MARIA d'OIGNIES, Blessed. — Brabantine mystic, born at Nivelles in 1177, died at Oignies on 23 June 1213; she is the most representative figure of the early Beguine movement. Married at 14, she persuaded her husband to live in continence, distribute their goods, and serve the sick in the leper hospital of Willambroux, near Nivelles.
There the blessed woman's mystical life developed, grounded in a profound devotion to the Passion and the Eucharist. Her conversations and miracles drew vast crowds, and M. moved, with her husband's consent, to the banks of the Sambre at Aiseau, where the Augustinian Canons had recently founded the priory of Oignies. Living there with some pious women under the direction of the religious, she gave rise to one of those associations, the second after Willambroux, which foreshadowed the proper Beguinages. At Oignies the blessed woman attracted even more pilgrims, who came from as far as France and Germany, including Jacques de Vitry, who decided to enter the monastery of Oignies, where he became its director and later the blessed woman's biographer.