda as the virgin who enlightened Texandria and leads supplicants to the Lord
2V-R	Vulnerata charitate	#1, 2	Wounded with charity, crowned with chastity, blessed Oda went quickly to the realm of glory; through her intercession, God may divert all tribulation from supplicants
2V-Am	Factum est	#3
2V-Am	Gaudens Roda rosa data AH 28 no. 32 LMLO OD 01	#1, 2	Rode rejoices for the marvelous virgin, Oda; supplication for purification from sin and heavenly joys

Sources for this feast, ordered from most complete to least: #1 F-Pn RES B-7881 (unfoliated); #2 NL-SHsta 216-1, fols. 108r–110r = revised version (incipits only); #3 NL-SHsta 216-1, fol. 85r–v = initial version (incipits only). The orthography of the incipits in this table follows that of F-Pn RES B-7881. Abbreviations: 1V (first vespers), 2V (second vespers), A (antiphon), Ab (Benedictus antiphon), Am (Magnificat antiphon), H (hymn), I (invitatory), L (lauds), Lc (lection), M (matins), R (responsory); AH (Analecta hymnica medii aevi), LMLO (Late Medieval Liturgical Offices).

The ’s-Hertogenbosch liturgy for St Oda locates her activities in four places: Scotland, Liège, Texandria, and Rode—identified as her ultimate resting place in the rubric to her versified office in the Festa composita.38 These names appear in the passages from the Vita sancte Ode that were read at the nighttime office of matins (see my transcription in Appendix B and the synopses in Table 3). Although the first four readings dwell on Oda’s blindness and spiritual illumination in her Scottish homeland, the remaining five focus on her cure in Liège, settlement in Texandria, and founding of Rode. In the fifth reading, St Hubert translates Lambert’s relics from Maastricht to Liège, where miracles occur. The fame of these miracles circulates far and wide to the Scottish isles. When Oda’s father hears of them, he sends Oda on a pilgrimage to be cured. In the sixth reading, Oda approaches the thaumaturgic site, descending the mount on which is situated the oratory of St Walburge. Exclaiming “Behold Liège, behold the monastery of St Lambert!”, she prostrates herself in the direction of this church and praises God, who restores her vision. In the seventh reading, Oda returns to her father, takes an oath of chastity, attends church regularly, prolongs her fasting, and surrenders in obedience to Christ. Seeking to evade her father’s plans for her marriage, she decides to leave Scotland. In the eighth reading, Oda embarks on a pilgrimage, and the Lord leads her to the province of Texandria to raise the church of Rode. The readings conclude by narrating Oda’s terminal illness due to the severity of her asceticism. Having received the viaticum, she commends her soul to Christ and, with prayers, falls asleep in the Lord. The priority of place in this abridged form of the Vita sancte Ode is evident in the specificity with which Oda’s activities are located—in the vicinity of the oratory of St Walburge on the outskirts of Liège (along the northern route to Texandria, discussed above) and in the initial establishment of the church of Rode.

These place references gain additional resonance in the chants that are specific to Oda’s mass and office. In these sung portions of the liturgy, the place vocalized most frequently is Texandria. Indeed, Oda’s office begins by prominently addressing this region at first vespers in the first antiphon:

Letare Taxandria Oda tibi data ex Scotorum patria Deo decorata.39

Rejoice, Texandria, for Oda, given to you from the fatherland of the Scots, glorified by God.

Summoning a personified Texandria directly in the vocative case, this chant establishes a close connection between the region and its non-native saint. That Oda renounced her Scottish homeland to evangelize Texandria is stated more explicitly in the fourth verse of the hymn Ihesu corona virginem sung at both first and second vespers:

Natalis solum patrie pro dote linquens gratie, terram lustrat Taxandrie celestis dono gratie.40

Forsaking the land of [her] natal home for the dowry of grace, she illuminates the land of Texandria with the gift of heavenly grace.

This verse emphasizes Oda’s preference for a spiritual dowry over a monetary one, alluding to her renunciation of marriage and the extent to which her choice benefits the land of Texandria through spiritual enlightenment. This idea becomes especially prominent in two chants sung at matins. God and his virgin bring light to “the righteous people of Texandria” in the eighth antiphon:

Populo Taxandrie lux est orta iusto facto patre patrie virgine honusto.41

The light has arisen for the righteous people of Texandria, since they have become rich with the virgin by the father of the fatherland.

In performance, the texts of these antiphons and hymns would have unfolded as written, without internal repetition. Contrasting with this forthright delivery are the great responsories of matins sung in response to the readings according to the following form: respond (initially intoned by a soloist, continuing with the full choir)—verse (solo)—repetendum (choral response of the second half of the respond) (Harper [1991] 1996, pp. 82–83). This form emphasizes Oda’s arrival and settlement in Texandria in the sixth responsory:

R: Patrem linquens et patriam ob pestem carnis lubricam. Pervenit ad Taxandriam vitam ducens angelicam. V: Victis illecebris silve latet Oda latebris. Repetendum: Pervenit ad Taxandriam vitam ducens angelicam.42

Respond: Departing from [her] father and fatherland, from the impure pestilence of the flesh, she comes to Texandria, leading an angelic life. Verse: With temptations having been vanquished, Oda lives concealed in a refuge in the forest. Repetendum: She comes to Texandria, leading an angelic life.

Both in the respond and the repetendum, Oda arrives in Texandria to live in Christian perfection. The intervening verse details the extent of her asceticism and preference for seclusion in the region’s woodlands. Through varied means, these chants reiterate Oda’s importance for the region, identified as a forest, a land, a people, and a persona.

Texandria also appears in a chant for the mass that describes Oda’s settlement in this region following her cure in Liège. In the condensed narrative of Oda’s legend recounted in the sequence Christo plaude plebs mundata,43 sung between the alleluia chant and the Gospel reading, the third and fourth versicles focus on Oda’s pilgrimage to Liège and cure by Lambert:

3b	Pro salute oculorum spe virtute beatorum petiit Leodium.	For the well-being of her eyes, with hope in the power of the blessed, she went to Liège.
4a	In aperto Deo dante et Lamberto suffragante visum sumpsit oculis.44	With God conceding in the open and Lambert assisting, she received vision in [her] eyes.

Oda subsequently spurns marriage and flees from her homeland. The sixth versicle specifies that Oda settles in a peasant’s hut among the people of Texandria:

6a

Tendens mente ad divina se sub gente Thessandrina imponit tugurio,45

Striving with her mind for divine things, she places herself in a hut, under the Texandrian people.

Echoing the Vita sancte Ode, this sequence identifies Liège as the center of Lambert’s cult and rural Texandria as Oda’s spiritual refuge and ultimate home.

The frequency with which St Oda’s liturgy references Texandria is exceptional within the ’s-Hertogenbosch rite. More than any other saint, Oda represents this region. Yet she is not its sole advocate. Texandria is also named in a mass chant for St Lambert—the sequence Letabunda laus beato sung in ’s-Hertogenbosch on two feasts commemorating St Lambert’s relics, their translation from Maastricht to Liège (28 April) and military triumph (13 October).46 The third versicle recounts Lambert’s evangelization of the region:

3a

Taxandriam illustravit idolorum quam mundavit ab omni spurcitia.47

He enlightened Texandria, which he cleansed of all the filth of idolatry.

Not only does this hagiographic episode recall the aforementioned depiction of Lambert’s mission to Texandria in the vite Lamberti, but it also resembles the language of the vespers hymn Ihesu corona virginem for St Oda, in which Texandria similarly benefits from Oda’s enlightenment. The ’s-Hertogenbosch liturgy thus reinforces the previously discussed hagiographic connections between the legends of Oda and Lambert through these shared regional references.

Less closely related to Oda’s legend is the concluding chant of her office, praising Rode. The antiphon accompanying the Magnificat at second vespers complements the aforementioned first antiphon of first vespers in a vocative appeal not, however, to the personified region but to the personified village:

Gaudens, Roda, rosa data dominum magnifica, tua Oda odis grata virgine mirifica, cuius prece mundi fece nos mundari supplica, ut hac duce pacis luce perfruamur celica.48

Rejoicing, O Rode, glorify the Lord for the rose given as a gift, your Oda, deserving thanks with odes, the marvelous virgin; with whose prayer beseech us to be cleansed from the dregs of the world, that with this light, this leader of peace, we may enjoy heavenly [things].

As the singular musical appeal to Rode in Oda’s liturgy, this antiphon is the sole chant to focus on the benefits of Oda’s cult for the local population. Having been summoned to praise God for the virgin meriting melodious thanks, the community is called to pray for salvation through her intercession. The office thus concludes by overtly identifying Rode as the favored locus of Oda’s patronage.

Similar laudatory rhetoric characterizes the concluding chant for the office of St Lambert—a chant that received additional exposure both in Liège and in ’s-Hertogenbosch as a suffrage.49 Similar to the explicit pairing of Oda and Rode in Gaudens Roda, both Liège and its saintly patron, Lambert, are invoked directly in the Second Vespers Magnificat antiphon Letare et lauda:

Letare et lauda Deum Legia, de patroni tui Lamberti presentia, cuius sanguine consecrari, cuius corpore ditari meruisti. O amator castitatis, O defensor veritatis, Christi martyr et sacredos Lamberte pro nobis apud Deum intercede.50

Rejoice and praise God, Liège, for the presence of your patron Lambert! By whose blood [you merited] to be sanctified, by whose body you merited to be enriched. O lover of chastity, O defender of truth, Christ’s martyr and priest, Lambert, intercede with God for us.

The text of this musical invocation to the episcopal city and its saint follows a similar scheme to that of Gaudens Roda. Following a rousing appeal to the personified city, the singers praise attributes of its saint, identified specifically as belonging to this place, before the supplicants beseech the saint’s intercession. When we consider the greater frequency with which Letare et lauda would have been sung, this antiphon may have been perceived as a more familiar liturgical model, or at the very least a reference point, for Gaudens Roda.

The laudatory rhetoric of the chants that frame Oda’s office—Letare Taxandria and Gaudens Roda—as well as details of word choice in the readings at matins resonate with the “patriotic” language of fifteenth-century hagiographic literature promoting the saint-like status of Brabant.51 Among the legendaries focusing on saints from this duchy, the Agyologus Brabantinorum compiled between 1476 and 1483 by Johannes Gielemans (1427–1487), sub-prior to the Augustinian canons regular of Rooklooster near Brussels,52 shares the closest connections to Oda’s liturgy. This comprehensive collection of Brabantine hagiography consists of two volumes, the first dedicated to saints with ties to the Carolingians, the second to saints who either originated from or were active in Brabant. The second volume of the Agyologus includes a copy of the Vita sancte Ode (A-Wn ser. nr. 12707, vol. 2, fols. 92r–98r), with a rubric identifying her as the patron saint of the collegiate church of Rode. Significantly, the readings prescribed for matins in Oda’s office share consistent similarities in wording and matching phrases, albeit in an abridged form, with this copy of the legend (see Table 1 and Appendix B)—a resemblance that is all the more striking when we consider that other copies (such as those in A-Wn ser. nr. 12814, fols. 964r–v and B-Bb Ms no. 167, fols. 230r–249v) transmit a noticeably higher number of variants in word choice and order.53 Moreover, in the illustration (see Figure 2) adorning the same volume, an image of St Oda holding a church—with the inscription Sancta Oda virginis—appears prominently in the upper-left flowering branch of the tree depicting Brabantine saints, including St Lambert and his episcopal predecessor St Theodard, illustrating Oda’s importance within this group of regional saints with diocesan connections to Cambrai and Liège.54 We find the most direct parallel with the language of Oda’s liturgy in the rhetoric with which Gielemans addresses his audience. Gielemans states explicitly in the prologue to the first volume that he compiled “for the edification of the Brabantines (ad edificationem Brabantinorum)” the legends of the saints who flourished in the “land of Brabant (in ipsa terra Brabantie).”55 Gielemans embellishes this goal with outspoken regional praise in the prologue to the second volume, exclaiming, “Exult therefore happy Brabant, illuminated by the splendors of the virtues of so many and such great saints! (Exulta igitur felix Brabancia tot tantorumque sanctorum illuminata virtutum fulgoribus).”56 The region’s illustrious saintly heritage subsequently elicits praise for Brabant itself: “Rejoice, I say, O blessed land, Brabant, you who from the beginning have not ceased to beget saints of every kind (Letare, inquam, O terra beata Brabancia, que ab initio omnigenos sanctos procreare non destitisti).”57 In the context of such an outspoken tribute to the personified region and the diversity of its saintly offspring, the jubilant personification of Texandria and Rode in the chants for St Ode, with verbal parallels to those for the diocesan patron, can be heard to promote a similar form of hagio-territorial pride.

Gieleman’s appeal to Brabant as a land fostering a diversity of saints, rather than a single dynastic patron, may be understood to reflect the political reality that fifteenth-century Brabantine identity was not centralized around a single patron saint, sanctuary, or civic capital. As historian Véronique Hazebrouck-Souche has emphasized, the nascent patriotism that is evident in Brabantine literature of this period superseded the dynastic focus of thirteenth-century hagiographic collections—merging ducal genealogies with the legends of regional saints—to promote the people and land of Brabant itself, personified as a saintly patria (Hazebrouck-Souche 2007a; 2007b, pp. 83–87, 201–6, 224, 247–48, 257). This collective, territorial representation of sanctity evident in the prologues to Gieleman’s Agyologus praising Brabant as a “blessed land” is reinforced by the frequency of place-specific references in the legends throughout his collection and its supplements. Indeed, the second volume begins with an extensive list of the duchy’s cities, towns, and villages, entitled “Cities of Brabant with towns and villages, as many of the latter as possible (Civitates Brabancie cum oppidis et villis earum quam plurimis).”58 Insertions and brief interlinear comments suggest that this list circulated among several different authors before it was copied into the Agyologus by Gielemans, who deemed it relevant to the goals of his hagiographic compilation. Organized, for the most part, by approximate size and geographic location, the list begins by naming the top four of twenty-five Brabantine cities: Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp, and ’s-Hertogenbosch. Next are four towns followed by over 280 villages. A concluding statement observes that the list of villages is incomplete and names three notable omissions, specifying their region and patron saint: in Gallia, the village of Incourt with St Ragenufla; in Hesbaye, Russon with St Evermarus; and in Texandria, Rode with St Oda.59 Although not exhaustive, this emphasis on rural locales reinforces the priority of the land and its geography in the saintly glorification of Brabant (Hazebrouck-Souche 2007b, p. 206). That the Agyologus features St Oda, Rode, and Texandria so explicitly in its hagiographic, iconographic, and place-specific contents demonstrates the perceived relevance of her cult to this idealization of the Brabantine patria.

The saintly personification of Brabant may well have shaped how St Oda’s liturgy was heard in the late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century Brabantine town of ’s-Hertogenbosch. Significantly, the large number of diocesan saints representing the episcopal lineage of Maastricht–Liège—with bishops Theodard, Lambert, and Hubert in immediate succession, reflecting historical reality—in the Agyologus would have resonated with the veneration of these bishops in the ’s-Hertogenbosch rite (documented in NL-SHsta 216-1), facilitating recognition of the aforementioned liturgical, specifically laudatory, parallels between St Lambert and St Oda. Prioritizing the plurality of saints representing the region over the single patron of a capital city, Brabantine hagiography promoted ideals perfectly aligned with the liturgical veneration of Texandria.

5. Conclusions: Regionalism in Civic Liturgies

The foregoing hagiographic analysis and historical contextualization of St Oda’s liturgy begs the concluding question: What did it mean to venerate St Oda, Rode, Liège, and Texandria in late medieval ’s-Hertogenbosch? When we consider that St Oda was the titular patron of a secondary place within the Bailiwick—the area overseen by the bailiff—of ’s-Hertogenbosch, to which it was enfranchised, and that this area was located within the part of Texandria belonging both to the duchy of Brabant and diocese of Liège, the explicitly locational aspects of Oda’s cult epitomized the geo-political reality of ’s-Hertogenbosch and its regional network. In the cult of Oda, inhabitants of the ducal city may have recognized an idealized reflection of the duality of their position as a central place within the duchy yet on the periphery of the diocese. Moreover, at a time when the recently promoted parish church of Sint-Jan had actively extended its pastoral reach to neighboring villages, liturgical praise for Rode and Texandria would likely have reminded the secular clergy of their own inter-parish connections. Thus, when the clergy of late medieval ’s-Hertogenbosch sang Letare Taxandria, they summoned interconnecting hagiographic, historical, political, and pastoral associations merging real and ideal perceptions of the regional identity of their city.

Unlike the liturgy of the cathedral of Liège, the liturgy of the Sint-Janskerk does not praise its civic status. In the absence of chants summoning ’s-Hertogenbosch, the liturgical invocation Gaudens Roda increases in significance. The fact that the church of Rode was dedicated to the saint whose cult was believed to have initiated its founding and that the titular patron of ’s-Hertogenbosch, St John the Evangelist, was a biblical saint with no immediate local connection must surely have influenced this liturgical practice. Yet when we consider the liturgical prominence of Texandria, regional priorities were clearly an equal, if not greater, influence. As urban historians have expanded their focus beyond urban centers to examine the reciprocal and varied dynamics of regional interactions, the understanding of civic religion might extend beyond practices articulating corporate identity within the city—often involving members of the municipal government, trade guilds, and other specifically urban collectives—to include communities and customs from the city’s surrounding region. This more expansive approach would embrace the plurality of factors that shaped and defined the liturgy distinct to each city.

The veneration of St Oda in the ’s-Hertogenbosch liturgy constitutes a particularly well documented example of the intersecting dynamics of regional history—diocesan and ducal, ecclesiastical and aristocratic—with hagiographic and liturgical narratives promoting local places, both central and secondary. This example, however, is not isolated. Civic liturgies across the medieval Christian world are rife with regional references, with the potential to further illuminate the complex ways that individual communities celebrated the diverse places to which they were connected and with which they identified. To the extent that this case study prioritizes the local contextual approach advocated by scholars of urban history,60 larger patterns in the convergence of urban–rural identities and their hagio-liturgical idealization remain to be explored. More focused attention on the legends of saints like Oda, who were so closely affiliated with secondary places, might also shed greater light on the versatility with which these idealized interactions were expressed through the vivid medium of hagiography.