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The following is a brief resume of
the main Anglo Saxon Saints and those non Anglo Saxons who had a particularly
important impact on the development on Anglo Saxon English Christianity. It is not exhaustive, either in the list of
Saints nor in the description of their lives. Nevertheless, it is intended to form the
basis of a liturgical year in which our native saints can be honoured and
called upon to intercede on our behalf.
It is a work in progress and so will develop and expand over
time.
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11 January
Aelred,
Abbot of Rievaulx, d.1167
Aelred, whose parents were guardians
of St Cuthbert’s shrine at Durham, revived a spirit of genuine friendship in
his and in other monastic communities at a time following the Norman conquest
when strict codes of conduct had led to a cold atmosphere and impersonal
relationships between monks. His
monastery at Rievaulx in Yorkshire became the largest in England. He drew inspiration from the biblical
writings of John and from the Celtic Saints.
His own writings include A Life
of St Ninian and a Treatise on
Friendship.
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12 January
Benedict
Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, d. 689
Following service with King Oswy of Northumbria, the then Bishop Beducing
travelled to Rome
and on his second trip became a monk.
Following a third visit, he returned to England
with Theodore the new Archbishop of Canterbury,
briefly becoming an Abbot at Canterbury. With the help of King Ecfrith, he founded
the monastery at Wearmouth in 674.
Here he instituted his own version of the rule of St Benedict, after
which he named himself. He continued
to travel to Rome
and brought back many books and artefacts which greatly enriched English Christian
life. He also brought back a Chanter,
who taught the Northumbrian monks the Roman Uncial script, liturgy and
chanting. He then founded Wearmouth’s
twin monastery at Jarrow. The library
created by Benedict Biscop made possible the achievements of Bede. Indeed, we owe to Benedict the foundations
of the Northumbrian Anglo Saxon Christian culture we are seeking to revive
today.
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15 January
Ceowulf,
King and Monk of Northumbria, d. c.764
Ceowulf became King of Northumbria in 729, but was deposed in 731 and
forced to become a monk at Lindisfarne. He was subsequently released and regained
his throne before giving it up voluntarily in 737 to become a monk
again. Though his ability as a ruler
was questionable, his humility and generosity as a monk was not. He gave money to Lindisfarne
and as a result the monks drank beer instead of water for the first time –
something that was important as the water in those days was often not fit to
drink and a weak beer was drunk instead because it was safer. After he died, Ceowulf was buried near to
Cuthbert on Lindisfarne and miracles were
said to have occurred to prove his holiness.
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8 February
Elfleda,
Sister of King Egfrith, d. 714
Elfleda’s father, King Oswy of
Northumberland and her mother, Enfleda, promised to God that they would
dedicate the young Elfleda to the religious life if they were victorious in
battle against Penda, King of Mercia. The battle was won and Elfleda was
entrusted to Hilda, then Abbess of Hartlepool. After a few years, they both went to Whitby. After Hilda’s death, Enfleda and then
Elfleda herself became Abbess in turn.
Elfleda was a friend of both Wilfred and Cuthbert, the latter curing
her of paralysis. Her skill as a
mediator was demonstrated when she secured the reconciliation of Wilfred with
both the Northumbrian Church and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Wilfred’s biographer praised her as the ‘comforter and best counsellor
in the whole province’.
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10
February
Trumwine, Missionary,
Bishop of Abercorn and Monk of Whitby,
d. 704
When Archbishop Theodore divided the Kingdom of Northumbria into five kingdoms, he
appointed Trumwine as the first bishop of the recently conquered Pictish
lands to the north in 681. He
established his see at Abercorn and a monastery at Lothian. He accompanied Archbishop Theodore and King
Ecfrith to the Farne
Islands to help
persuade Cuthbert to take another Northumbrian bishopric. However, when the Northumbrians were routed
by the Picts at the battle of Nechtansmeer in 685, Trumwine fled with his
monks to Whitby
and lived the rest of his life as a monk there under Abbess Elfleda.
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11
February
Cædmon,
First English Songwriter, d. 680
Cædmon was a shy, illiterate cowherd
who worked on the estates of Whitby Abbey, probably an Anglicised
Briton. He was encouraged to sing
God’s praises in a vision and as a result of his beautiful voice and prose
was taken to St Hilda’s monastery in Whitby. Here, he put many bible stories into
popular English song for the first time.
He is attributed to having played a major role in spreading the
Christian faith to English people high and low, through his verse and
music. He was a warm, holy and
generous person much loved by all who knew him. His best known work is ‘Cædmon’s hymn’.
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12
February
Ethilwald,
Monk and Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 740
Ethilwald was a disciple of Cuthbert
and became Abbot of Melrose. He succeeded Bishop Eadfrith, scribe of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, and sponsored the hermit Billfrith to make the precious
covers for these Gospels, which are now unfortunately lost. His holy life was recognised by his relics
being placed with those of Cuthbert.
He is at least a part author of the Book of Cerne.
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15
February
Oswy, King
of Northumbria,
d. 670
Oswy succeeded his brother Oswald to
the throne of Northumbria,
but treated his subjects less well and was not especially religious. However, when the kingdom was invaded by
Penda, King of Mercia,
Oswy turned to God and vowed to dedicate his young daughter, Elfleda, to
religious service if he was victorious in battle. Following victory, he did just this. He also gave land for the founding of the
twin monastery at Wearmouth and Jarrow that Benedict Biscop established. It was here that Bede lived and wrote many
of his famous works.
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18
February
Colman,
Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 676
Colman was an Irish monk from Iona,
who became Lindisfarne’s third Abbot
bishop. He was spokesman for the
Celtic tradition at the Synod of Whitby and
following the Latin victory at this synod; he took all his monks together
with some of St Aidan’s bones and returned to Ireland. His English monks established a new
monastery at Mayo in Ireland,
which had an elected rather than hereditary Abbot. Alcuin praised this monastery for its
learning.
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25
February
Ethelbert,
King of Kent,
d. 616
Ethelbert was the first Anglo Saxon
King to become a Christian. He had
married a Frankish Christian called Bertha and had allowed her to
re-establish the ancient British Church at Canterbury. In 591, he agreed to a missionary party
from Rome headed by St Augustine and although he did not
convert himself at this point, many of his subjects did. Eventually, he did become a Christian and
built a monastery in Canterbury which in time
became Canterbury
Cathedral. He was the first Anglo
Saxon King to lay down a code of laws based on Christianity. An ancient document states that ‘from his
stock there has arisen a numerous and holy race, which shines with virtue
through the whole world’.
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2 March
Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, d.
672
Chad trained
as a monk priest at Lindisfarne monastery under St Aidan and also in Ireland. He became abbot of Lastingham following the
death of his brother, Cedd, and from there was made a bishop of the
Northumbrians. Like Aidan before him,
he refused special privileges and travelled by foot rather than on
horse. Later, he became Bishop of Mercia, establishing cells in Lichfield and a
monastery at Barton in Lincolnshire. Chad had a habit of going into
Church and praying in times of strong winds or thunder. He used to say to people that God sends the
wind, thunder and lightening so that his people will fear him, humble their
pride and understand that they will be judged. He died of plague, but just before death he
had a vision of his dead brother Cedd coming with angels to greet him.
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6 March
Baldred,
Northumbrian Hermit, d. 8th Century
Baldred came from Tyningham and made
his home on Bass Rock, which stands off the east coast near to North Berwick.
His prayers were reputed to move heaven and earth.
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6 March
Billfrith,
Hermit and Goldsmith, d. 8th Century
Billfrith was a hermit and goldsmith
who adorned the cover of the Lindisfarne Gospels with gold, silver and
gems. Though the Gospels themselves
have survived, the cover has been lost.
It is believed that his relics were taken to Durham in the 11th century where
he is celebrated with Baldred the hermit.
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7 March
Eosterwine,
Abbot of Wearmouth, d. 686
Eosterwine was a royal soldier under Northumbria’s
King Egfrith. He became a monk at
Wearmouth, the monastery founded by his cousin Benedict Biscop. He wholeheartedly entered into the life of
the monastery, taking on menial tasks such as baking, milking, gardening and
harvesting. He was ordained and
Benedict made him Abbot during his long absences abroad. The monks found him kind and approachable. However, he died young at the age of 36
whilst the community was at prayer.
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20 March
Herbert,
Hermit of Derwentwater, d. 687
Herbert was a Saxon priest who became
a hermit on a little island on Derwentwater in the Lake District, the island
now being named after him. A close
friend of Cuthbert, he used to visit him at Lindisfarne
every year. In 686, Cuthbert was in Carlisle and they met there that year instead. Cuthbert urged his friend to everything he
needed to and said his goodbyes as he would die before they met again. Herbert wept at this and begged Cuthbert to
pray that they would share the same day of resurrection, which Cuthbert did. And following
a long illness, Herbert did indeed die on the same day as Cuthbert and so his
feast is celebrated on the same day too.
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20 March
Cuthbert,
Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 687
Often considered as he Patron Saint
of Northern England, Cuthbert became a monk at Melrose and Rippon following a vision of
the death of St Aidan. He had many
fine qualities, including those of natural leader, preacher, scholar, healer,
prophet and pastor. Following the
Synod of Whitby in 664, he was appointed Abbot
of the much depleted monastery at Lindisfarne. However, he was at heart a hermit monk and
mystic and he soon gave up this position to become a hermit on the small island of Inner Farne. Nine years later he reluctantly agreed to
become bishop of Lindisfarne, but returned
to Farne island to die. Eleven years
after his death, his body was found not to have decomposed and many miracles
have been attributed to him. Following
the Danish invasions, the monks of Lindisfarne carried his remains over large
parts of northern England
to prevent them falling into Viking hands.
Cuthbert’s remains are one of the few that survived the Norman
occupation and are now interred in Durham
Cathedral.
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11 April
Guthlac,
Hermit of Crowland, d. 714
Guthlac was of royal blood and after
nine years as a soldier became a monk at Repton where he kept to a strict
discipline. In about 701, he became a
solitary in Crowland and tried to emulate the discipline of the Desert
Fathers. A year after his death, his
coffin was opened and his body found to be incorrupt. His shrine became a popular place for
pilgrims and Ceornoth, Archbishop of Canterbury
was healed there in 851. His relics
were placed in the Abbey
Church at Crowland in
1196. The Guthlac Roll from this
period depicts his life in seventeen and a half drawings and can be seen at
the British Museum.
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19 April
Alphege,
Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr, d. 1012
Alphege was a monk at Deerhurst, near
Gloucester and later became a hermit in Somerset. Dunstan, then Archbishop of Canterbury,
recognised his qualities and made him bishop respectively of Bath
and then Winchester. In 1005, he became Archbishop of Canterbury
himself. Despite high office, he remained
a humble man and continued to live a simple monk’s life. In 1011, he was captured by the Danes, who
placed a ransom on his head. Alphege
refused to allow anyone to pay this ransom because he cared for the
poor. As a result, he was brutally
killed by the Danes at Greenwich
in 1012.
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23 April
George,
Martyr, d.304 and Saints and Martyrs of England
George is a semi mythical character
though his cult is based on a real soldier who probably lived in Palestine. He was martyred in around 304 during the
persecution of Christians under the Emperor Diocletian. His cult was brought to England as a
result of the Crusades and the stories of his fighting a dragon, which were
not part of the original story, caught the public imagination. He became the patron Saint of England in
the 14th century. Although
not a native Anglo Saxon and despite not becoming England’s patron until
relatively lately, his cult does nevertheless echo earlier myths of the
warrior hero fighting against evil represented as dragons. In particularly, we see in George the Anglo
Saxon hero Beowulf and it is to this earlier epic we turn to fully appreciate
the importance of George to our national religious life.
As April 23 is recognised as the
patronal festival for England,
this is also a day to remember all the saints and martyrs of England. In particular, we remember those Anglo
Saxon saints who were removed from the Church’s calendar following the Norman
occupation and we give special thanks for their holy lives and continued
prayers for Anglo Saxon England.
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30 April
Earconwald,
Bishop of London,
d. 693
Earconwald was of royal blood and
founded monastic churches at Chertsey and
Barking. He gained a reputation for
great holiness. He was made bishop of London by Theodore, then Archbishop of Canterbury and helped Theodore to become
reconciled with Bishop Wilfred. Bede
reports that many miracles came from Earconwald’s couch in which he was
carried during his declining years. His
remains were placed in St Paul’s cathedral, London.
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1 May
Walpurga,
missionary to the Franks, d. 779
Walpurga was born in Wessex, in
around 710 and was a niece to St Boniface.
She travelled to Wurttemberg
to assist her uncle and founded a convent with her brother Willibald at
Heidenheim. Her feast day of May 1
commemorates the translation of her relics, but it has merged with older
spring festivities throughout much of northern Europe. Although not celebrated widely in England, it
has strong associations with the traditional May festivities and the
tradition of the May Queen. The eve of
St Walpurga’s Day (April 30th) is known
as Walpurgis Night and is a Christianised version of old folk traditions that
seek to ward off stray ghosts by lighting bonfires and celebrating the coming
light of spring. Some traditions use
candles to celebrate the Easter fires.
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6 May
Eadbert,
Bishop of Lindisfarne, d. 698
Eadbert was bishop of Lindisfarne from 688 and showed particular devotion to
Cuthbert. He spent every Lent as
either a solitary on Thrush Island at Lindisfarne
or on Inner Farne. Bede tells us that
he was well known for his knowledge of the scriptures, his obedience to God’s
commandments and for his generosity in alms giving. Each year, he gave a tenth of his beasts,
his grain, fruit and clothing to the poor.
His body was carried with Cuthbert’s around Northumbria
to save the holy relics from Viking raids on Lindisfarne.
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7 May
John of
Beverley, d. 721
John was one of five monks trained by
Hilda of Whitby. In 687, he was consecrated bishop of
Hexham, where he was particularly concerned for the poor and disabled. One young man, who was mute, began to speak
after John taught and prayed for him. He
became bishop of York
in 705 and founded a monastery in a forest, which is now Beverley. Signs and wonders accompanied his ministry
which were recorded by both Bede and Alcuin.
King Athelstan invoked his prayers and Julian of Norwich drew inspiration from his life.
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9 May
Julian of
Norwich, Anchoress and mystic, d. 1417
St Julian’s real name is not known,
but she became an anchoress in a cell close to the Church of St Julian in
Norwich, which is how she came to be called Mother Julian. She had a servant and a cat and people used
to seek her advice and guidance from her cell window. At the age of 30, apparently dying, she
experienced a series of 16 visions, which revealed aspects of the love of God. Following her recovery, she spent the next
twenty years reflecting on the meaning of her visions. These reflections are recorded in her book The Revelations of Divine Love, which
is the first book written by a woman in English. She is attributed with having helped to
recover contact with the feminine aspect of God, something that was stronger
in the Celtic tradition but which had almost disappeared.
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19 May
Dunstan,
Archbishop of Canterbury,
d. 988
Dunstan lived near Glastonbury
monastery and the urging of a saintly uncle, he entered into the
monastery. He devoted his work time to
music, illuminating and metalwork. In
943, he was made abbot and brought about a revival of monastic life in England. He became Archbishop of Canterbury
under the reign of King Edgar and helped to bring about balance, discipline
and education within the English
Church.
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20 May
Alcuin of York, d. 804
Alcuin was raised in Northumbria and
later joined the cathedral school at York, where he became its leader. In 781, he went to Aachen as advisor on religious and
educational matters to Charlemagne. As
head of the Palace School, he established a major library and in 786
he became abbot of Tours. He wrote poetry, revised the Church’s
lectionary and wrote numerous letters and prayers which form a significant
part of the corpus of the Anglo
Saxon Church.
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25 May
Aldhelm,
Abbot of Malmesbury, Bishop of Sherborne, d. 709
Aldhelm was a member of the Wessex
royal family and became a monk at Malmesbury and then its
Abbot. He had great skills both as an
administrator and as a writer and his verses set to music drew great crowds
to church and were praised by King Alfred.
He established communities at both Frome and Bradford-upon-Avon and
became the first Bishop of western Wessex when the kingdom was
invaded and divided in 705.
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25 May
Bede, Monk
and first English historian, d. 735
From the age of seven, Bede was
educated at the Northumbrian monasteries of Wearmouth and then Jarrow, where
he spent the rest of his life as a monk.
He said that his special delight was ‘to learn, to teach and to
write’. He wrote many works, the most
famous of which is his ‘Ecclesiastical
History of the English People’ without which we would know so little of
the early English
Church. His other main text is his ‘Lives’ of saints, especially St
Cuthbert. One of the most touching
stories about him is actually from his death bed. He had been translating a work of Isidore
and St John’s
Gospel and as he dictated the last sentence to his young scribe, he said ‘and
now it is finished’. He then recited
the phrase ‘Glory be to the father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit and
whilst still kneeling in prayer he died.
It was Ascension Day.
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26 May
Augustine,
Apostle to Kent and first Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 604/5
There is a lovely story about how
Pope Gregory I encountered a young Anglo Saxon slave in Rome.
Asking his assistant what tribe the boy came from, he was told that he
came from the Angels; a pun on Angles.
Discovering that these people were still heathen, Pope Gregory decided
to go personally to England
to evangelise them. However, due to
events of state he was not able to and so sent Augustine in his place. Initially reluctant, Augustine and his
party landed in Kent
in 597 and were received by King Ethelbert and his already Christian wife,
Queen Bertha. Ethelbert was suspicious
and chose not to convert himself, but allowed his people to if they chose
so. Eventually, Ethelbert himself
converted and Canterbury became the main see
of England
which it remains to this day.
Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and is accredited with many good
works and miracles. However, he failed
to persuade the British bishops to form a unified Church and separate Roman
and Celtic structures remained until their union following the Synod of Whitby.
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4 June
Eadfrith,
Illuminator of the Lindisfarne Gospels, d.
721
Eadfrith was a monk of Lindisfarne, who became its abbot and then its
bishop. He transcribed and illuminated
the Lindisfarne Gospels to the glory of God
and St Cuthbert in 698. Drawing
together Anglo Saxon, Irish and continental influences, this masterly work
has been described as the first manifesto of the English Church. Eadfrith himself has been described as the
first personality of English art history.
His relics are buried in Durham
cathedral.
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5 June
Boniface,
Martyr and Apostle to the Germans, d. 754
Boniface was a monk from Exeter, but became a
missionary to the Germans and Franks.
This was at a time that the Anglo Saxon English considered the
continental Saxons to be their unconverted kith and kin and so they felt a
special responsibility to bring them the good news of the Gospel. He became Bishop of Hesse and then
Archbishop of Mainz,
where he was martyred by hostile pagans.
He was renowned for his courage, zeal, administrative skills and, of
course, his handsome features which gave him his name!
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23 June
Etheldreda,
Abbess of Ely, d. 679
Etheldreda was the daughter of King Anna
of the East Angles. She felt called to
God and to remain a virgin, though she was forced to marry. On the early death of her husband, she
retired to the isle of Ely which had been given to her as her dowry. In 660, she was again forced to marry for
political reasons, this time the 15 year old Ecfrith, King of
Northumberland. At first, he agreed to
her remaining a virgin but after 12 years changed his mind. However, Etheldreda refused all advances
and bribes. Aided by Bishop Wilfred,
she left Ecfrith to become a nun under her aunt at Collingham before going on
to found a double monastery on the site of the present cathedral at Ely in
673. Although from a rich and
privileged background, Etheldreda lived a simple life, wore woollen clothes,
ate just one meal a day and devoted her time to prayer. Seventeen years after her death, her body
was found to be incorrupt.
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25 June
Bartholomew
of Farne, d. 1193
Born in Whitby
of Scandinavian parents, Bartholomew became a monk in Durham
after being a parish priest and spending time in Norway. Following a vision of Christ on the cross
stretching his arms out to him, Bartholomew became a hermit on the island of Inner Farne where he remained for 45
years. Like Cuthbert, he was known for
his constant cheerfulness and sang loudly as he tended his crops and
manuscripts. He was apparently
difficult to live with, but was generous to all and inspired awe amongst
visitors for his godliness.
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15 July
Swithun,
Bishop of Winchester,
d. 862
Swithun was chaplain to King Egbert
of Wessex
and mentor to his son Ethelwulf who succeeded him as King. Ethelwulf made him Bishop of Winchester,
the capital of Wessex. Swithun became famous for his charity and
for building new churches. He
established a small monastic community in Winchester on the site of the present day
cathedral, where his remains were placed after his death. His relics are associated with all manner
of cures. Swithun is also associated
with prolonged periods of rainfall, giving rise to the well known saying that
if it rains on St Swithun’s day, it will rain for 40 days.
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16 July
Helier
& Marcoul, first hermits of Jersey, 6th
century
Helier was a Saxon who became a monk
at the monastery of Nanteuil in France after being expelled by his
pagan father. Here, he placed himself
under the direction of Marcoul, a fellow Saxon from whom he gained a great
love of the solitary life. Marcoul
sent Helier to live as a hermit in a high cave on a rocky part of the island of Jersey. Marcoul then led a mission to convert the
people of Jersey and founded a monastery
there. Marcoul successfully led the
islanders to defend Jersey against pagan
invaders, although some later returned to the island and killed Helier as he
preached the Gospel to them. St Helier
is the capital of Jersey.
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31 July
Joseph of
Arimathea and the Saints of Glastonbury
Joseph was Jesus’ uncle and a rich
tin merchant. It was his burial place
that Jesus was placed in after the crucifixion, an act that would not have
been without its dangers at that time.
As Jerusalem’s Christians scattered following the crucifixion,
tradition has it that Joseph came to south western Britain which he would
have known well because of his extensive dealings with the Cornish tin
trade. According to tradition, Joseph
brought with him the cup of the last supper, the mysterious Holy Grail
symbolising the Eucharist and founded a church at Glastonbury. This story is backed up by the British monk
Gildas, who wrote that the Light of Christ came to these islands within a
decade of Christ’s death. Some
traditions hold that Joseph brought the young Jesus to these islands as a
young boy – the period of his life not covered by the Gospels. Glastonbury
was an island when Joseph went there and became the Avalon of legend that
symbolises the spiritual heart of England. And at this spiritual heart of England lies the Holy Grail symbolising the
establishment of a new covenant through the body and blood of Our Lord right
here in the heart of Holy England.
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1 August
Neot, Monk
and Hermit, d. 877
A monk at Glastonbury, Neot became a hermit on Bodmin
Moor at the place named after him, where he founded a small monastery. He was an advisor to King Alfred and is
said to have advised that the English
School in Rome be revived. He also appeared to Alfred in a vision
before the important battle of Ethandun.
He was so small that he had to stand on a stool to celebrate the
liturgy, yet h stood daily in a well reciting psalms. It is said that he ate one fish a day from
his well and yet three always swam in it.
His relics were taken to a monastery in eastern England which
is also named after him.
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5 August
Oswald,
King and Martyr, d. 642
Oswald was a Northumbrian prince who was
forced to live as an exile whilst his pagan uncle ruled his lands. He was baptised in Iona and made a vow that
if he ever gained the Northumbrian throne, he would invite the monks of Iona to send a mission to convert his largely pagan
kinsfolk. These things did in time
come to pass and, following one unsuccessful attempt, he received and
supported a mission by Bishop Aidan of Iona. Oswald was himself a humble and prayerful
man, who cared for the poor and died in battle praying for his soldiers. Many Churches throughout Europe
have been dedicated to him.
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8 August
Lide, hermit of the Isles of
Scilly, d. 10th or 11th century
Lide, or Elidius, was a hermit and is patron of the Isles of
Scilly, giving his name to the capital of St Helens. Remains of his hermitage and tomb have been
found here. There is a tradition that Lide was the seer who was visited by a Viking raider, Olaf Tryggvason, and who told
him that he would become a great King and bring many men to faith and
baptism. He foretold that before this
came to pass, Olaf would be almost killed in a
great battle, but would be carried on a shield to his ship, overcome his
wounds after seven days and immediately be baptised. When all this did come true, Olaf was baptised and stopped attacking England. He eventually returned to his native Norway, where
he built the first churches and converted many of his pagan kinsfolk. However, many of these people were
forcefully converted or tortured and executed if they refused.
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20 August
Oswin, King,
d. 651
Oswin was King of northern
Northumbria and, like his uncle Oswald, worked closely with Bishop Aidan to
evangelise his largely pagan people.
Bede describes him as “a man of handsome appearance and great stature,
pleasant in speech and courteous in manner.
He was generous to high and low alike and soon won the affection of
all by his kingly qualities of mind and body”. It was Oswin who gave Aidan the expensive
horse that he then gave to a beggar.
However, Aidan prophesised that such a humble king would not rule for
long and indeed it was not long after that he was killed at Tynemouth by his
uncle Oswy who wanted to rule the whole of Northumbria. To assuage his guilt, Oswy built a
monastery there.
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25 August
Ebbe, d.
683
Ebbe was King Oswald’s sister and
like him was nurtured in the faith at Iona. She became the first Abbess of the
monastery for men and women of noble blood at Coldingham – an Anglo Saxon
town now in modern day Scotland. Ebbe was aunt to King Egfrith’s
first wife, Etheldreda, who lived for a time at the monastery before founding
her own at Ely.
Ebbe became known as a holy and discerning person. In her old age, she spent much of her time
in her oratory and the monastery became somewhat lax. So in an attempt to tighten up discipline,
she permitted a monk’s prophecy to circulate that the monastery would be
burnt down, which it was in 686.
August 25 is also held as the day that the remains of Ebbe’s friend, Abbess Hilda, were
enshrined at Whitby.
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30 August
Sebbi,
King and Monk, d. 694
Sebbi was King of the East Saxons and restored the Christian faith to his
lands and people following the return to heathenry of his predecessor. He was noted for his prayers, his penance
and generous alms giving. He is
reputed to have built the first monastery at Westminster
and to have been buried in the original Cathedral of St
Paul in London. He gave up his throne to become a monk
shortly before his death.
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31 August
Aidan,
Apostle to the English, d. 651
Aidan was an Irish monk who joined
the community founded by Columba at Iona. In 631, he was chosen to lead a mission to
the English Kingdom
of Northumbria
by King Oswald. Aidan was known as a
devout and ascetic man who spent much of his time in prayer and
meditation. He established a small
monastery on the Island
of Lindisfarne and the
first school for English boys. He gave
alms to help the poor and to slaves to buy their freedom. His mission became so popular that clergy
flocked into this part of England
from Ireland
and established many more churches.
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1
September
Drithelm,
d.700
Drithelm is said to have been the
head of an upright, godly family in Northumberland who came back to life
after being declared dead. He told of
a journey to those in misery and those in bliss in the next world. He radically altered his own life, giving
his money to his family and the poor and becoming a hermit in the grounds of Melrose monastery. Each day he would stand in the River Tweed reciting psalms, even when it was icy. His story is recounted by Bede and this is
the first account of life beyond the grave in Anglo Saxon England.
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3
September
Pope
Gregory the Great, d. 604
Gregory was an administrator of the
City of Rome
in 583 and became Pope in 590. He was
a kindly man, known as a peacemaker and inspired music and chant into
liturgical life. The legend, recounted
by Bede, tells that one day he saw a couple of young boys with golden hair. Turning to his aide, he asked what tribe
they were from. ‘Angli’
came the reply.
To this, Gregory responded, “Non Angli, sed Angeli” (‘they’re not Angels, they’re Angels’). Asking if their folk were Christian, the
aide replied that they were still heathen and Gregory then determined to
bring the gospel to ‘evangelise’ these Angels. It was this encounter that prompted Gregory
to send Augustine on a mission to England and which formed the
basis of the Roman strain of Christianity in the English tradition. It was this same Gregory, who when asked
what to do with the heathen temples, instructed the idols to be removed but
the buildings and the customs to be preserved as an offering to the true
God. This had the effect of preserving
and integrating several folk customs into the English Church
and helping to form the basis of Saxon or Germanic Christianity. Gregory was, and still is, remembered
fondly throughout England.
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6
September
Bega,
Abbess, d. 7th Century
Bega (or Begu) became a friend and disciple
of Hilda, who appointed her the Abbess of her daughter monastery at
Hackness. Here, she had a vision of
Hilda being escorted to heaven before news had been received of her death. Legend says that Bega was the beautiful
daughter of an Irish king who fled to Northumbria
rather than enter into a forced marriage. Here, she founded a hermitage on the coast
which is now named after her at St Bees.
A monk there wrote about her relics being transferred to Whitby and of miracles
then taking place.
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7
September
Eanswyth,
founder of England’s first convent, d. 640
Eanswyth was the daughter of a king
of Kent, who refused o marry in order to become a ‘bride of Christ’. She founded a convent in Folkestone, which
as far as is known, was the first in England. It was destroyed by Vikings, but the Church
was restored by King Athelstan. Her
remains were found in the present Church
of Saints Mary and
Eanswyth in Folkestone.
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18
September
Edith of Wilton, d. 984
Edith was a daughter of King Edgar of
Kent and was brought up at
the royal abbey of Wilton. Refusing opportunities to become Queen or
Abbess, she chose to live a simple life with her mother at Wilton.
Here she helped the poor, tended wild animals and meditated on
Christ’s passion in her prayer cell.
She died young at the age of just 23.
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19
September
Theodore,
Archbishop of Canterbury,
d. 690
Theodore was sent to England as Archbishop of Canterbury from the near east to try to unify
the Celtic and Roman divisions and to help after a terrible plague. He spent much time travelling up and down
the country and instituted a unified system through the synod of Hertford and
established a school for clergy at Canterbury. He created a missionary diocese to the
northern Picts but is best remembered as a holy and scholarly man who,
despite his own foreign origins, was he first Archbishop to command the
allegiance of all the English.
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25
September
Ceolfrith,
Abbot of Jarrow, d. 716
Ceolfrith became a monk at Gilling in
North Yorkshire before joining the monastery
founded by Wilfred at Rippon. He is
particularly known for his cooking skills, which were in much demand, but he
was also a very learned man and an expert on church affaires. He was invited by Benedict Biscop to join
the monastery at Wearmouth where he was soon appointed prior and then acting Superior. In 682, he was made first Abbot of the twin
monastery of Jarrow, where he became mentor to the young Bede. A terrible plague killed most of the monks
there and Ceolfrith and Bede were left to celebrate mass on their own. In 689, he was made Abbot of both
monasteries following the death of Benedict Biscop. During his time here, the number of monks
expanded greatly to over 600 and the library that made Bede’s work possible
was established. His greatest project
was the compilation of three single-volume editions of the bible, of which
the only surviving copy is the Codex Amiatinus. Although very old, he undertook to carry
one copy to the Pope personally.
However, the onset of war on the continent prevented him from getting
to Rome and he died in Germany.
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8 October
Iwi,
hermit and miracle worker, d. 7th C
Iwi was a monk on Lindisfarne
at he time of Cuthbert and who asked permission to
become a pilgrim for the love of God.
He got into a boat and trusted that wherever it landed he should make
his hermitage. The boat landed in Brittany where his
healing powers and holiness where known for many years. His relics can be found in Wilton Abbey.
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10 October
Paulinus,
Bishop, d. 644
Paulinus was one of the Bishops sent
by Pope Gregory the Great to help Augustine convert the English. He moved to Northumberland with Princess
Ethelburga when she agreed to marry King Edwin. He preached and built churches throughout
the region but was forced to return to Kent after Edwin’s death in
battle in 633. Paulinus is one of the
great architects of north east English Christianity.
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11 October
Edwin,
King and Martyr, d. 633
Edwin was the first pagan King of
Northumberland to embrace Christianity.
He spent most of his youth in exile, probably in Wales, whilst
his relative Æthelfrith ruled in Northumberland. By 616, Edwin was reportedly in East Anglia,
under the protection of King Rædwald.
Bede tells us that Æthelfrith urged Rædwald to murder the young Edwin,
which was minded to do until persuaded otherwise by his wife acting under
divine guidance. In 616, Æthelfrith
was killed in battle against Rædwald and Edwin was placed on the Northumbrian
throne. He proposed marriage to
Ethelburga of Kent, who agreed provided she could bring her Christian
chaplain with her ad that he could preach and baptise. She also asked that Edwin himself would
consider becoming a Christian.
According to Bede, the decision to convert was made following the
counsel of his chief pagan advisor, Coifi, who said that the new religion
should be adopted if it could explain the mysteries of before and after
life. His efforts at unifying and
christianising north eastern England
did not last long after his death and his successor, Osric, reverted to
paganism. He was Abbess Hilda’s
grandfather.
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12 October
Wilfred,
Bishop, d. 709
Wilfred was trained at Aiden’s
monastery on Lindisfarne, but following visits to Canterbury and Rome, he
turned against what he saw as the insularity of the Celtic tradition. An intelligent and active man, he established churches whose buildings, clergy and
liturgy reflected Roman splendour and order.
His dominant role at the Synod of Whitby was largely responsible for the
victory of the Roman party. He became
Bishop of York,
then of Hexham and spent his later years in Rippon. His gift to the English Church
was to make it more clearly part of the universal and catholic Church, but
his abrasive manner and methods did not endear him to the people. Wilfred is honoured by anglo saxon
anglicans for his significant contribution to enriching English church life
and liturgy. But, whilst we accept that
our tradition should not shut itself off completely from the outside world,
we look strongly to that cosy, family and community orientated Celtic
Christianity and its somewhat insular outlook.
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14 October
Ethelburga,
Abbess of Barking, d. 675
Ethelburga’s brother, Erconwald, who
was Bishop of London, founded a monastery for women and men at barking and
appointed her Abbess. She was noted
for the care she gave to her sisters in Christ and is associated with many
miracles. On one occasion, whilst singing
praises at the tombs of brothers who had died of the plague, a sudden sheet
of light illuminated her and her companions and then slowly moved to the
south side of the monastery. This was
taken as a sign from God for the siting of a
cemetery for women, which Ethelburga established.
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19 October
Frideswide,
Abbess of Oxford,
d. 727
Frideswide was the daughter of the
local ruler of West Oxfordshire. He endowed Minster churches at Bampton and Oxford and Frideswide became the first abbess in charge
of a double monastery for both women and men at Oxford.
According to legend, she avoided seduction by the King of Mercia (her father’s overlord) by escaping to
a forest retreat at Binsey and then to Oxford. She is said to have performed a miracle for
her father by successfully praying for him to regain his sight after he had
become blind. The Oxford
monastery became the largest landowner and the most influential centre in the
region, paving the way for the establishment of Oxford University. Frideswide was made patron of Oxford
University in the early 15th century and her reconstructed shrine
at Christ church, Oxford
still attracts pilgrims.
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20 October
Acca, Monk
and Bishop of Hexham, d. 732
Acca was a companion and disciple of Bishop
Wilfred, who on his death bed named Acca as his successor at Hexham. He was a
fine singer, finely adorned many church buildings following Wilfred’s example
and supplied Bede with a great deal of source material.
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26 October
Alfred the
Great, King, Founder of Monasteries and Translator, d. 899
Alfred became King of Wessex in 871
and in this year the English suffered two defeats at the hands of the
Danes. Alfred managed to hold on to
his reduced Kingdom and a period of peace ensued for the following five years
as the Danes sought to consolidate their hold on the rest of England. However in 876, under their new leader,
Guthrum, the Danes managed to slip past the English army and attack Dorset. The
following year, they advanced steadily westwards under the pretext of peace
talks into Devon. The fledgling English navy blockaded the
Danes at this point and after a relief fleet was scattered by storms, the
Danes were forced to retreat back into Mercia. However, they launched a surprise attack on
the royal party at Chippenham over Christmas in 878, killing many
people. Alfred managed to escape into
the woods and swamp land, eventually establishing a fort at Athelney. Alfred’s escape through the woods has
given rise to one of the best known of English legends. This tells of Alfred being given shelter by
an old peasant woman, who being unaware of his identity, left him to watch
over some cakes she was cooking on the fire.
Alfred was so busy working out a strategy to defeat the Danes that he
forgot all about the cakes and they burned to a cinder. On her return, the old woman told Alfred
off in no uncertain terms, but apologised profusely when she realised who he
was. Alfred, however, insisted that it
was he who should apologise. Cakes or
no cakes, Alfred organised n effective resistance to the Danes from his fort
at Athelney and slowly drove them back, not just out of Wessex but out of
Mercia too.
Warfare between the English and Danes
continued off and on for another 10 years or so, but under Alfred, the
English were to prove a much stronger adversary and won most of the
battles. By 896 or 897, the Danes gave
up the struggle in southern England
and either retired into Northumberland or returned to the continent.
Alfred was therefore a great military
leader who reversed the precarious position regarding the Danes and is
credited with establishing the Royal Navy as well as a type of rapid response
force on land and sea that was able to repel the deadly Danish lightening
attacks. However, Alfred was not just
a great military leader. He was also a
man of great learning and culture. The
story of the burnt cakes is intended to show this. The Danes destroyed monasteries and ruined
learning and education in the country.
Alfred tried to revive all of these.
He was clearly a man of great learning himself and urged the clergy to
improve their own education and to restore something of the golden age of
English Christianity. He gave half his
income to founding Christian communities which, during or after his lifetime,
developed education and care for the poor, the sick and travellers. He gathered around him a team of Christian
scholars who made or provided translations into English of great spiritual
and classical works. He personally
translated works of philosophy and religion into English and commissioned
others to do the same, including several books of the bible. He drew on the 10 Commandments for his
laws, which form the basis of the common law is still (though only just in England
itself) in use today. He made an
effort to re-establish monastic life, which had become almost extinct, and in
this he was partially successful. As
part of a peace treaty with the Danes, he insisted on the baptism of the
Danish King Guthrum.
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27 October
Eata, Abbot
of Lindisfarne and Bishop of Hexham, d. 686
Eata was one of the first twelve
English boys educated by Aidan at Lindisfarne. He became a monk and eventually abbot of Melrose, where he
trained Cuthbert. In the 650’s, the King
gave land at Rippon for a monastery and Eata, Cuthbert and others set it
up. However, Eata returned to Melrose in 661 when
Bishop Wilfred decided to Roman rule there.
Following the synod of Whitby ad the
death of Tuda after a few months as Lindisfarne’s
Abbot, Eata became Abbot himself with Cuthbert as his Prior. Here they worked within the new roman
framework. Eata was Bishop of Hexham
between 668 and 671 and bishop of Lindisfarne from 681 to 685, but returned
to Hexham in 685 to enable Cuthbert to become Bishop of Lindisfarne. he is buried at
Hexham and was described as a man of peace and simplicity.
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31 October
Local
Saints
It is the custom on the eve of all
Hallows (Hallowe’en) to honour the lives local
people who, although may not have been made official Saints, nevertheless
left a mark of holiness in their local area.
Some Churches keep a book of their local saints down through the ages
and they are remembered on this day. anglo saxon anglicans also encourages the honouring of local
angels and wardens who guide and protect us at this time.
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1 November
All Saints
From its earliest days, the Church
has recognised and honoured those who have by their faith and lives become
Godlike in the kingdom of heaven and who intercede for us today and inspire
our own lives. The festival dates back
to the fourth century and was moved to 1 November in the ninth century.
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2 November
All Souls
and Ancestors
Our pre-Christian ancestors regularly
honoured their ancestors and, as a tribal society, placed great weight on the
continuum of ancestors, people living today and those still to come. His tradition simply refused to die out
following conversion to Christianity and so was absorbed into the feast of
All Souls and Ancestors. The Ancestors
element to the festival tends to get played down, but anglo saxon anglicans
promotes this as the basis of a folk faith within the Christian tradition. On this day, therefore, we remember not
just our own ancestors, known and unknown, but those of our folk who have
gone before us.
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17
November
Hilda,
Abbess of Whitby, Mother of the English Church, d. 680
Hilda is known as the mother of the English Church and as a jewel in the
darkness. A niece of King Edwin, she
was baptised with him and many others in York at Easter 627. Her spirituality was shaped by Aidan and
she represents that part of the English
Church with strong
Celtic origins. At the age of 36, she
decided to become a nun and Aidan persuaded her to establish a community in Northumbria,
which she did. She first became an
Abbess of a small community by the river Wear, then of a larger one in
Hartlepool and then finally of the large double monastery for men and women
at Whitby. Bede describes her as a woman of great
energy and a fine teacher. It was
Hilda who encouraged the young cowherd Caedmon to become a poet and the first
known popular poet and singer in the English language. King Oswiu chose her Abbey at Whitby to hold the famous synod that was to determine
the future path of the English
Church – Celtic or
Roman. Like Cuthbert, she accepted the
King’s decision to favour the Roman practices. She suffered from fever for the last six
years of her life, but carried on working until her death on 17th
November 680 at what was then an advanced age of 66. Legend tells that at the precise moment of
her death the monastery bells tolled.
A nun called Begu also claimed to have witnessed her soul being
carried to heaven by Angels.
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19
November
Egbert,
Archbishop of York,
d. 766
Egbert was the brother of Northumbria’s King Eadbhert and was Bishop and
then Archbishop of York
between 732 and 766. It was during his
time that York became and archbishopric for
the first time since the early days of Christianity in northern England under
Paulinus. Bede describes him as truly
faithful and imbued with divine wisdom.
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20
November
Edmund,
King and Martyr, d. 869
Edmund became King of East Anglia whilst still a
boy. He was a popular King because of
he took care of the poor, heeded wise counsel and upheld justice. He took seriously the biblical injunction
that a king should not raise himself above the people, but she be one amongst them (Ecclesiasticus 32:1). In 866, the invading Viking armies caused
severe damage to his kingdom, slaughtered many people, including women and
children, and raided many monasteries.
The Danish King, Ingvar, sent a message to Edmund that he should submit
to him and share his kingdom and wealth if he valued his life. Edmund sought advice from a bishop who,
fearing for the King’s life, advised that he submit to Ingvar’s demands. After careful thought, Edmund replied to
the bishop, “Alas, dear bishop,
the miserable people of this land have been miserably treated, and I would
now love to fall in battle, provided that my folk might the land keep."
And the bishop responded, "Alas, my loved king, your folk lie slain and
you have not the power that you may fight, and these vile pirates come and kidnap
those that are alive. Save yourself by fleeing, or by so submitting to
Ingvar." Then Edmund, full of
bravery, said, "This I want and wish with all my heart,
that I do not live after my beloved thanes in their beds, with their
wives and children, have all been slain by these murderous Vikings. Nor was it ever that I might flee, but I
would rather die if my country needs such.
Almighty God knows that I will not turn from his worship, nor from his true love, whether I live or die."
Edmund
then turned to the messenger and told him to relay to Ingvar that he, Edmund,
would never submit in this life to the heathen warlord unless he submits to
Christ first. There is some
uncertainty whether Edmund was captured in the ensuing battle itself or
whether he was captured afterwards.
However, it seems that Ingvar had given orders that Edmund should be
captured and brought to him.
Brought
to Ingvar’s hall, Edmund followed the example of Christ in refusing to allow
Peter to use his weapons. He was then
tied up and gravely insulted, then beaten with twitches and then bound to a
tree and whipped mercilessly. But with
each stroke he called out to Christ his faith and this enraged the
Danes. They then thrust spears at him
until he was so covered by them that bede describes him as like a hedgehog’s
bristles just as St Sebastian was. But
still Edmund would not submit and continued to call out his faith in
Christ. Ingvar then ordered that Edmund
be beheaded which he was. Bede tells
that there was an eyewitness who heard all of this and later told it to his
own Abbott who related it directly to Bede.
The
Vikings hid Edmund’s severed head in the forest and went back to their
ships. The ordinary people then came
back and, seeing that his body had no head, set out to find it. Bede tells the story of how God sent a wolf
to protect the head and as the people set out to search for it, the head
called out to them “here I am, here I am”.
The wolf’s guardianship astonished the people and, as they carried the
head back, he followed them into the village and then set back to the
woods. Many years later, when peace
had returned to the land, the people built a Church for St Edmund. They carried his body to rest in the Church
and found that it was whole as if he was still alive. Indeed, his head was re-attached to his
body as though it had never been severed, with just a thin scar like a red
silk around his neck. It is said that
a widow called Oswyn, who lived by his shrine,
would cut his hair each year and trim his nails – keeping them as relics in a
chest by the alter.
Worship
of St Edmund became very popular and Bishop Theodore gave gifts of gold,
silver and a monastery for his veneration.
It then happened at one time that a band of eight thieves set out to
steal these treasures. They tried in
vain to enter the monastery but could not.
Then the Saint miraculously bound them where they remained until
dawn. They were brought to the Bishop
who ordered that they be hanged on the high gallows, although he regretted this
for the rest of his life being mindful that he had not shown the mercy of
Christ.
Another story tells of a certain man,
called Leofstan, who was rich and ignorant of God. He rode out to the saint with excessive
arrogance, and very insolently ordered the saint to be shown to him, so that
he could see whether he was uncorrupted.
As soon as he saw the saint's body, he immediately went mad and roared
horribly and miserably ended his life.
The moral of this story is that the saint’s body should only be viewed
by those with honourable and pure intentions.
Edmund
is increasingly been seen as the ‘true’ patron Saint of England and,
whilst anglosaxonanglicans continues to recognise St George as a mythical
archetype of our native warrior hero, we also recognise the special place of
St Edmund as a real life English martyr and protector of our folk lands.
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24
November
Enfleda,
Abbess of Whitby,
d. 704
Enfleda was the daughter of King Edwin,
the first Christian King of Northumberland and Princess Ethelburga of Kent. She was baptised by Paulinus at Pentecost
in 621. At the age of seven, she fled
to Kent
with her mother after Edwin had been killed and paganism briefly returned to
the realm. In 642 Oswin, then King of
Northumberland as part of a plan to re-unite the kingdom. In 651, her husband murdered his brother
and Enfleda persuaded him to establish a monastery at Gilling in
penance. She became a patron of Bishop
Wilfred and followed the Roman calendar for Easter whilst her husband
followed the Celtic. This situation
helped to bring about the Synod of Whitby. After Oswin’s
death in 670, she became a nun at Whitby
under Hilda and, with her daughter, succeeded her as Abbess.
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25
November
Alnoth of
Stowe, Hermit and Martyr, d. 700
Alnoth was a cowherd attached to the
monastic community of Werburga at Weedon in Northamptonshire. He became a hermit in the nearby woods of
Stowe where he was murdered by thieves.
His holy presence lingered for a long time in the area.
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11
December
Edburga,
Abbess of Minster, d. 751
Edburga was a princess who, in 716,
built a church and monastery at Minster-in-Thurness
where Mildred had established a group of nuns. After she was buried there, healing
miracles took place.
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14
December
Hybald,
Abbot in Lincolnshire, d. 7th century
Hybald, or Higebald, was the
spiritual father of a community in Lincolnshire, perhaps at Bardney. Bede describes him as a ‘very holy and
abstemious man’. When on a visit to
his friend Egbert in Ireland,
Egbert told him how someone in Ireland had had a vision of St
Cedd being taken to heaven at the time of his death. Hibaldstowe in northern Lincolnshire
takes its name from his grave there and four Lincolnshire churches have been dedicated
to him.
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19
December
Winnibald,
Missionary and Abbot of Heidenham, d. 761
Winnibald became a monk amongst the
West Saxons and spent much of his life in Germany with St Boniface. Together with his brother, Willibald, he
founded a monastery in Heidenham which was the only Christian community in Germany at
the time. Including both men and
women, it became a centre of prayer, work and evangelism. Winnibald narrowly escaped assignation by
pagans and thereafter suffered from ill health. After his death at Heidenham, miracles are
said to have occurred at his tomb.
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