IDA of LOUVAIN, Blessed. — Flemish mystic, lived in the 13th century, died perhaps on 13 April 1300 or 1290. Of noble family, even as a child she was favoured with ecstasies and visions. At the age of 18 she devoted herself to a life of rigorous penance. Devoted to the Passion of Christ, she received the gift of the stigmata and other mystical sufferings. Already renowned for her charity, piety, and the gift of miracles, she entered the Cistercian monastery of Rosendal (Valley of Roses [Brabant]), where she continued to receive extraordinary graces, ecstasies, visions, and contemplations.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Aprilis, II, Venice 1738, pp. 158-89; BHL, 4145; U. Chevalier, Répertoire des sources hist. du moyen âge, I, Bio-bibliogr. I, Paris 1905, col. 2239; A. Zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum, II, Vienna 1934, p. 49 sq.; S. Roisman, L'efflorescenze cistercensi e le courant féminin de pietà au XIIIe siècle, in Rev. d'hist. ecclés., 33 (1943), pp. 342-78.