(A.D. 646.)
[Of local veneration only, at Nivelles; mentioned in some of the
later Martyrologies, and called, sometimes Saint, sometimes the
Blessed. Authorities:--A Life contained in the Acts of his daughter,
S. Gertrude, (March 17th), Fredegar, and other early French
historians.]
The Blessed Pepin of Landen[60] died on February 21st, in 640, or 647,
at Landen, where he had also been born, in all probability. He was
buried at Landen, but afterwards, at what date is unknown, his body
was translated to Nivelles, where he reposes beside the altar of his
daughter, S. Gertrude, and where one tomb enshrines his body and that
of his wife, S. Itta, and that of his nurse. On the day of his
translation, a great procession of people bearing candles accompanied
his relics from Landen to Nivelles, and during the long course, the
wind, though very violent, did not extinguish one of the tapers, says
the story. This prince has always been venerated at Nivelles and
Landen as a saint, though he has never been canonized, and every year,
in the Rogation processions, his reliquary is borne, together with
those of S. Itta or Iduberga, his wife, and S. Gertrude, his daughter.
To Pepin is attributed the foundation of the Church of S. Mary, which
subsists to this day at Landen.