Early English Saints

This intended to be a non-discussion thread.
It is just some history for those that are interested.
Please respect my wished on this

Regarding the title - by early I mean up to the Norman Invasion (1066)

Introduction​

There were Christians in the British Isles quite early. It’s difficult to know how early but the first martyr that we know of was St. Alban who was executed around 287 at Verulanium (now called St. Albans). Three English bishops attended the Council of Arles (in France) in 314, which formally condemned the heresy of Donatism.

After the Romans left England in 407 England was invaded by pagans such as the Picts (from Scotland ) and the Saxons (from Germany), followed by the Angles, the Jutes and later the Vikings.. In 410 the Visigoths sacked Rome.

England, like the rest of Europe, became virtually pagan. But missionaries gradually reconverted England. At the end of the 6th century St Kentigern came south from Scotland and preached in the North West. Around the same time Pope Gregory sent Benedictine monks, led by Augustine, to convert the English. He landed in 597 and set up his base in the South East in Canterbury. By 625 they had spread north, founding a diocese at York. In 634 Aiden and some monks from Iona (an island off the coast of Scotland) were invited to settle in the North East at the invitation of King Oswald of Northumbria, who himself had converted to Christianity while in exile in Iona.

The South West also seems to have lapsed into paganism after the fall of the Roman Empire, but was re-Christianised by missionaries from Ireland in the late 5th and early 6th centuries by Saints such as St Piran and St. Morwenna, though details of their lives are sketchy.

Many of these English Saints are well known (like St. Aiden, Saint Edward the Confessor, St. Thomas Moore and St. John Fisher) and their feast days are commemorated in the liturgical calendar. Others are known only locally (like St. Morwenna, St. Fursey and St. Wulfstan) but deserve to be better know. They are our fathers (and mothers) in faith who passed on the faith that we now have.

 

[Mungo]

JANUARY

Saint Kentigern (Feast Day – 13 January) ​

I am presenting two Saints each month. But this month I have an extra one - Saint Kentigern.

"Kentigern, also known as Mungo, was a missionary to the Britons in Strathclyde [Scotland] and was consecrated their bishop. Driven out by persecution, he preached in north-west England and in Wales., but eventually returned to Scotland. He died in 603 and was buried in Glasgow."
(from the Breviary)

By tradition, he was the son of a British princess. His nickname, Mungo, means "dear one" or "darling." He was raised by St. Serf and became a hermit near Glasgow, Scotland. Driven into exile after being consecrated a bishop circa 540, Kentigern went to St. David in Wales. There he possibly founded St. Asaph Monastery at Llanelwy. In 553, he returned to Scotland to continue his labours. With St. Theneva, he is patron of Glasgow. He is also venerated as the Apostle of Northwestern England and Southwestern Scotland.

Although principally a Scottish Saint I have included him as an extra this month because he is the Secondary Patron of my diocese of Liverpool.

 

[Mungo]

JANUARY

Saint Fursey (Feast Day - 16 January)​

Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia.

He was born c. 597 in the region of modern-day Connacht (Ireland) supposedly the son of Fintan and grandson of Finlog, pagan king of the area. His mother was Gelges, the Christian daughter of Aed-Finn, king of Connacht. He was educated by St Brendan's monks, and when he became of the proper age he was inducted into the monastery at Inisquin (near Galway), under the Abbot St Meldan, where he devoted himself to religious life

Fursey was the first recorded Irish missionary to Anglo-Saxon England. He arrived in East Anglia with his brothers, Foillan and Ultan, during the 630s shortly before St Aidan founded his monastery on Holy Island. The conversion of the Kingdom of East Anglia to Christianity began under Raedwald, By 633, Sigeberht of East Anglia had established the first East Anglian bishopric at Dommoc and appointed a Burgundian Bishop named Felix.

When Fursey arrived with his brothers Foillan and Ultan, as well as other brethren, bearing the relics of Saints Meldan and Beoan, he had been welcomed by the king, who gave him land to establish an abbey at Cnobheresburg, where there was an abandoned Roman fort, traditionally identified with Burgh Castle in Norfolk.

Here he laboured for some years converting the Picts and Saxons. After Sigeberht was slain by an army led by Penda of Mercia, it is recorded that his successor King Anna of East Anglia, and his nobles, further endowed the monastery at Cnobheresburg. Three miracles are recorded of Fursey's life in this monastery. He then retired for a year to live with Ultan the life of an anchorite. However, as great numbers continued to visit him, and as war threatened in East Anglia, he left Foillan as abbot and proceeded to Lagny, in France around 644. He died about 650 at Mézerolles while on a journey.

 

[Mungo]

JANUARY

Saint Wulfstan (Feast Day – 19 January)

​

Saint Wulfstan was born about 1008 at Long Itchington in the county of Warwickshire. He studied at monasteries in Evesham and Peterborough, before becoming a clerk at Worcester. His superiors, noting his reputation for dedication and chastity, urged him to join the priesthood. He was ordained in 1038, and soon joined a monastery of Benedictines at Worcester, serving as treasurer, prior and then Bishop of Worcester in 1062. He was the only bishop to remain in his post for any length of time after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The others were replaced by Normans.

Wulfstan was a social reformer and struggled to bridge transition between the old Saxon regime and the new Norman one. He tried to alleviate the sufferings of the poor under the new regime He died 20 January 1095 after a protracted illness, the last surviving pre-Conquest bishop. After his death, an altar was dedicated to him in Great Malvern Priory, next to Cantilupe of Hereford and King Edward the Confessor. He was canonised in 1203.

Wikipedia notes that "he is sometimes called Wufstan II to indicate that he is the second Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester. This, however, does not prevent confusion, since the first Bishop Wulfstan is also called Wulfstan II to denote that he was the second Archbishop of York called Wulfstan. To make matters worse, Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, was the maternal uncle of Wulfstan II, Bishop of Worcester."

Saint Wulfstan is the Patron Saint of vegetarians and dieters, so perhaps it might be appropriate at this time of year to ask him to help us to recover from a Christmas surfeit of turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies!

 

[Mungo]

FEBRUARY

Saint Lawrence (Feast Day – 2 February)​

Lawrence was one of the Benedictines sent by Pope Gregory the Great under the leadership of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597 to convert the English. Lawrence acted as a messenger between Augustine and the Pope. When Augustine died, Lawrence succeeded him as Archbishop of Canterbury in 604.

After the death of King Ethelbert a few years later, the people began to revert to paganism and many of the missionaries left. Lawrence himself decided to move to France but legend has it that, in a dream, Saint Peter himself rebuked Lawrence for abandoning his flock. The story says that, in his dream, Saint Peter scourged him and he kept the scars on his back.

Lawrence remained in Canterbury and later converted King Edbald. He died on 2 February 619 and was buried in Canterbury. While he was bishop, Lawrence founded a monastery in Canterbury and dedicated it to Saints Peter and Paul. It was later re-consecrated as St. Augustine’s Abbey. His relics were move to the new church in 1091.

 

[Mungo]

FEBRUARY

Saint Oswald of Worcester (Feast Day - 28/29 February)
​

A Dane by birth, St. Oswald studied in the household of his uncle, Archbishop Odo of Fleury, France, where he was ordained. Returning to England in 959, he was later made Bishop of Worcester (962), by St. Dunstan. In this office, he worked hard to eliminate abuses and built many monasteries, including the famous abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire.

In 972, St. Oswald became Archbishop of York, although he also retained the See of Worcester in order to promote his monastic reforms which were under attack by Elfhere, King of Mercia. In addition to striving to improve the morals of his clergy, this holy man also labored to increase their theological knowledge - he himself wrote two treatises and several synodal decrees. St. Oswald was associated for most of his public life with St. Dunstan and St. Ethelwold and when he died in 992 popular veneration joined his name to theirs. He has been revered ever since as one of the three saints who revived English monasticism.

Oswald died on 29 February 992 in the act of washing the feet of the poor at Worcester, as was his daily custom during Lent, and was buried in the Church of Saint Mary at Worcester. He promoted the education of the clergy and persuaded scholars to come from Fleury and teach in England. A Life of Oswald was written after his death, probably by Byrhtferth, a monk of Ramsey Abbey. Almost immediately after his death miracles were reported at his funeral and at his tomb. His remains were translated to a different burial spot in the cathedral ten years after his death. His feast day is celebrated on 28 February during common years and 29 February during leap years.

 

[Mungo]

MARCH

Saint Piran (Feast Day – 5 March)​

The origins of St. Piran (or Peran in Cornish) are disputed among scholars. He is sometimes identified as St. Ciarán of Saighir or St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. In early times Gaelic languages often alternated p and k sounds. So Ciarán (hard c) becomes Piran.

He was born and grew up in Ireland, but, according to Wikipedia the legend is that “heathen Irish tied him to a mill-stone, rolled it over the edge of a cliff into a stormy sea, which immediately became calm, and the saint floated safely over the water to land upon the sandy beach of Perranzabuloe in Cornwall. His first disciples are said to have been a badger, a fox and a bear

He landed in Cornwall, and there established himself as a hermit. His sanctity and his austerity won for him the veneration of all around, and the gift of miracles, with which he was favoured, brought many to seek his charitable aid.

He was joined at Perranzabuloe by many of his Christian converts and together they founded the Abbey of Lanpiran, with Piran as abbot.”


He is also said to have re-discovered tin-smelting when tin came out of his black hearthstone (probably of tin ore) and formed a cross. On the black stone. St. Piran’s flag (left) has become the flag of Cornwall. St. Piran is the patron saint of tin miners and of Cornwall.

He arrived from Ireland on the north Cornish coast near Perranporth (Piran’s port) and in the sand hills just north-east of Perranporth there are remains reputed to be of Piran’s Oratory. This was excavated in the 19th century but was later filled with sand to protect it. In recent years St. Piran's Trust raised money to re-excavate it and build a protecting wall around it.

St. Piran died around 480 AD and his feast day is 5th March. He is very popular in Cornwall.

Wikipedia reports:
St Piran's Day is popular in Cornwall and the term 'Perrantide' has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many Cornish-themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants. The village of Perranporth ('Porthpyran' in Cornish) hosts the annual inter-Celtic festival of 'Lowender Peran', which is also named in honour of him.

The largest St Piran's Day event is the march across the dunes to St Piran's cross which hundreds of people attend, generally dressed in black, white and gold, and carrying the Cornish Flag. A play of the Life of St Piran, in Cornish, has been enacted in recent years at the event. Daffodils are also carried and placed at the cross. Daffodils also feature in celebrations in Truro, most likely due to their 'gold' colour. Black, white and gold are colours associated with Cornwall due to St Piran's Flag (black and white), and the Duchy Shield (gold coins on black).

In 2006 Cornish MP Dan Rogerson asked the government to make 5 March a public holiday in Cornwall to recognise celebrations for St Piran's Day.

 

[Mungo]

MARCH

Saint Cuthbert (Feast Day - 20 March)​

The following is taken from Wikipedia.
Cuthbert (c. 634 – 20 March 687) is a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in what might loosely be termed the Kingdom of Northumbria in the North East of England and the South East of Scotland. After his death he became one of the most important medieval saints of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northern England.

He grew up near Melrose Abbey, a daughter-house of Lindisfarne, today in Scotland. He had decided to become a monk after seeing a vision on the night in 651 that St Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne, died, but seems to have seen some military service first.

Cuthbert's fame for piety, diligence, and obedience quickly grew. When Alchfrith, king of Deira, founded a new monastery at Ripon, Cuthbert became its praepositus hospitum or guest master under Eata. When Wilfrid was given the monastery, Eata and Cuthbert returned to Melrose. Illness struck the monastery in 664 and while Cuthbert recovered, the prior died and Cuthbert was made prior in his place. He spent much time among the people, ministering to their spiritual needs, carrying out missionary journeys, preaching, and performing miracles.

In 676, moved by a desire for the contemplative life, and with his abbot's leave, he moved to a spot which Archbishop Eyre identifies with St Cuthbert's Island near Lindisfarne, but which Raine thinks was near Holburn, at a place now known as St Cuthbert's Cave. Shortly afterwards, he removed to Inner Farne island off the Northumbrian coast, where he gave himself up to a life of great austerity. first he received visitors, but later he confined himself to his cell and opened his window only to give his blessing.

In 684, Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Hexham, at a synod at Twyford (believed to be present-day Alnmouth, but was reluctant to leave his retirement and take up his charge; it was only after a visit from a large group, including king Ecgfrith, that he agreed to return and take up the duties of bishop, but instead as Bishop of Lindisfarne, swapping with Eata, who went to Hexham instead. He was consecrated at York by Archbishop Theodore and six bishops, on 26 March 685. After Christmas, 686, however, he returned to his cell on Inner Farne Island (two miles from Bamburgh, Northumberland), which was where he eventually died on 20 March 687 AD, after a painful illness. He was buried at Lindisfarne the same day, and after long journeys escaping the Danes his remains chose, as was thought, to settle at Durham, causing the foundation of the city and Durham Cathedral. The St Cuthbert Gospel is among the objects later recovered from St Cuthbert's coffin, which is also an important artefact.

According to Bede's life of the saint, when Cuthbert's sarcophagus was opened eleven years after his death, his body was found to have been perfectly preserved or incorrupt. This apparent miracle led to the steady growth of Cuthbert's posthumous cultus, to the point where he became the most popular saint of Northern England. Numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession and to intercessory prayer near his remains.

 

[Mungo]

APRIL

Saint Æthelburh of Kent (Feast Day - 5 April)

​

The following is taken from Wikipedia
Æthelburh of Kent (born 605) sometimes spelled Æthelburg, Ethelburga, Æthelburga was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. A condition of their marriage was Edwin's conversion to Christianity and the acceptance of Saint Paulinus' mission to convert the Northumbrians.

After King Edwin was wounded, Æthelburh's alarm caused an early onset of childbirth. Both the mother, as well as the infant, appeared to be in danger. The prayers of Paulinus were offered for the queen and child. After they recovered, 12 of the royal households, as well as the baby, were baptized by Edwin’s permission and request.

According to the Kentish Royal Legend, after Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633, she returned to Kent with Paulinus. She then established one of the first Benedictine nunneries in England, at Lyminge, near Folkestone, which she led until her death in 647, and where her remains were later venerated.

Modern research has shown that the buildings at Lyminge were designed to contain a convent of monks as well as of nuns. The church is built from Roman masonry, and was possibly built out of the fragments of a villa, which was customary practice by Anglo-Saxons, or it may have been a Roman basilica.

 

[Mungo]

APRIL
Saint Alphege of Canterbury (Feast Day - 19 April)


​

Alphege (also known as Aelfheah )was born in Weston on the outskirts of Bath around 953. He began his religious life in the English monastery of Deerhurst, but subsequently withdrew to live as a hermit near Bath. Thereafter he resumed community life, entering the Bath monastery and becoming its abbot. At the early age of thirty, he was consecrated bishop of Winchester. So great was his generosity to the poor that beggars were nowhere to be found in his diocese. Subsequently he was elevated to England's primatial see of Canterbury. When in 1011 Canterbury was overrun by Danish invaders, who began to slaughter the townspeople, the archbishop presented himself to the Danes, declaring, "Spare those poor innocent victims. Turn your fury rather against me." Alphege was thereupon consigned to a dungeon. Afterward, an epidemic among the Danes frightened them into releasing him. Newly freed, Alphege obtained the healing of many victims of the epidemic by his prayers and by distributing to them blessed bread. Despite this, the Danes later stoned and axed him to death in Greenwich.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
"... the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their "hustings" on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God's kingdom."

But eleven years later, it was to be a Danish king, Canute, who would honourably transfer Alphege's body to Canterbury.

 

[Mungo]

MAY
Eadberht of Lindisfarne (Feast Day - 6 May)​

In 688 Eadberht became Bishop of Lindisfarne. We know nothing of the events of his earlier life, but Bede tells us two things about his personality: first that, like many monks in the Irish tradition, he was a devoted student of the Scriptures, renowned for his learning, and secondly that he was a very charitable man, who used every year to give away to the poor a tenth of his animals, his cereal crops, his fruit and even his clothes.

We know that during his episcopate he covered with lead the walls and roof of the wooden church built on the Island by Bishop Finan, the second bishop, who followed Aidan. Up to this point all the buildings in our first monastery here had been built in wood. So presumably Eadberht began the process of introducing more durable materials into the monastic buildings.

Also, while Eadberht was bishop, the posthumous fame of Cuthbert [see March] was growing as more miracles were claimed at his tomb. So it was Bishop Eadberht who gave permission for Cuthbert's remains to be 'elevated' in 698, fixing the date for this ceremony on the anniversary of the saint's death. The purpose of this was to declare St. Cuthbert to be a saint, and to make his relics available to pilgrims. But of course everyone expected to find bones in the coffin, and the bishop himself seems to have held a little aloof from the elevation. He was in fact in retreat on St. Cuthbert's Island (it was Lent, March 20th) when the undecayed body was discovered. But he permitted the body to be placed in a new shrine, above ground.

Shortly after this Eadberht himself fell ill and died, so he was buried in St. Cuthbert's now empty grave. When the monks withdrew from the Island in 875 Eadberht's relics went in the coffin with St. Cuthbert's body, and so were eventually interred in Durham.
(https://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/canon-tristram/kate12.htm)

 

[Mungo]

MAY
Saint Bede The Venerable (Feast Day – 25 May)
​

Bede (known as The Venerable) was born on land of St. Peter’s monastery in Wearmouth, North-East England in 672/3. At the age of seven he was entrusted to the monastery for his education. After two years he moved to a new monastery (called St. Paul’s) that was being built a few miles away at Jarrow. The two monasteries considered themselves as one community. Bede remained at St. Paul’s for the rest of his life. While he was still young a plague swept through the monasteries killing many of the monks but Bede survived

He received a good education and became very learned. He is well known for his ecclesiastical history of the early Church in England. But he also wrote commentaries on the scriptures and translated them into the local language. He just completed the Gospel of John before he died in 735. His remains are in Durham Cathedral.

During his life the Abbot of Bede’s monastery commissioned the monks to produce three complete Bibles (called Pandects). Each Bible used the hides from 1,030 calves to provide the vellum with nine scribes working on each Bible. When complete one Bible weighed 75 pounds and with its protective box would have taken two men to carry it.


The Church was altered after Bede’s time but some of the original Saxon features remain. During an archaeological dig in 1973/4 some fragments of Saxon glass were found and they have been incorporated into a small round Saxon window which was there in Bede’s time (right).

 

[Mungo]

JUNE
Saint Alban (Feast Day - 20th June)​

As I mentioned in the Introduction there were Christians in the British Isles quite early. It’s difficult to know how early but in 314 three English bishops attended the Council of Arles (in France) which formally condemned the heresy of Donatism

But about 27 years prior to that three Christians were martyred. The best known is St. Alban who was beheaded around 287 at Verulanium (now called St. Albans in Hertfordshire). St. Gildas mentions two others who were martyred at the same time, Julius and Aaron who were citizens of Caerleon (Monmouthshire). Those two are honoured in Wales.

Of St. Alban little is known for sure. St. Gildas was writing about 250 years later and Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, about 200 years after that. However it is believed he was Romano-British, possibly a Roman soldier stationed at Verulanium. At that time the Emperor had ordered the persecution of Christians and when soldiers came to his house searching for a priest, Alban saved the priest by exchanging clothes with him which allowed the priest to escape. Alban was arrested and executed in the priest's' place.

Recent scholarship suggests St. Alban may have been executed as early as 254 under the Emperor Decian

By the time St. Germanus of Auxerre visited Britain in 429 his cult was already well established and by Bede's time there was a shrine and a church. King Offa of Mercia built a monastery at the shrine in 793.

 

[Mungo]

JUNE
Saint Ethelreda (Feast Day - 23 June)​

Ethelreda (Æthelthryth, also known as Audrey) was probably born in Exning, near Newmarket in Suffolk. She was one of the four saintly daughters of Anna of East Anglia, all of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys.

Ethelreda made an early first marriage in around 652 to Tondberct, chief or prince of the South Gyrwe. She managed to persuade her husband to respect her vow of perpetual virginity that she had made prior to their marriage. Upon his death in 655, she retired to the Isle of Ely, which she had received from Tondberct as a morning gift.

Ethelreda was subsequently remarried for political reasons in 660, this time to Ecgfrith of Northumbria. Shortly after his accession to the throne in 670, she became a nun. This step possibly led to Ecgfrith's long quarrel with Wilfrid, bishop of York. One account relates that while Ecgfrith initially agreed that Ethelreda should continue to remain a virgin, in about 672 he wished to consummate their marriage and even attempted to bribe Wilfrid to use his influence on the queen to convince her. This tactic failed and the king tried to take his queen from the cloister by force. Ethelreda then fled back to Ely with two faithful nuns and managed to evade capture, thanks in part to the miraculous rising of the tide. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ethelreda founded a double monastery at Ely in 673, which was later destroyed in the Danish invasion of 870.

Bede told how after her death, Ethelreda's bones were disinterred by her sister and successor, Seaxburh and that her uncorrupted body was later buried in a white, marble coffin. In 695, Seaxburh translated the remains of her sister Ethelreda, from a common grave to the new church at Ely. The Liber Eliensis describes these events in detail. When her grave was opened, Ethelreda's body was discovered to be uncorrupted and her coffin and clothes proved to possess miraculous powers. Seaxburh supervised the preparation of her sister's body, which was washed and wrapped in new robes before being reburied.

Throughout the Middle Ages, a festival, "St. Audrey's Fair", was held at Ely on her feast day. The exceptional shodiness of the merchandise, especially the neckerchiefs, contributed to the English language the word "tawdry", a corruption of "Saint Audrey."

 

[Mungo]

JULY

Saint Morwenna (Feast Day - 8 July)​

Morwenna is the eponymous patron saint of Morwenstow, a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, UK. Her name is thought to be cognate with Welsh morwyn "maiden".

Morwenna first appears in a 12th-century life of Saint Nectan that lists her alongside Endelient, Mabyn and Menfre (among many others) as a daughter of the Welsh king Brychan.

She was trained in Ireland before crossing over to Cornwall. Morwenna made her home in a little hermitage at Hennacliff (the Raven’s Crag), afterwards called Morwenstow (meaning "Morwenna's holy-place"). It stands near the top of a high cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where the sea is almost constantly stormy, and from where, in certain atmospheric conditions, the coast of Wales can be seen. She built a church there, for the local people, with her own hands. It is said that she carried the stone on her head from beneath the cliff and where she once stopped for a rest, a spring gushed forth to the west of the church.

Early in the sixth century, while she lay dying, her brother, St. Nectan, came to see her, and she asked him to raise her up so that she might look once more on her native shore. She was buried at the church in Morwenstow.

A painting was later found on the north wall of the Morwenstow church, thought to represent St. Morwenna. It shows a gaunt female clasping a scroll to her breast with her left hand; the right arm is raised in blessing over a kneeling monk. (Wikipedia)

 

[Mungo]

JULY

Saint Swithun (Feast Day – 15 July)​

St. Swithun (or Swithin) was consecrated Bishop of Winchester in October 852 or 853 and died between 862 and 865 – the exact dates of his life are not known. He was born in the reign of King Egbert of Wessex. He became a tutor to the king’s son Ethelwulf, and a trusted counsellor of the king. He was appointed Bishop of Winchester and was known for his piety and his zeal for building or restoring churches. It is said that when he gave a banquet he invited the poor and not the rich.

On his deathbed Swithun asked to be buried outside the north wall of the cathedral where passers by should walk over his grave and raindrops from the eves above should drop on it. On 15th July 971 his remains were dug up and removed to a shrine inside a new church. (though even this date seem uncertain). The legend has it that his removal was accompanied by violent storms which lasted for forty days and nights (indicating he was displeased with this), and this led to the belief that if it rained on St. Swithun’s Day it would do so for 40 days.

St Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithun's day if thou be fai
For forty days 'twill rain na mair.

​

 

[Mungo]

AUGUST

Saint Oswald - King and Martyr (Feast Day - 5 August)​

Oswald was born into the Northumbrian Royal Family in 604, the son of Ethelfrith. When in 616 his uncle Edwin killed the king, the 12-year old Oswald with his brothers and sister fled to Scotand and at St. Columba's great Celtic monastery of Iona and was converted to Christianity.
After the death of Edwin in 633 Oswald returned to Northumbria and was crowned king. The following year he fought and killed Cadwalla, king of the Welsh in the battle of Heavenfield, near Hexham. He later extended his kingdom southward and westward and invited St. Aidan to come from Iona to spread Christianity in this pagan area.

A monastery was founded on the island of Lindisfarne which became a base for the missionary journeys of King and Bishop throughout the kingdom. Churches were built e.g. the foundation of the later York Minster; mission cells spread the Celtic traditions of St. Columba across northern England. Many villagers were converted, youths educated in monastic centres, the poor shepherds and cowherds gathered to hear the word of God, the sick were healed and the destitute fed and clothed.

Throughout his eight-year rule Oswald established law and order, and fought physically and spiritually to benefit his people In 642 he led his forces against King Penda of Mercia at the battle of Maserfeld where he was killed and his body dismembered. His followers recovered his head and his brother, Oswy, sent the holy relics to Lindisfarne where it became an object of veneration during the life of St. Cuthbert.

He was canonised in 692 and his feast is kept on 5th August. During the Viking raids in 875 the monks fled from Lindisfarne and carried their relics with them, including the body of St. Cuthbert, the head of St. Oswald and the Linldisfarne Gospels through many flights and wanderings over many decades. Eventually, after nearly 200 years they were interred in the new church at Durham.

 

[Mungo]

AUGUST

Saint Aidan (Feast Day - 31 August)​

In 604 Oswald, the son of the pagan king of Northumberland (see above) fled when his uncle killed his father to gain the throne. He spent many years at the monastery in Iona, an Island off the Scottish coast, where monks from Ireland had settled. He converted to Christianity. In 633, his uncle died and he became king of Northumbria. In 634 he invited the monks to send missionaries from Iona to convert his kingdom. A small group on monks, led by Corman were sent to Northumberland. However they found the local people very difficult and soon returned to Iona reporting failure to make any progress and they should abandon any attempt. Aiden would not hear this and protested. The Abbot of Iona decided to send Aidan. He was a different sort of man to Corman and might succeed where Corman had failed. And indeed he did.

Aidan chose his companions carefully and set of for Northumberland. Unlike Corman, Aidan wanted to set up his monastery, not inside the king’s castle, but outside, among the people he had come to serve. The king offered then any land they might choose, expecting them to choose rich farmland. But Aidan chose an island – Lindisfarne, which is actually not totally an island since it is joined to the mainland by a strip on land at low tides. But this also was to Aidan’s advantage since it gave them some isolation for peace and prayer, but also easy access to the mainland. King Oswald was a man of prayer himself and helped Aidan by interpreting as Aiden preached (Aidan and his monks not knowing the local language). Gradually people came to Christ. King Oswald was murdered in 642 but Aidan’s work continued.

Aidan died on 31 August 651. According to the Venerable Bede, a 16 year old youth called Cuthbert was out in the hills guarding sheep when had a vision of a holy soul being taken by the angels into heaven. Cuthbert eventually became bishop of Lindisfarne (see March).

Note: St. Aidan of Lindisfarne should not be confused with the Irish St. Aidan who became bishop of Fearnes and was a contemporary of our Aidan dying only 20 years earlier.

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[Mungo]

SEPTEMBER

Saint Hereswith (Feast Day – 3 September)​

The 7th century was an important time for the Church in England. After the withdrawal of the Roman legions in 407AD, England was invaded by pagan tribes from northern Europe – the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. England became virtually pagan. But during the late 6th century and the 7th century it was re-Christianised, from the south by the Bendictines sent by Pope St. Gregory and from the north by the Saints from Scotland such as Kentigern and Aiden. England consisted of many kingdoms and an important strategy was to convert the local king. However they were turbulent times with kings being overthrown or killed in battle. It was during this time that Hereswith lived, probably from around 613 to 690, though she lived the later part of her life in a convent in Gaul (France).

She was descended from the Northumbrian royal house being the daughter of Hereric the nephew of Edwin of Northumbria and married Aethilric, the brother of king Anna of East Anglia. Her son Ealdwulf eventually became the king of East Anglia.

She was the older sister of Saint Hild (Hilde or Hilda) of Whitby (more of her in November) and the mother of three Saints - Sexburga, Withburga, and Ethelburga.

Hereswith and Hild seemed to have been baptised with Aethelburg of Kent who had been converted by St. Paulinus of York (more of him in October). Edwin married Aethelburg and part of the marriage agreement was that he became a Christian.

 

[Mungo]

SEPTEMBER

Saint Edith of Wilton (Feast Day 16 September)​

Edith of Wilton was the daughter of Wilfrida by relationship with King Edgar the Peaceable outside the bounds of marriage. After Edith was born Wilfrida (also known as Wulfritha) entered a convent at Wilton in Wiltshire, taking Edith with her. According to Wikipedia she was effectively abducted by Edgar who later did penance for his sins.

Edith herself became a nun at the age of 15. She declined her father’s offer of three abbacies, and refused to leave the convent to become queen when her half-brother, King Edward the Martyr was murdered, as many of the nobles requested. She built St. Denis Church at Wilton.

“According to hagiography, Edith was greatly celebrated for her learning, her beauty and her sanctity. Minor miracles were reported shortly after her death…. Following her exhumation and subsequent reburial, Edith's thumb was enshrined separately and became an important relic. She was elevated to sainthood at her mother's instigation, and also upon the initiative of her brother Aethelred and her cause was supported by her nephew, Edmund Ironside. Edmund's successor, Cnut the Great, was renowned for his veneration of Edith. Goscelin wrote that while Cnut was crossing the North Sea from England to Denmark, his fleet suffered a terrible storm and fearing for his life, he appealed to Edith. The storm calmed and on his return to England, Cnut visited Wilton to give thanks for his rescue, "with solemn gifts, and published this great miracle with prolific testimony", subsequently ordering a golden shrine to Edith to be erected at the abbey.” (Wikepedia)

Edith was born in 961 AD and died in 84 AD at just 23. Her mother outlived her by 4 years, dying in 988.
Wilfrida lived a holy life after her earlier transgression, eventually becoming abbess at Wilton, and was canonised. Her feast day is September 9th.