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Blessed Theodolinda the Queen

detail of an illustration of Blessed Theodolinda the Queen from the Nuremberg Chronical, by Hartmann Schedel, c.1500; swiped from Wikimedia Commons Also known as

Theodolinda of Monza
Dietlind
Dietlinde
Teodolinda
Teolinda
Theodelind
Theodelinde
Theudelinde

Memorial

22 January

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Born to the nobility, the daughter of Wandrada and Duke Garibald I of Bavaria. She married King Authari of the Lombards in 588 in an arranged, political marriage, and was widowed in 590. In 591 she married Agilulf of Turin who ascended as the new king of the Lombards. Theodolinda devoted herself to restoring orthodox Christianity against the heresy of Arianism. She helped convert Agilulf to Catholicism from Arianism, and the two donated great wealth to existing churches, funded new churches in the Lombardy and Tuscany regions, and helped forward the work of Pope Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Columbanus of Bobbio. Mother of Prince Adaloaldo in 603. Widowed again in 616, she served as regent during a period of great political turmoil until Adaloaldo was an adult.