| Gudula |
Gudula (sometimes spelled Gudila; in Flemish Goedele) lived at the end of the 7th and begin of the 8th century; she was a daughter of Amalberga of Maubeuge. Gudula was a paragon of love and charity. She died ca 710 and was buried in Hamme.
Feasts: 8 Jan.
Translation: 6 July (Brussel); 8 Oct. (Zutphen)
Ca 780 her relics were transferred to Moorsel (near Aalst). From that
place they were brought to the Gorikskapel in Brussel in the second
half of the 10th century, and in 1047 to the Michaelskerk, where her
veneration gained importance; though Michael is still patron of the
church (now a cathedral), it is usually called
Goedelekerk.
The relics were destroyed by the protestants in 1579.
Her office is found in some breviaria of the Goedelekerk in Brussel, but no music manuscripts from this church survive. The music is partly known from some manuscripts fom the surroundings of Brussel: Antwerpen, Museum Plantin-Moretus, ms M 14 and B-Br 6426.
Her office was known in Antwerpen too (Bloxam 1992, p. 148).
Fortunately the Gudula office is preserved in the antiphoner NL-ZUa 6 of the Walburgiskerk in Zutphen, in a 16th century addition. The breviarium festivum B-Bb 680 contains the texts (including lectures) of the Zutphen Gudula veneration.
The office for Gudula is also found in an NL-SHsj 216-1 (intonation book), ca 1500, of St Jan's church in 's Hertogenbosch. According to AH 26, it is also found in a Paris, BFM B 7881, a printed festal breviary of St Jan.
A hymn for Gudula Exsultet vox ecclesiae is edited in AH 12, nr 226, referring to a breviary from Goedelekerk Brussel and to the imprint Paris, BFM B 7881 from St Jan in 's Hertogenbosch. In NL-SHsj 216-1 from St Jan we find the incipit of this hymn, just enough to reveal the identity of the melody: that of O gloriosa Domina, found in B-TO 63, fol. 289r.
Gudula is mentioned in NL-Hs 184 C 1.
 | AH, vol. 26, nr 27 and vol. 28, appendix (edition of only some rhymed antiphons) |
| | LMLO GU-01, referring to AH 26 |
| | I. de Loos, in: De Sint-Walburgiskerk in Zutphen |
| | Saints in Brabant, pp. 25-28, 37 |