Saint Bertha, born in France in the year 644, was the daughter of Count Rigobert, who served in the court of Clovis II, and Ursanna, daughter of the king of Kent in England. In the twentieth year of her age this beautiful and pious maiden was married to the cousin of the king, the noble Sigfried, who determined to advance with his spouse along the paths of Christian perfection. They were blessed with five daughters, of whom two died in infancy; two others, Gertrude and Deotila, are canonized Saints like their mother.

After several years of the most harmonious union, Sigfried died in 672, and Saint Bertha took the veil in a monastery which by divine instructions she built at Blangy in the district of Artois. The monastery was solemnly consecrated in January of the year 682, and the holy widow endowed it with her terrains. Her daughters Gertrude and Deotila, greatly impressed by their mother’s act, soon followed her example. She was persecuted by Roger, or Rotgar, a young lord of the court of King Thierry III, who was furious over her refusal to give him Gertrude, already a professed religious, in marriage. He endeavored to slander her mother as being opposed to the succession of Thierry and involved with the English royalty in a conspiracy. The King sent for the Abbess to defend her cause, not sure that such conduct could be attributed to this holy woman. He took her in fact under his protection, and the persecution was halted.