714 Guthlac of Croyland, OSB Hermit imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels." prophet visions incorrupt (AC)

 786  Dec 18 St. Willibald Bishop and missionary native of Wessex England brother of Sts. Winebald and Walburga related to St. Boniface; Willibald was the first recorded English pilgrim to the Holy Land, and his vita the earliest travel book by an English writer; honoured with many miracles.

700 St. Pamphilus Bishop of Sulmona and Corfinium Abruzzi venerated for his deep sanctity gift of miracles
Corfínii, in Pelígnis, sancti Pámphili, Valvénsis Epíscopi, caritáte in páuperes et virtúte miraculórum illústris; cujus corpus Sulmóne cónditum est.
 At Corfinio in Peligno, St. Pamphilus, bishop of Valva, illustrious for his charity towards the poor and the gift of miracles.  His body was buried at Solmona.

Italy. While venerated for his deep sanctity, he was nevertheless accused before Pope Sergius of being an Arian. The basis of the charge was that Pamphilus said Mass before sunrise on Sunday morning.
Completely vindicated, Pamphilus was sent a gift by the pope to be distributed to the poor. 

Pamphilus of Sulmona B (RM) Bishop Pamphilus of Sulmona (a see later joined to that of Valva) and Cofinium, in the Abruzzi, was accused by his flock to Pope Sergius of Arian practices, chiefly, it seems because of his singing Mass before daybreak on Sundays--but he completely vindicated himself (Attwater2, Benedictines).

700 Werburga of Chester founded new convents restored goose to life , OSB V (AC)
(also known as Werburg, Werebrurge, Werbyrgh) Born at Stone, Staffordshire, England; died at Threckingham, England, c. 690-700; feast of her translation at Chester, June 21.
  The patroness of Chester, England, Saint Werburga, was born of a line of kings, being a daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia. From her mother, the saintly Ermingilde (Ermenilda), she learned as a child the Christian faith.  By temperament she was pious and virtuous, and her beauty attracted many admirers, among them a prince of the West Saxons, who offered her rich gifts and made flattering proposals, and also Werbode, a powerful knight of her father's court. But refusing all her suitors, she secured, after much persuasion, her father's permission to enter a convent (or she did so after her father's death).  When the time came, he and his courtiers escorted her in great state to the abbey of Ely, where they were greeted at the gates by her aunt, the royal abbess, Ethelreda, and her nuns. Werburga fell upon her knees and asked that she might be received as a novice, and to the chanting of the Te Deum they entered the cloister, where she was stripped of her costly apparel, exchanged her coronet for a veil, and in a rough habit began her new life.
    She made good progress, and after many years, at the request of her uncle, King Ethelred, was chosen to superintend all the convents of his kingdom. This opened to her a large and fruitful sphere of duty, and the religious houses under her care became models of monastic discipline.
    Through the wealth and influence of her family she also founded new convents at Trentham in Staffordshire, Hanbury near Tutbury, and Weedon in Northamptonshire, and secured the interest of Ethelred in establishing the collegiate Church of Saint John the Baptist in Chester, and in giving land to Egwin for the great abbey of Evesham. 
Werburga won many from dissipation and vice, and God crowned her life with many blessings. Her work was deeply rooted in prayer and discipline.

   She lived to a ripe age, and before her death she journeyed to all her convents, paying to each a farewell visit; she then retired to Trentham (Threckingham in Lincolnshire), where she died. She was buried in the monastery of Hanbury in Staffordshire. Later, her remains were transferred with great ceremony in the presence of King Coolred and many bishops to a costly shrine in Leicester, which attracted many pilgrims.

   In 875, for fear of the Danes, her relics were removed to Chester. In 1095, they were translated within Chester, where in the course of time a great church, now the cathedral, was built over it, and where the remains of it may still be seen, carved with the figures of her ancestors, the ancient kings of Mercia. On its four sides the deep niches remain, where the pilgrims knelt, seeking healing, afterwards receiving a metal token to show that they had visited her shrine. This final translation was the occasion for Goselin to write her vita. The shrine was destroyed under King Henry VIII, although part of its stone base survives. Twelve ancient English churches were dedicated to her, including Hanbury and Chester (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill).

   In art Saint Werburga holds the abbey, while her crown lays at her feet. Sometimes there are wild geese near her (Roeder), because, according to Goselin she restored one to life (see below); however, the writer borrowed the story from his own vita of the Flemish Saint Amelburga (Farmer). She is, of course, the patroness of Chester (Roeder).

Like a cheerful gossip, William of Malmesbury writes this tale of a local miracle wrought by Saint Werburga:

   "It was in the city of Chester that the girl Werburga, daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia, and Ermenilda... took her vows, and her goodness shone for many years. The story of one miracle done by her I now shall tell, which made a great stir and was long told about the countryside.  "She had a farm outside the walls, where the wild geese would come and destroy the standing corn in the fields. The stewart in charge of the farm took all shifts to drive them off, but with small success. And so, when he came to wait upon his lady, he added his complaint of them to the other tales he would tell her of the day.
"'Go,' said she, 'and shut them all into a house.' The countryman, dumbfounded at the oddness of the command, thought that his lady was jesting: but finding her serious and insistent, went back to the field where he had first spied the miscreants, and bade them, speaking loud and clear, to do their lady's bidding and come after him. Whereupon with one accord they gathered themselves into a flock, and walking with down-bent necks after their enemy, were shut up under a roof.

On one of them, however, the rustic, with no thought of any to accuse him, made bold to dine.

   "At dawn came the maid, and after scolding the birds for pillaging other people's property, bade them take their flight. But the winged creatures knew that one of their company was missing; nor did they lack wit to go circling round their lady's feet, refusing to budge further, and complaining as best they could, to excite her compassion.

   "She bade him gather up the bones and bring them to her. And straightway, at a healing sign from the girl's hand, skin and flesh began to come upon the bones, and feathers to fledge upon the skin, till the living bird, at first with eager hop and soon upon the wing, launched itself into the air. Nor were the others slow to follow it, their numbers now complete, though first they made obeisance to their lady and deliverer.
   "And so the merits of this maid are told at Chester, and her miracles extolled. Yet though she be generous and swift to answer all men's prayers, yet most gracious is her footfall among the women and boys, who pray as it might be to a neighbor and a woman of their own countryside" (Malmesbury)

704 St. Austreberta Benedictine abbess famed for her visions and miracles
also called Eustreberta. She was born in 630, the daughter of the Count Palatine Badefrid and St. Framechildis, near Therouanne, Artois, France. Faced with an unwanted marriage, Austreberta went to St. Omer, who gave her the veil, the symbol of the consecrated virgin. She also convinced her family that she had a true vocation. Austreberta entered the convent of Abbeville, Port-sur-Somme. In time she was elected abbess and helped reform the convent of Pavilly. She was famed for her visions and miracles.

Austreberta of Pavilly, OSB Abbess (RM) (also known as Eustreberta)  Born near Thérouanne, Artois, France, 630; died in Normandy, 704. Austreberta (means 'wheat of God'), was the daughter of Saint Framechildis and the Count Palatine Badefrid. She received the veil from Saint Omer in the convent of Abbeville (Port-sur-Somme), where she later became abbess. She left the convent at Port to direct and reform a new and laxly established garret of 25 nuns in Parvilly, (Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia).

He died there, probably in the year 710, and was buried in the monastery. Several hundred years later, when reconstruction was being done, Adrian’s body was discovered in an incorrupt state. As word spread, people flocked to his tomb, which became famous for miracles. Rumor had it that young schoolboys in trouble with their masters made regular visits there.

710 ST ADRIAN, ABBOT OF CANTERBURY
ADRIAN was an African by birth, and was abbot of Nerida, not far from Naples, when Pope St Vitalian, upon the death of St Deusdedit, the archbishop of Canterbury, judged him for his learning and virtue to be the most suitable person to be the teacher of a nation still young in the faith. The humble servant of God found means to decline that dignity by recommending St Theodore in his place, but was willing to share in the more laborious part of the ministry. The pope therefore enjoined him to be the assistant and adviser of the archbishop, to which Adrian readily agreed.
St Theodore made him abbot of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, afterwards called St Augustine’s, at Canterbury, where he taught Greek and Latin, the learning of the fathers, and, above all, virtue. Under Adrian and Theodore this monastic school at Canterbury had a far-reaching influence—St Aldhelm came there from Wessex, Oftfor from Whitby, and even students from Ireland. Roman law could be studied as well as the ecclesiastical sciences; and Bede says that there were pupils of St Adrian who had a good knowledge of Greek and spoke Latin as well as they did English. St Adrian had illuminated this island by his doctrine and the example of his holy life, for the space of thirty-nine years, when he departed to our Lord on January 9 in the year 710.

714 Erkemboden of Thérouanne bishop monk of Sithiu many miracles OSB B (AC)
Attwater places his feast on April 20. As a monk of Sithiu at Saint-Omer, Saint Erkemboden succeeded the founder, Saint Bertinus, as abbot.
Thereafter he became bishop of Thérouanne, while continuing to rule the abbey. He was bishop for 26 years. So many miracles occurred at his shrine that pilgrim came in droves, leaving so many offerings that within a few years of his death it was possible to built a cathedral in his honor (Attwater2, Benedictines, Montague).

714 Guthlac of Croyland, OSB Hermit imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels." prophet visions incorrupt (AC)

714 ST GUTHLAC God gave the recluse great spiritual consolations, besides bestowing upon him the gifts of prophecy and miracles. “Have you not read that he who elects to be unknown of men becomes known of wild creatures and is visited by angels? For he who is frequented by men cannot be frequented by the holy angels.”

THE great Norman abbey of Croyland or Crowland, the ruins of which are still standing, replaced more than one earlier monastery on the site sanctified by the life and death of the holy hermit St Guthlac. Whilst it was the monks who reclaimed the swamp, joining the island to the mainland and rendering it arable and fertile, it was in the name of the recluse, their patron, that they obtained from the council of the realm permission to make of Croyland a sanctuary of refuge where fugitives could be secure from their pursuers.
St Guthlac, who was of noble race, joined the army of Ethelred of Mercia as a fighting man when he was very young. At the age of twenty-four, however, he laid down his arms to enter the double monastery of Repton, at that time under the rule of the abbess Elfrida. The handsome young novice, though amiable and courteous to all, was at first unpopular owing to his austerity and especially to his total abstinence from any intoxicating drink, but as soon as his brethren came to know him better they appreciated his sincerity and goodness. For two years he remained at Repton, acquiring monastic discipline and studying the Scriptures, and then he was seized with the desire to take up the life of a hermit. He was told of a dismal island in the Fens, described as being so dank and so haunted by monsters and evil spirits that no one had hitherto been able to live in it. He persuaded his informant to take him there in a fishing boat, and decided that it was the place he sought. He returned with two or three companions to Croyland, where he was to end his days.  With certain modifications necessitated by the difference in place and climate his life reproduced that of the fathers of the desert, and in addition to severe interior trials he experienced violent temptations, not unlike those which St Athanasius describes of St Antony. Moreover, he was savagely attacked by wild beings whom he regarded as monsters, but who seem to have been the descendants of Britons who had fled into the Fens to avoid their Saxon conquerors. On the other hand God gave the recluse great spiritual consolations, besides bestowing upon him the gifts of prophecy and miracles. St Hedda, Bishop of Dorchester, conferred holy orders upon him when he had been six years on the island. In his solitude St Guthlac possessed a great attraction for wild nature: the fish in the marshes would swim towards him at his call, and he was constantly surrounded by birds, who flocked into his cell, ate from his hands, and built their nests in the places he selected. When the crows robbed him of some of his few possessions, he bore with their depredations, “deeming that an example of patience ought to be set not only to men but also to birds and beasts”. One day, as he was talking with a man called Wilfrid, two swallows alighted on his shoulders and then perched on his arms and knees, chattering all the time as though quite at home. In reply to Wilfrid’s exclamations of surprise St Guthlac said, “Have you not read that he who elects to be unknown of men becomes known of wild creatures and is visited by angels? For he who is frequented by men cannot be frequented by the holy angels.”
When the saint had been living as a hermit for a period variously computed as fifteen and twenty-one years, God revealed to him the date of his death, which was very near. It also became known in some way to Edburga, abbess of Repton, for she sent him a leaden coffin and a shroud. On the Wednesday in Holy Week 714, he sent word to his sister St Pega, inviting her to come to his funeral. Although she had been living as an anchoress at Peakirk (Pegkirk), close to Croyland, her brother had always refrained from seeing her, deeming it desirable that they should not meet in this world that they might meet with greater joy in the next. On the seventh day of his illness, after taking viaticum from his altar, he passed to his eternal reward. His burial was attended by St Pega and by his disciples, Cissa, Egbert, Bettelin and Tatwin, who occupied cells not far from that of their master. St Guthlac’s tomb became a great place of pilgrimage, especially after Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been cured of ague through the intercession of Guthlac in the year 851.
Born in Mercia, c. 673; died at Crowland, Lincolnshire, England, in 714; feast day formerly on April 12; feast of his translation is August 30 and there is a commemoration on August 26.
As a young man of royal blood from the tribe of Guthlacingas, Guthlac had been a soldier for nine years, fighting for Ethelred, the King of Mercia. At age 24, he renounced both violence and the life of the world and became a monk in an Benedictine double abbey at Repton, which was ruled by an abbess named Elfrida.

Even in these early years his discipline was extraordinary. Some of the monks in fact disliked him because he refused all wine and cheering drink. But he lived down the criticism and gained the respect of his brothers. After two years in the monastery it seemed to him far too agreeable a place. On the feast of Saint Bartholomew about 701, he found a wet, remote, unloved spot on the River Welland in the Fens, which could be reached only by boat, and lived there for the rest of his life as a hermit, seeking to imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers.

His temptations rivalled theirs. Wild men came out of the forest and beat him. Even the ravens stole his few possessions. But Guthlac was patient, even with wild creatures. Bit by bit the animals and birds came to trust him as their friend. A holy man named Wilfrid once visited Guthlac and was astonished when two swallows landed on his shoulders and then hopped all over him. Guthlac told him, "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels."

Apparently, Guthlac was also had a vision of Saint Bartholomew, his patron. Nor was he entirely alone in his refuge: He had several disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, and Tatwin, who had cells nearby. Bishop Hedda of Dorchester ordained him to the priesthood during a visit. The exiled prince Ethelbald, often came to him for advice, learned from Guthlac that he would wear the crown of the Mercians.

When he was dying, Guthlac sent for his sister, Saint Pega, who was a hermitess in the same neighborhood (Peakirk or Pega's church). Abbess Edburga of Repton sent him a shroud and a leaden coffin. A year after his death, Guthlac's body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. Soon his shrine, to which his sister had donated his Psalter and scourge, began popular. When both King Wiglaf of Mercia (827-840) and Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury (who was cured by Guthlac of the ague in 851) became devotees, Guthlac's cultus grew and spread.

Guthlac's vita was recorded in Latin by his near contemporary Felix. Several others were composed in Old English verse and prose.

In art, Saint Guthlac is depicted holding a scourge in his hand and a serpent at his feet. At times he may be shown (1) receiving the scourge from Saint Bartholomew; (2) being ordained priest by Saint Hedda of Winchester; or (3) with devils molesting and angels consoling him (Roeder). A magnificent pictorial record of his life survives in the late 12th-century Harleian Roll Y.6 at the British Museum, which is usually called the Guthlac Roll. This is a series of eighteen roundels, cartoons for stained glass windows, based on Felix's vita and the pseudo-Ingulph's history of Crowland.
Crowland also has several 13th-century sculptures of his life.

Died c. 700 or 722; feast of the translation of her relics, June 25. The ruins of Wenlock Abbey in Shropshire, dating from the 11th century, remind us of Saint Milburga, whose name still lingers in that area. She was one of a family of eminent saints and belonged to the royal house of Mercia.

How often a good mother is blessed in her children! Her mother Domneva (Domna Ebba or Ermenburga), princess of Kent, had three daughters: Milburga, Mildred, and Mildgytha, each of whom grew up to follow the pattern of her mother's faith, and each, after a life wholly devoted to Christ, was canonized as a saint.

Those were the days when the daughters of kings were proud and eager to dedicate their wealth and talents in Christian leadership and to pour out their youth and strength in the service of the Church. They founded and ruled great abbeys, taught the young, cared for the sick, and relieved the poor.

Milburga, like her mother before her, surrendered her high estate, forsook the luxury and comfort of her home, and counted it her highest privilege to serve God in a consecrated Christian life. Helped by her father, Merewald, an Anglian chieftain, and her uncle Wulfhere, king of Mercia, she founded the monastery of Wenlock, which was placed under the direction of Saint Botulf of East Anglia. Its first abbess was Liobsynde, a French nun from Chelles. Its second was Milburga, who was consecrated abbess by Archbishop Saint Theodore. It was no ordinary monastery; everything about it reflected the grace and fragrance of her own pure spirit. The gardens were full of the choicest flowers, the orchards bore the sweetest fruits, and within its walls was found, we are told, the very peace of heaven.

By her sheer goodness Milburga converted many to the Christian faith, and this in a dark and primitive age when, outside the monastery walls, the countryside was wild and remote, and full of unknown dangers. One day, for example, on one of her errands of mercy, she was terrified by a neighboring princeling who, wishing to marry her, intercepted her with a band of soldiers, but she providentially escaped. In her flight she crossed a small stream called the Corve, and he, following, found when he reached it that the waters had risen and his plan was thwarted. The place where it happened it called to this day Stoke Saint Milburgh.
She loved flowers, birds (over which she had a mysterious power), country life, and country people, to sit and work in the sun and tend the herbs in her garden, and to visit in the villages around. People came to her with their troubles and ailments and even ascribed to her miraculous cures. Milburga was venerated for her humility, holiness, the miracles she performed, and for the gift of levitation she is said to have possessed.

717 St. John of Beverly John known for holiness preference for the contemplative life possessed the gift of healing many miracles are recounted in Bede's Ecclesiastical History the author of which he had ordained It was not just miracles that led to John's canonization. He led a life of remarkable holiness.
John was born at Harpham, Yorkshire, England. He studied under Adrian at St. Theodore's School in Kent, and on his returen to his native land, became a monk at Whitby. He was named bishop of Hexham in 687 and then transferred to York as metropolitan in 705, succeeding St. Bosa.

John was known for his holiness, his preference for the contemplative life, and his miracles, many of which are recounted in Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the author of which he had ordained. In ill health, John resigned the bishopric of York in 717 and retired to Beverly Abbey, which he had founded, and remained there until his death on May 7. His shrine was for centuries one of the most popular pilgrim centers in England. He was canonized by Pope Benedict IX in 1037.

John of Beverley, OSB B (RM) Born in Harpham (Humberside), Yorkshire, England; died at Beverley, England, May 7, 721; canonized in 1037; feast of translation, October 25. Saint John trained for the priesthood and monastic life in Kent under the direction of SS. Adrian(Born in Africa; died at Canterbury, England, January 9, 710) and Theodore (b. in 759; d. on the Peninsula of Tryphon, near the promontory Akrita on 11 November, 826), but returned to Yorkshire upon completing his studies to become a monk at Whitby Abbey, which was then under the rule of Saint Hilda(Born in Northumbria in 614; died at Whitby in 680).

John founded a monastery in Humberside, England, on the site of a small church dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, where he asked to be buried. In 687, after the death of Saint Eata(Died c. 686. It is impossible to write about Eata, the 7th century English saint, without going back to Saint Aidan( Born in Ireland; died 651), and from Saint Aidan to Saint Paulinus of York( Born c. 584; died at Rochester, England, 644. In 601), and from Saint Paulinus to Saint Augustine (Austin) of Canterbury( Born probably in Italy, c. 996; died at Novara, Lombardy, Italy, c. 1081), and from Saint Augustine to Saint Gregory the Great(born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604) who began this chain reaction. Nor should we forget the Venerable Bede(Born in Northumbria, England, 673; died at Jarrow, England, on May 25, 735; named Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899). without whose Ecclesiastical History we would never have heard of Saint Eata, nor Saint Cuthbert(Born in Northumbria, England (?) or Ireland, c. 634; died on Inner Farne in March 20, 687), who was Eata's close friend), John he was consecrated bishop of Hexham.

He is said to have shown special care for the poor and the handicapped. Whatever time he could spare from his episcopal duties he spent in contemplation. At regular seasons, especially during Lent, he retired to pray in a cell by the church of Saint Michael beyond the Tyne, near Hexham. He would take with him some poor person, whom he would serve during his retirement.

He was transferred York as archbishop upon the death of Saint Bosa in 705, (Died 686. Saint Bosa Benedictine monk at Whitby, England, under Saint Hilda.) and Saint Wilfrid (Born in Ripon, Northumbria, 634; died at Oundle, in 709) succeeded him at Hexham as part of the final settlement of the latter's long dispute with the Northumbrian kings.

He continued his practice of periodic retirement for spiritual refreshment. His chosen retreat was an abbey that he had built at Beverley, then a forest. Not until old age had worn him out did he resign his office to Saint Wilfrid the Younger(Died at Ripon in 744. Saint Wilfrid was one of the five future bishops who were educated by Saint Hilda at Whitby) in order to spend the last four years of his life in the peace of his beloved abbey at Beverley.

He cured a youth of dumbness, even though the boy had never utter a single word. (The boy was apparently bald from a terrible scalp disease also.) On the second Sunday of Lent, John made the sign of the cross upon the youth's tongue, and loosed it. Bede tells of how the saint patiently taught the boy the alphabet. He taught him to say "gea," which signifies in Saxon "Yea"; then the letters of the alphabet, and afterwards syllables. Thus the youth miraculously obtained his speech. Moreover, by the saint's blessing and the remedies prescribed by a physician whom he employed, his head was entirely healed, and became covered with hair.

Bede also records that John cured a noblewoman of a pain so grievous that she had been unable to move for three weeks. Several people who seemed in immediate danger of death were saved by his prayers. In addition to his own eye-witness accounts, Bede tells us of cures witnessed by Abbot Bercthun of Beverley and Abbot Herebald of Tinmouth.

After the saint's death, such miracles continued around his shrine, which became a famous pilgrimage site. The Bollandist Henschenius devoted four books to the miracles wrought at the holy bishop's shrine. So many were drawn there that the magnificent Beverley Minster was built, which rivals some of England's great cathedral churches. Alcuin also records miracles worked at John's intercession. (Alcuin Born in York, England, c. 735; died at Saint Martin's in Tours, France, May 19, 804. Alcuin studied under Saint Edbert at the York cathedral school, was ordained a deacon there, and, in 767, became its head. Under his direction it became a well-known center of learning.)

For example, King Athelstan invoked John's intercession for victory against the Scots. In 1307, his relics were translated -- the occasion of a vita written by Folcard. Some of the sweet-smelling relics were discovered in September 1664, when a grave was being dug, in a lead box within a vault of freestone. These relics had been hidden in the beginning of the reign of king Edward VI.

It was not just miracles that led to John's canonization. He led a life of remarkable holiness. Other devotees include Blessed Julian of Norwich(Born c. 1342; died in Norwich, England, c. 1423; she has never actually been beatified), King Henry V (who attributed the victory of Agincourt to his intercession), and Saint John Fisher(Born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1469; died on Tower Hill, London, on June 22, 1535;), who was born at Beverley (Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Walsh).

Charged with being overly strict by his clergy, Egwin went to Rome. Upon his return to England, he founded Eversham Monastery with the aid of the kingdom of Mercia. A vision of Mary prompted this founding. In 709, Egwin returned to Rome, accompanied by King Cenred of Mercia and King Offa of the East Saxons.

717 ST EGWIN, BISHOP OF WORCESTER
EGWIN, said to have been a descendant of the Mercian kings, devoted himself to God in his youth, and succeeded to the episcopal see of Worcester about 692. By his zeal and severity in reproving vice he incurred the hostility of some of his own flock, which gave him an opportunity of performing a penitential pilgrimage to Rome, to answer before the Holy See complaints that had been made against him. Some legends tell us that before setting out he put on his legs iron shackles, and threw the key into the Avon, but found it in the belly of a fish, some say at Rome, others on his passage from France to England. After his return, with the assistance of Ethelred, King of Mercia, he founded the famous abbey of Evesham, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. According to the story, a herdsman called Eof had a vision of our Lady, who was then seen by Egwin himself, and at the place of these visions the monastery was established (Evesham = Eof’s hamm, or meadow). Then, probably about 709, the bishop undertook a second journey to Rome, in the company of Kings Cenred of Mercia and Offa of the East Saxons, and we are told he received considerable privileges for his founda­tion from Pope Constantine; after the disturbances of the tenth century, Evesham became one of the great Benedictine houses of medieval England. According to Florence of Worcester, St Egwin died on December 30, in 717, and was buried in the monastery of Evesham. His feast is observed in the archdiocese of Birmingham.

St. Egwin  (d. 717) 
You say you’re not familiar with today’s saint? Chances are you aren’t—unless you’re especially informed about Benedictine bishops who established monasteries in medieval England.

Born of royal blood in the 7th century, Egwin entered a monastery and was enthusiastically received by royalty, clergy and the people as the bishop of Worcester, England. As a bishop he was known as a protector of orphans and the widowed and a fair judge. Who could argue with that?
His popularity didn’t hold up among members of the clergy, however. They saw him as overly strict, while he felt he was simply trying to correct abuses and impose appropriate disciplines. Bitter resentments arose, and Egwin made his way to Rome to present his case to Pope Constantine. The case against Egwin was examined and annulled.

Upon his return to England, he founded Evesham Abbey, which became one of the great Benedictine houses of medieval England. It was dedicated to Mary, who had reportedly made it known to Egwin just where a church should be built in her honor.
He died at the abbey on December 30, in the year 717. Following his burial many miracles were attributed to him: The blind could see, the deaf could hear, the sick were healed.

There is an eleventh-century life printed by Mabillon (saec. iii, Pt 1, pp. 316—324), and see BHL. 2432—2439; for the life and miracles in the Gotha MS. I. 81, see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lviii (1940), Pp. 95—96; and cf. T. 0. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue vol. i, pp. 415—420; the Evesham Chronicle, ed. W. D. Macray in the Rolls Series (vol. XXIX, 1863, Introduction); and it M. Wilson, Lost Literature of Medieval England (1952), p. 104. See the Acta Sanctorum January, vol. i; Stubbs in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 62—63 and St Egwin and his Abbey...(1904), by the Stanbrook nuns. St Egwin’s body was translated to a more honourable place in 1183, probably on January 11, on which day many English martyrologies mark his festival. See Stanton, Menology, pp. 615 seq. It is a very curious thing, as William of Malmesbury long ago pointed out, that Bede makes no mention of Egwin or of Evesham.

For years they had no children but finally, in answer to their prayers they had a child. They had hoped to have a son, but Adalric’s joy turned to rage when he realized his child was not only female, but blind. He felt humiliated and ordered the child to be killed, or at least to be taken away and left to die. At the same time he had it proclaimed with trumpets that the duchess had given birth to a stillborn child. Bereswind’s faithful nurse took the baby and nursed it as her own at Scherweiler. About a year later, the child was given to the convent of Baume-les-Dames (Palma), near Besancon, in Franche Compte, or by some variants of the legend, she floated down the river to Beaume in a chest.

At the age of twelve, she was baptised by Saint Erhard of Regensburg (then Bishop of Bavaria), abbot of the newly built monastery of Eberheim-Munster. Odilia miraculously gained her sight and looked steadily at Erhard, who said, "So, my child, may you look at me in the kingdom of heaven."

Adalric and Bereswind had several other children, and when their eldest son Hugh was grown up, he located his sister and without asking his father’s permission, brought her home. The Duke was so angry that he struck and killed the brother; but horrified at his own violence, he accepted his daughter and did penance for his crime. Her personal beauty, and her father's wealth and power, began to attract many rich suitors. A nun from England became a servant to attend to Odilia and when her parents planned a marriage for her with a German duke, she fled her home and crossed the Rhine. In 686, Adalric found her one day carrying meal in an earthen dish, under her cloak, to make food for the poor. Since he had already begun to give alms and endowments for the good of his soul, he gave Odilia his castle of Hohenburg, with all its lands and revenues, that she might make it into a nunnery (modern Odilienburg/Mont Sainte-Odile).

The hill of Hohenburg rises over 2,000 feet abruptly from the valley of the Rhine. It had a pre-Christian wall around it, still called the heathen wall, and there was a plateau on top, on which the monastery was built. Within ten years the place had a hundred and thirty nuns, amongst whom were the three daughters of her brother Adelard, St Eugenia, her successor, St Attala, abbess of St Stephen's at Strasburg, and St Gundelind. There Odilia served her Lord, governed a large community, and gave relief to every sort of suffering.

In the 7th and 8th centuries there were frequent pilgrimages to Hohenburg, but Odilia's hill was so high and steep that very few of the pilgrims managed to climbed to seek her hospitality; so at the foot of the mountain and with the approval of her community, she founded the Odilienberg monastery at Niedermunster. There she entertained such numbers of pilgrims that very soon the two chapels which Adalric had built were too small that she begged him to build a large church, which he did in 690. Olilia’s parents both died shortly afterwards. Then she died December13, 720 and was buried in a chapel near the convent church on the Odilienberg. The tomb where once Odilia's body originally lay was evidently destroyed in 1793. In recent times, an abbey has been founded by a new Benedictine congregation at Sankt Ottilien, between Munich and Augburg.

Odilia shares the same feast day, December 13th , as Saint Lucy, while her shrine on the Odilienburg is still a celebrated place of pilgrimage, visited by devout pilgrims and those afflicted with blindness or other eye diseases. She also gave her name to the Guild of St Odilia (Consulting Opticians) early this century. In art, she is frequently depicted as an abbess with a book on which are two eyes. She can therefore be easily distinguished from Saint Lucy, who is shown much younger and with two eyes on a plate.

Some eye conditions cannot be helped by operations, medicines, or eyeglasses. Although the invoked stories of Odelia and the other saints of the eyes may be the consequence of both fact and fiction, this still provides the hope of a miraculous cure for some believing patients.

720 St. Hermenland Evangelizer of Normandy miracle worker gift of prophecy
 In Antro, ínsula Lígeris flúminis, sancti Hermelándi Abbátis, cujus gloriósa conversátio insígni miraculórum præcónio commendátur.       At Indre, an island in the Loire, Abbot St. Hermeland, whose glorious life was commended by outstanding miracles.
France, a miracle worker also called Erblon, Herbland, and Hermel and. Born near Noyon, he entered Fontenelle Abbey under St. Lambert after serving King Clotaire III. Hermenland led a group of twelve monks to evangelize Nantes, erecting an abbey on an island in the Loire. He died at Aindreete. Hermenland had a gift of prophecy and performed miracles.

Hermenland, OSB Abbot (RM) (also known as Hermeland, Herbland, Erblon) Born in Noyon; died c. 720. Saint Hermenland served as royal cup- bearer in his youth. Later he withdrew to Fontenelle and became a monk under Saint Lambert. Following his priestly ordination, Hermenland was sent with a band of 12 monks to become the first abbot of a new abbey on the island of Aindre in the estuary of the Loire, which had been founded by Saint Pascharius. Hermenland had the gift of prophecy and could read minds (Attwater2, Benedictines).

720 St. Wulfram Bishop missionary preach among the Frisians miracle while praying and several miracles after death
In monastério Fontanéllæ, in Gállia, sancti Wulfránni, Epíscopi Senonénsis, qui, relícto Episcopátu, ibídem, clarus miráculis, decéssit e vita.
      In the monastery of Fontanelle in France, St. Wulfran, bishop of Sens, who resigned his bishopric, and after having performed miracles, departed out of this life.
Wulfram (d. early eighth century) + Bishop and missionary Born at Milly. France, he was the son of Fuldert, a courtier in the service of the Frankish king Dagobert (r. 623-639). Wulfram served in the Court of King Thierry (r. 670-687) of Neustria (parts of France). Ordained a priest, he was appointed bishop of Sens, replacing the rightful occupant of the see, St. Amatus, who was then in exile. Owing to the controversy, Wulfram resigned after two-and-one-half years and set out to preach among the Frisians.

Wulfram of Fontenelle, OSB B (RM) (also known as Wolfram, Wulfrannus) Died at Fontenelle, France, April 20, c. 703 (or 720?); feast of his translation, October 15. The story of Saint Wulfram takes us back to the days of the Franks and the dark gods of the north, and of the wild Teutonic tribes and old Norse sagas, when a handful of devoted men sailed into the northern night with the Cross at their prow and challenged the power of Odin and Thor.
Wulfram came of a gentler race, born and bred in a civilized land, nurtured in the wealthy home of his father, an official of King Dagobert. He found his first employment in the French court under Clotaire III, and, in 682, was rewarded with the archbishopric of Sens in place of its rightful bishop, Saint Amatus. But, strangely moved by God's Spirit to acknowledge the see's licit bishop and by the challenge of the pagan lands, within three years he laid aside his high employments and gave his property of Maurilly to the Church. In order to prepare himself to take the Gospel to the Frisians and obtain the help of monks, he retired for a time at Fontenelle. Then he set sail for Scandinavia with a small group of followers.

To the ship's bow he ascended, By his choristers attended,
Round him were the tapers lighted, And the sacred incense rose.
On the bow stood Bishop Sigurd, In his robes as one transfigured, And the Crucifix he planted

   It was a hard and evil time, and only with great difficulty did his enterprise make headway. The son of king Radbod was converted. Wulfram, however, was allowed to settle and to preach the Gospel.  The missionaries had some success, but as in other parts of Europe during the period, the attitude of the king was likely to be decisive.

Wulfram found that children were sacrificed to appease their heathen gods, hung on roadside gibbets, or fastened to posts on the shore and left to drown with the tide. On great pagan festivals, the people would cast lots to see who should be sacrificed. Immediately the chosen one would be hanged or cut into pieces. In vain he appealed to Radbod to prohibit such inhuman practices, but the king replied that it was the custom of the country and he could not alter it.

At other times he cut down the bodies of those who were nearly dead from the gallows to which they were tied and restored them as in the case of Ovon. The lot decided that Ovon should be sacrificed. Wulfram earnestly begged King Radbod to save him: but the people ran to the palace, outraged at such a sacrilege. After much discussion they agreed that if Wulfram's God should save Ovon's life, he should ever serve him and be Wulfram's slave. The saint went into prayer. After hanging on the gibbet for two hours, the man was left for dead. The cord hanging him broke.

The missionaries and their miracles so impressed the inhabitants that, filled with fear and wonder, they renounced their false gods and were baptized, and even Radbod himself was converted. But at the point of baptism, Radbod asked where his ancestors were. Wulfram answered that hell was the destiny of idolators. Radbod then declared: "I will go to hell with my ancestors rather than be in heaven without them."

For twenty years Wulfram continued his arduous missionary activity until failing health compelled him to return to France; but always he is remembered as the captain of a Christian crew, who "bore the White Christ" through the vapors of the northern night.  His relics were translated from Fontenelle to Abbeville, where Wulfram is venerated as patron and where several miracles occurred.

In 1062, his relics were moved to Rouen. Both his feasts are celebrated in Croyland Abbey (Lincolnshire), England, probably because their abbot Ingulfph (1086-1109) was a monk of Fontenelle.

722 St. Richard of Swabia  brother of St. Boniface Miracles reported at his tomb father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga
Richard was the father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome from his native Wessex, England, with his two sons when he was stricken and died at Lucca, Italy. Miracles were reported at his tomb and he became greatly venerated by the citizens of Lucca, who embellished accounts of his life by calling him "king of the English".

Richard the "King" (RM) Died 722. Perhaps Saint Richard was not really a king--early Italian legend made him a prince of Wessex--but his sanctity was verified by the fact that he fathered three other saints: Willibald, Winebald (Wunibald), and Walpurga (Walburga). Butler tells us that "Saint Richard, when living, obtained by his prayers the recovery of his younger son Willibald, whom he laid at the foot of a great crucifix erected in a public place in England, when the child's life was despaired of in a grievous sickness. . . . [he was] perhaps deprived of his inheritance by some revolution in the state; or he renounced it to be more at liberty to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christian perfection. . . . Taking with him his two sons, he undertook a pilgrimage of penance and devotion, and sailing from Hamble-haven, landed in Neustria on the western coasts of France. He made a considerable stay at Rouen, and made his devotions in the most holy places that lay in his way through France."
He fell ill, died suddenly at Lucca, Italy, and was buried in the church of San Frediano. A later legend makes him the duke of Swabia, Germany. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he became greatly venerated by the citizens of Lucca and those of Eichstatt to where some of his relics were translated. The natives of Lucca amplified accounts of his life by calling him king of the English. Neither of his legends is especially trustworthy--even his real name is unknown and dates only from the 11th century. A famous account of the pilgrimage on which he died was written by his son's cousin, the nun Hugeburc, entitled Hodoeporicon (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, White)

 In art, King Saint Richard is portrayed as a royal pilgrim (ermine- lined cloak) with two sons--one a bishop and one an abbot. His crown may be on a book (Roeder). He is venerated at Heidenheim and Lucca (Roeder).

February 7th Troparion (Tone 3) Accepting Christ our God as King, O Father Richard, thou didst leave thy native Wessex to be a pilgrim. Pray that in our pilgrimage we may find salvation for our souls.

St. Richard of Swabia also known as St. Richard, King of Wessex (Kingdom of the West Saxons) is the brother of St. Boniface. It is uncertain whether or not he was crowned a king in this life, but he is certainly numbered with the "kings and priests" in the Kingdom of Christ. His sons, Willibald and Winebald are also Saints, as is his daughter, Walburga. He and his two sons left England to undertake a pilgrimage of penance and devotion. They made their way through France. Then Richard fell ill and reposed in Lucca, Italy, in 722. He was buried in the Church of St. Frediano. Miracles were reported at his tomb. His sons, now joined by their sister, were recruited by their uncle, the newly elevated Bishop Boniface of Germany, to evangelize Germany. St. Walburga was the first abbess in Heidenheim. St. Willibald settled in Eichstatt. Some of St. Richard's remains were then translated to Eichstatt, and many there were healed through his intercessions. His connection to Swabia is apparently due to devotion to him after his repose for miracles worked through his intercession.
http://www.comeandseeicons.com/inp23.htm

721-724 Malrubius priest Abbot austere monastic life known for piety learning miracles M (AC)

(also known as Maelrubha) Descended from the princely line of Niall, Saint Malrubius was a member of Saint Comgall's glorious company at Bangor Abbey, where he was ordained to the priesthood. He migrated to Scotland to spread the Gospel among the Picts much as Saint Columba did in the 6th century. There he led an austere monastic life and was known for his piety, learning, and miracles.

He spend many years in solitude conversing only with God. The fame of his miracles became so great that his reputation spread throughout France. He was highly esteemed by the French king, but he could not be prevailed upon to forsake his solitude. He admitted several disciples, however, to share it with him. He founded a monastery, and established an excellent discipline therein. In succeeding ages it embraced the rule of St. Benedict. St. Giles died probably in the beginning of the eighth century, about the year 724.

St. Giles (Latin Ægidius.)
An Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where he established himself first in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to a dense forest near Nîmes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a hind. This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. The king [who according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavius?), King of the Visigoths, but who must have been a Frank, since the Franks had expelled the Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nîmes almost a century and a half earlier] conceived a high esteem for solitary, and would have heaped every honour upon him; but the humility of the saint was proof against all temptations. He consented, however, to receive thenceforth some disciples, and built a monastery in his valley, which he placed under the rule of St. Benedict. Here he died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.

His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the numberless churches and monasteries dedicated to him in France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles; by the numerous manuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles; and especially by the vast concourse of pilgrims who from all Europe flocked to his shrine. In 1562 the relics of the saint were secretly transferred to Toulouse to save them from the hideous excesses of the Huguenots who were then ravaging France, and the pilgrimage in consequence declined.
   With the restoration of a great part of the relics to the church of St. Giles in 1862, and discovery of his former tomb there in 1865, the pilgrimages have recommenced. Besides the city of St-Gilles, which sprang up around the abbey, nineteen other cities bear his name, St-Gilles, Toulouse, and a multitude of French cities, Antwerp, Bridges, and Tournai in Belgium, Cologne and Bamberg, in Germany, Prague and Gran in Austria-Hungary, Rome and Bologna in Italy, possess celebrated relics of St. Giles. In medieval art he is a frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind. His feast is kept on 1 September. On this day there are also commemorated another St. Giles, an Italian hermit of the tenth century (Acta SS., XLI, 305), and a Blessed Giles, d. about 1203, a Cistercian abbot of Castaneda in the Diocese of Astorga, Spain (op. cit. XLI, 308).

Eódem die sancti Hubérti, Tungrénsis Epíscopi.    On the same day, St. Hubert, bishop of Tongres.

727 ST HUBERT, BISHOP OF LIEGE
The “extraordinary manner” referred to in Alban Butler’s commendably guarded statement is related to have been as follows:

 Hubert was very fond of hunting and one Good Friday went out after a stag when everybody else was going to church. In a clearing of the wood the beast turned, displaying a crucifix between its horns. Hubert stopped in astonishment, and a voice came from the stag, saying, “Unless you turn to the Lord, Hubert, you shall fall into Hell”. He cast himself on his knees, asking what he should do, and the voice told him to seek out Lambert, the bishop of Maestricht, who would guide him.

However the retirement of Hubert from the world came about, he entered the service of St Lambert and was ordained priest. When the bishop was murdered at Liege about the year 705 Hubert was selected to govern the see in his place. Some years later he translated Lambert’s bones from Maestricht to Liege, then only a village upon the banks of the Meuse, which from this grew into a flourish­ing city. St Hubert placed the relics of the martyr in a church, which he built upon the spot where he had suffered and made it his cathedral, removing thither the episcopal see from Maestricht. Hence St Lambert is honoured at Liege as principal patron of the diocese and St Hubert as founder of the city and church, and its first bishop.

In those days the forest of Ardenne stretched from the Meuse to the Rhine and in several parts the gospel of Christ had not yet taken root. St Hubert penetrated into the most remote and barbarous places of this country and abolished the worship of idols; and as he performed the office of the apostles, God bestowed on him a like gift of miracles.
Amongst others, the author of hss life relates as an eye­witness that on the rogation-days the holy bishop went out of Maestricht in pro­cession through the fields and villages, with his clergy and people according to custom, following the standard of the cross and the relics of the saints, and singing the litany. A woman possessed by an evil spirit disturbed this procession but St Hubert silenced her and restored her to her health by signing her with the cross. Before his death he is said to have been warned of it in a vision and given as it were a sight of the place prepared for him in glory. Twelve months later he went into Brabant to consecrate a new church. He was taken ill immediately after at Tervueren, near Brussels. On the sixth day of his sickness he quietly died, on May 30, in 727.

 His body was conveyed to Liege and laid in the church of St Peter. It was translated in 825 to the abbey of Andain, since called Saint-Hubert, in Ardenne, on the frontiers of the duchy of Luxemburg. November 3, the date of St Hubert’s feast, is probably the day of the enshrining of his relics at Liege sixteen years after his death. St Hubert is, with St Eustace, patron saint of hunting-men, and is invoked against hydrophobia.

St Hubert was formerly, and perhaps is still, greatly venerated by the people of Belgium. It is therefore not altogether surprising that Fr Charles De Smedt, writing in 1887, devoted 171 pages of the Acta Sanctorum (November, vol. i) to do him honour. But the one short primitive memoir by a contemporary tells us nothing of his origin, of his alleged time at the court of Austrasia, or of his wife; and the “son”, Floribert, who became bishop, seems to have been his son only in a spiritual sense. It is clearly manifest from the succession of lives printed by Father De Smedt, and from his introduction, that the details of St Hubert’s early career and conversion were not heard of before the fourteenth century. But the story of the stag and the other miracles attributed to the saint made his cult popular far beyond the confines of the Netherlands. Two orders of chivalry, one in Lorraine and one in Bavaria, were founded under his patronage, and there is a considerable literature, dealing especially with his relics and with the folklore aspects of the case. On this last subject see Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. iv, pp. 425—434; E. Van Heurck, Saint Hubert et son culte en Belgique (1925) ; and L. Huyghebaert, Sint Hubertus, patroon van de jagers…(1949). Consult also A. Poncelet in the Revue Charlemagne, vol. i (1911), pp. 129—145; the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlv (1927), pp. 84—92 and 345-362.  H. Leclercq, in DAC., vol. ix (1930), cc. 630—631 and 655—656. A useful handbook is that of Dom Réjalot, le culte et les reliques de S. Hubert (1928). The best work from an historical point of view is by F. Baix in La Terre Wallonne, vol. xvi (1927), et seq.; see also “Une relation inédite de la conversion de S. Hubert”, ed. M. Coens, in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlv (1927), pp. 84—92. 

Hubert was a married court­ier serving Pepin of Heristal, France. He reportedly had a vision of a crucifix between the horns of a stag while hunting. Widowed, he is believed to have entered Stavelot Monastery, Belgium, and was ordained by St. Lambert at Maastricht. He succeeded St. Lambert about 705 as bishop. Hubert erected a shrine for St. Lambert’s relics at Liege, France. He was noted for his miracles and for converting hundreds. Hubert died at Tervueren, near Brussels, Belgium, on May 30. He is a patron saint of hunters.

Hubert of Liège B (RM) Died at Tervueren (near Brussels), Belgium, May 30, 727. Nothing reliable is known about Saint Hubert before he became a cleric under Saint Lambert, whom he succeeded as bishop of Tongres-Maestricht.

In medieval times many saints derived both the pleasure of sport and some of their food from hunting. According to legend both Saint Eustace and Saint Hubert came upon a stag with a crucifix between its antlers. The stag's warning to Hubert was sterner than that to Saint Eustace, since Hubert had been hunting on Good Friday. Stopped in his tracks by the sight of the stag and crucifix, Hubert heard a voice warning him that unless he turned to Christ he was destined for hell.

This was in the forest of Ardenne. Hubert had been a courtier whose wife died giving birth to their son in the year 685. He retired from the service of Pepin of Heristal and became a priestly servant of Bishop Lambert. For 10 years Saint Lambert taught the future Saint Hubert self-discipline by making him live alone as a hermit in the forest.

Around 705 Lambert publicly criticized King Pepin for his adultery with the sister of his wife. The woman called on her brother and some other men to murder Lambert in the tiny village of Liège. Hubert was elected Lambert's successor.

Hubert courageously cherished the memory of Saint Lambert. Since the saint had been murdered at Liège, Hubert decided that his bones should not lie in the cathedral at Maestricht. He transferred them to Liège and also made that village the seat of his diocese. In consequence Liège grew to be a great city. There today Saint Lambert is regarded as patron of the diocese and Saint Hubert as patron and founder of the city.

In the 8th century, the forest of Ardenne was filled with men and women to whom the Gospel had never been preached. They worshipped idols. The saint assiduously worked to convert these people and destroy their pagan gods. He loved to go in procession through the fields, chanting Christian prayers and blessing the crops.

735 St. Frideswide Benedictine hermitess nun founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford
735 St Frideswide, Virgin
Frideswide is the patron saint of Oxford. William of Malmesbury, writing just before 1125, first tells her legend in its simplest form. According to it Frideswide, having miraculously got rid of the unwelcome attentions of a king, founded a nunnery at Oxford and there spent the rest of her life. In its more developed form we are told that her kingly father was named Didan and her mother Safrida, and that her upbringing was entrusted to a governess called Algiva. Her inclinations early led her towards the religious state, for she had learned that “whatever is not God is nothing”. But Algar, another prince, smitten with her beauty, tried to carry her off. Frideswide thereupon fled down the Isis with two companions, and concealed herself for three years, using a pig’s cote as her monastic cell. Algar continued to pursue her and eventually, on her invoking the aid of St Catherine and St Cecily, he was struck with blindness and only recovered on leaving the maiden in peace. From which circumstance it was said that the kings of England up to Henry II made a special point of avoiding Oxford!
   In order to live more perfectly to God in closer retirement, St Frideswide built herself a cell in Thornbury wood (now Binsey), where by fervour of her penance and heavenly contemplation she advanced towards God and His kingdom. The spring, which the saint made use of at Binsey, was said obtained by her prayers, and was a place of pilgrimage in the middle ages. Her death is put in 735; her tomb at Oxford was honoured with many miracles and became one of the principal shrines of England.

The extant legend of St Frideswide seems to represent no real tradition, and little reliance can be put on it; but she probably founded a monastery at Oxford in the eighth century, and after various vicissitudes it was refounded in the early twelfth century for canons regular of St Augustine. In 1180 the relics of St Frideswide were solemnly translated to a new shrine in the church of her name; and twice a year, at mid-Lent and on Ascension Day, the chancellor and members of the university visited it ceremonially. By permission of Pope Clement VII the priory of St Frideswide was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey, who in 1525 founded Cardinal College on its site, the priory church becoming the college chapel.
  In 1546 the college was re-established by King Henry VIII as Christ Church (Aedes Christi: “The House”), and the church, which had been St Frideswide’s, became, as well as college chapel, the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford (and was so recognized by the Holy See on the reconciliation in Mary’s reign).
   The relics of the saint had by this time been removed from their shrine, but apparently they were not scattered. For in the year 1561 a certain canon of Christ Church, named Calfhill, went to such trouble to desecrate them that it would seem he must have been insane with fanaticism.
   During the reign of Edward VI there had been buried in the church the body of an apostate nun, Catherine Cathie, who had been through a form of marriage with the friar Peter Martyr Vermigli. Calfhill had Catherine’s remains dug up (they had been removed from the church under Mary), mixed them with the alleged relics of St Frideswide, and thus reinterred them in the church. In the following year an account of this performance was published in Latin (and another in German) which contained a number of pseudo-pious reflections on the text Hic jacet religio cum superstitione: “Here lies Religion with Superstition.” It does not appear that these words were actually inscribed on the tomb or coffin, though that they were is asserted by several writers, including Alban Butler, whose comment is, “the obvious meaning of which [epitaph] would lead us to think these men endeavoured to extinguish and bury all religion”. Daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford and is patroness of the university of that city. Her relics are extant. In liturgical art she is depicted as a Benedictine, sometimes with an ox for companion.

Frideswide of Oxford, OSB V (RM) (also known as Fredeswinda, Frevisse); second feast day is February 12. Her maxim from childhood is said to be: "Whatsoever is not God is nothing."
Little can be said for certain about Frideswide because the earliest written account dates only from the 12th century, when her abbey became an Augustinian foundation. William of Malmesbury recorded the legend from a version attributed to Prior Robert of Cricklade. Nevertheless, recent historical and archeological research has clarified the background and some of the details of the saint's traditional legend.
This account follows the archetypical miracles of God preserving His holy virgins. The story goes that Frideswide was a Mercian princess, the daughter of Didian (or Dida) of Eynsham, whose lands included the upper reaches of the River Thames. Her father, a sub- king under the Mercian overlordship, endowed minster churches at Bampton and Oxford.
Frideswide took a vow of perpetual virginity, but Algar, a local prince, (or Æthelbald of Mercia) could not believe that she would not marry him. Desiring to fulfill her vow, she fled into hiding at Binsey (near the current Oxford), where she remained for three years as Algar continued to search for her. Then Algar was struck blind. When he renounced his desire to marry her, his sight was restored at Bampton upon Frideswide's intercession.
Eventually, Frideswide was appointed the first abbess of the Benedictine Saint Mary's double monastery at Oxford, where she peacefully lived out the balance of her life. The convent flourished becoming the site of Christ Church and her name was not forgotten as the town of Oxford arose around the abbey.
Most of the early records of the monastery were destroyed in a fire set in 1002 while Scandinavians were inside the church in the attempted massacres triggered by the notorious decree of Ethelred II. The existence of her shrine is formally attested by 'On the Resting Places of the Saints' in Die Heiligen Englands in the 11th century. In the twelfth century her convent was refounded for Augustinian canons .

THERE is a great deal which is extremely confused and improbable in the accounts preserved to us of this Belgian saint, and it is difficult to know how much of her legend can be regarded as based on historical fact. The main feature of her story is that, though she had secretly consecrated her virginity to God, she was given in marriage by her parents to a wealthy suitor, without any adequate consent on her part. Resolutely determined to keep her vow, she refused to live with him maritaleinent, and he on his part treated her brutally. God protected her, until at last the husband died. Little else is recorded of her except miracles and the numerous translations of her remains. There cannot, however, be any doubt that she became a very popular saint in Flanders, and that her cultus supplies abundant matter of interest to the student of folklore.
  Among her own countryfolk she is called most commonly St Varelde, Verylde or VeerIes She is represented some­times with a goose, sometimes with loaves of bread, and more rarely with a cat. The goose may have reference to a story told of her, as also of St Werburga, that when a goose had been plucked and cooked the saint restored it to life and full plumage. But it may also be connected with the city of Ghent or Gand, where her relics repose, for in Flemish, as in German, gans (cf. English “gander“) means a goose. The bread without doubt must have been suggested by a miracle said to have been worked beside her tomb, when an uncharitable woman who had been asked to give a loaf to a beggar declared that she had none, and then discovered that the loaves she had been hiding were turned into stones.
   St PharaIldis is also supposed to have caused a fountain of water to spring out of the ground at Bruay, near Valenciennes, to relieve the thirst of the harvesters who were reaping for her. The water of this spring is believed to be of efficacy in children’s disorders, and she is constantly invoked by mothers who are anxious about the health of their little ones.

740 St. Pharaildis A Flemish maiden a miracle worker
Also called Vareide, Varelde, Veerle, and Verylde, a patron saint of Ghent, she was compelled to marry against her will and was subsequently abused by her husband for refusing to consummate the union. She also apparently irritated her husband with her nighttime visits to churches. Pharaildis is honored as a miracle worker.

742 St. Acca Bishop and Benedictine scholar companion of early English saints and missionaries

Our holy Father Acca as a young man joined the household of Bosa, bishop of York, and later became a disciple of the great St. Wilfrid, bishop of York and later of Hexham. For thirteen years he accompanied his teacher on his journeys through England and on the continent, and was a witness at his holy repose. And when Wilfrid died, in 709, he became his successor as abbot and bishop of Hexham in Northumbria.

The Venerable Bede called Acca "the dearest and best loved of all bishops on this earth." Bede also praised his theological library and dedicated several of his works to him. On becoming bishop of Hexham Acca completed three of Wilfrid's smaller churches and splendidly adorned his cathedral at Hexham, providing it with ornaments of gold, silver and precious stones, and decorating the altars with purple and silk. Moreover, he invited an excellent singer called Maban who had been taught church harmony at Canterbury to teach himself and the people. He himself was a chanter of great skill.

In 732 Acca either retired or was expelled from his see, and later became bishop of Whithorn in Southern Scotland. He died on October 20, 740, and was buried near the east wall of his cathedral in Hexham. Parts of two stone crosses which were placed at his tomb still survive.

In about 1030, Alfred Westow, a Hexham priest and a sacrist at Durham, translated the relics of St. Acca, following a Divine revelation, to a place of more fitting honor in the church. At that time the saint's vestments were found in all their pristine freshness and strength, and were displayed by the brethren of the church for the veneration of the faithful. Above his chest was found a portable altar with the inscription Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae. This also was the object of great veneration. Many miracles were wrought through this saint. Those attempting to infringe the sanctuary of his church were driven off in a wondrous and terrible manner, and those who tried to steal relics were prevented from doing so.

A brother of the church by the name of Aldred related the following story. When he was an adolescent and was living in the house of his brother, a priest, he was once asked by his brother to keep an eye on some relics of St. Acca which he had wrapped in a cloth and laid on the altar of St. Michael in the southern porch of the church. Then it came into the mind of Aldred that a certain church (we may guess that it was Durham) would be greatly enriched by the bones of St. Acca. So, after prostrating himself on the ground and praying the seven penitential psalms, he entered the porch with the intention of taking them away. Suddenly he felt heat as of fire which thrust him back in great trepidation. Thinking that he had approached with insufficient reverence and preparation, he again prostrated himself and poured forth still more ardent prayers to the Lord. But on approaching a second time he felt a still fiercer heat opposing him. Realizing that his intention was not in accordance with the will of God, he withdrew.

Our holy Father Alcmund was bishop of Hexham from 767 to 781, reposed on September 7, 781, and was buried next to St. Acca. In 1032, he appeared by night to a certain very pious man by the name of Dregmo who lived near the church at Hexham. Wearing pontifical vestments and holding a pastoral staff in his hand, he nudged Dregmo with it and said

"Rise, go to Alfred, son of Westow, a priest of the Church of Durham, and tell him to transfer my body from this place to a more honorable one within the church. For it is fitting that those whom the King of kings has vested with a stole of glory and immortality in the heavens should be venerated by those on earth."

Dregmo asked: "Lord, who are you?"
He replied: "I am Alcmund, bishop of the Church of Hexham, who was, by the grace of God, the fourth after blessed Wilfrid to be in charge of this place. My body is next to that of my predecessor, the holy bishop Acca of venerable memory. You also be present at its translation with the priest." After saying this, he disappeared.

The next morning, Dregmo went to the priest Alfred and related everything in order. He joyfully assembled the people, told them what had happened, and fixed a day for the translation. On the appointed day they lifted the bones from the tomb, wrapped them in linen and placed them on a bier; but since the hour for celebrating the Divine Liturgy had passed, they placed the holy relics in the porch of St. Peter at the western end of the church, intending to transfer them the following day with psalms and hymns and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.

But that night, the priest Alfred, who was keeping vigil with his clerics around the holy body, rose when the others were sleeping and took a part of the finger of the saint, intending to give it to the Church of Durham. The next morning a great multitude came to the translation. But when the priest and those with him came to lift the body, it was immovable. Thinking themselves unworthy, they retired, and others came up. But they, too, were unable to lift it. When no one was found who could lift it, the people looked at each other in consternation, while the priest, still ignorant that he was the cause, exhorted them to pray to God to reveal who was to blame for this. That night, St. Alcmund appeared a second time to Dregmo, who had suddenly been overwhelmed with sleep, and with a stern face said to him;
"What is this that you have wanted to do? Did you think to bring me back into the church mutilated, when I served God and St. Andrew here in wholeness of body and spirit? Go, therefore, and witness in the presence of all the people that what has unwisely been taken away from my body should be restored, or else you will never be able to remove me from this place in which I now am."

And when he had said this, he showed him his hand with part of the finger missing. The next day, Dregmo stood in the middle of the people and told them all that had been revealed to him in the night, vehemently urging that the person who had presumed to do this should be punished. Then the priest, perceiving that he was at fault, prostrated himself in the midst of the people and revealed to them the motives for which he had committed the crime. Begging for forgiveness, he restored that which he had taken away. Then the clerics who were present came up and without any effort lifted the holy body and transferred it into the church on August 6.

Later, Alfred translated a portion of the relics of Saints Acca and Alcmund, together with portions of the relics of the other Northumbrian saints: the hermits Baldred and Bilfrid, the Martyr-King Oswin, St. Boisil of Melrose, St. Ebba of Coldingham and the Venerable Bede, to his church of Durham.
Holy Fathers Acca and Alcmund, pray to God for us! 
by Vladimir Moss. Posted with permission.

Acca was born in Northumbria, England, and was educated in the company of St. Bosa, a Benedictine apostle of great courage. He also met St. Wilfrid, who appointed him the abbot of St. Andrew's Monastery in Hexham, England.
Acca joined St. Wilfrid as early as 678 and accompanied him to Rome in 692. When Wilfred died in 709, Acca succeeded him as the bishop of Hexham. He spent his monastic and episcopal years erecting parish churches in the area. He also introduced Christian arts and promoted learning. Acca brought a famous cantor, a man named Maban, to Hexham, and with him introduced the Roman Chants.
St. Bede dedicated several of his works to Acca, who also promoted other Christian writers. For reasons undocumented, Acca was driven out of Hexham in 732. He retired to a hermitage in Withern, in Galloway. Just before his death in 742 he returned to Hexham and was unanimously revered. When he was buried, two Celtic crosses were recreated at his gravesite. One still stands in Hexham. When his body was moved sometime later, his vestments were found intact. The accounts of Acca's miracles were drawn up by St. Aelred and by the historian Simeon of Durham.

Acca of Hexham, OSB B (AC) Born in Northumbria, England, c. 660; feast day formerly October 19; feast of translation is February 19.
From his youth Acca had been close to other saints of the time. He was raised in the household of Saint Bosa of York and became a disciple and constant companion of Saint Wilfrid, whom he accompanied for 13 years to England, Frisia, and Rome (and in the last, says Bede, 'learning many valuable things about the organization of the church which he could not have found out in his own country'). When Wilfrid was ill at Meaux in 705, he told Acca the story of his vision. Later, on his deathbed, Wilfrid named Acca abbot of Saint Andrew's in Hexham.

Acca was also a friend of the Venerable Bede, who described him as "great in the sight of God and man" and who dedicated several works in his honor. For his part, Acca urged Bede to write a simple commentary on Luke because that completed by Saint Ambrose was too long and diffuse. He also supplied material to Bede for the Ecclesiastical history and to Eddius for his life of Saint Wilfrid.

Saint Wilfrid was the first English prelate to appeal to Rome in a dispute. Acca, who succeeded Wilfrid in the see of Hexham in 709, also believed that the English Church needed to be brought into line with Roman customs--liturgically rather than legally. Bede writes, "He invited a famous singer named Maban, who had been trained by the followers of Pope Gregory's disciples in Kent, to come and teach him and his clergy." Maban, a monk of Canterbury, taught church music for 12 years--reviving old forgotten chants as well as bringing new ones. Acca also sang beautifully, according to Bede, and encouraged this revival by his own example.

Acca loved the Scriptures and studied them diligently. He refurbished the churches with sacred vessels and lights. Above all he enlarged and beautified the cathedral of Saint Andrew in Hexham, and adorned it with altars, relics, and sacred vessels. He also finished three of Wilfrid's smaller churches. He also established a fine library to which scholars and students were drawn, all of whom received the patronage of Bishop Acca, one of the most learned Anglo-Saxon prelates of his day.  Bede considered this library one of the finest collections available.

For some reason Acca was forced out of his diocese in 732. He was exiled to Withern (Whithorn), Galloway (and may have been its bishop); but he returned before his death and was buried at Hexham. Two stone crosses decorated with grape vines adorned his tomb in the cathedral's east wall. The relics were translated in the late 11th century, at which time a portable altar inscribed "Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae" was found in his coffin. They were again translated in 1154 and 1240 (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
He is generally depicted in art as an abbot or bishop in a library with monks, sometimes with the Venerable Bede (Roeder).

Acca was a Northumbrian by birth and began life in the household of a certain Bosa, who afterwards became Bishop of York. After a few years, however, Acca attached himself to St. Wilfrid and remained his devoted disciple and companion in all his troubles. He may have joined Wilfrid as early as 678, and he certainly was with him at the time of his second journey to Rome in 692. On their return to England, when Wilfrid was reinstated at Hexham, he made Acca abbot of St. Andrew's monastery there; and after Wilfrid's death (709) Acca succeeded him as bishop. The work of completing and adorning the churches left unfinished by St. Wilfrid was energetically carried on by his successor. In ruling the diocese and in conducting the services of the Church, Acca was equally zealous. He brought to the North a famous cantor named Maban, who had learned in Kent the Roman traditions of psalmody handed down from St. Gregory the Great through St. Augustine. He was famed also for his theological learning, and for his encouragement of students by every means in his power. It was at Acca's instigation that Eddius undertook the Life of St. Wilfrid, and above all, it was to the same kind friend and patron that Bede dedicated several of his most important works, especially those dealing with Holy Scripture. For some unexplained reason Acca was driven from his diocese in 732. He is believed to have retired to Withern in Galloway, but he returned to Hexham before his death in 742, when he was at once revered as a Saint. Two crosses of exquisite workmanship, one of which is still preserved in a fragmentary state, were erected at the head and foot of his grave. When the body of the Saint was translated, the vestments were found entire, and the accounts of his miracles were drawn up by St. AElred and by Simeon of Durham. Of any true liturgical cultus there is little trace, but his feast is said to have been kept on 20 October. There is also mention of 19 February, which may have been the date of some translation of his relics.

The trustworthy biography of St Winebald was written by a nun of Heidenheirn, Hugeburc; the best text is that of Holder-Egger in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, pp. 106-107. Some further information is furnished in the Hodoeporicon of St Willibald, written by the same Hugeburc, which is translated in C. H. Talbot, Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany (1954), and also for the Palestine Pilgrims Text Society by Bishop Brownlow in 1891. Other details may be gathered from the correspondence of St Boniface, from the Life of St Walburga and from the earlier portion of F. Heldingsfelder’s Die Regesten der Bischofe von Eichstatt (1915). See also Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlix (1931), pp. 353—397 and W. Levison, England and the Continent.. . (1946) see therein for Hugeberc, p. 294.

When he was three years old his life was despaired of in a violent sickness. When all natural remedies proved unsuccessful, his parents laid him at the foot of a great cross which was erected in a public place near their house. There they made a promise to God that if the child recovered they would consecrate him to the divine service, and he was immediately restored to health. Richard put him under the abbot of the monastery of Waltham in Hampshire. Willibald left here about the year 720 to accompany his father and brother on a pilgrimage, as is narrated in the life of St Richard on February 7.

After staying for a time in Rome, where he suffered from malaria, Willibald set out with two companions to visit the holy places which Christ had sanctified by His presence on earth. They sailed first to Cyprus and thence into Syria. At Emesa (Homs) St Willibald was taken by the Saracens for a spy, and was imprisoned with his companions, but after a short time they were released. When first the prisoners were arraigned, the magistrate said, "I have often seen men of the parts of the earth whence these come travelling hither. They mean no harm, wishing but to fulfil their law." They then went to Damascus, Nazareth, Cana, Mount Tabor, Tiberias. Magdala, Capharnaum, the source of the Jordan (where Willibald noticed that the cattle differed from those of Wessex, having "a long back, short legs, large upright horns, and all of one colour"), the desert of the Temptation, Galgal, Jericho, and so to Jerusalem. Here he spent some time, worshipping Christ in the places where He wrought so many great mysteries, and seeing marvels that are still shown to the pious pilgrim to-day. He likewise visited famous monasteries, lauras and hermitages in that country, with a desire of learning and imitating the practices of the religious life, and whatever might seem most conducive to the sanctification of his soul. After visiting Bethlehem and the south, the coast towns, Samaria and Damascus, and Jerusalem several times again, he eventually took ship at Tyre and, after a long stay in Constantinople, reached Italy before the end of the year 730. Willibald was the first recorded English pilgrim to the Holy Land, and his vita the earliest travel book by an English writer.

After studying in a monastery in Waitham, in Hampshire, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome (c. 722) with his father, who died on the way at Lucca, Italy. Willibald continued on to Rome and then to Jerusalem. Captured by Saracens who thought him a spy, he was eventually released and continued on to all of the holy places and then to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), where he visited numerous lauras, monasteries, and hermitages. Upon his return to Italy, he went to Monte Cassino where he stayed for ten years, serving as sacrist, dean, and porter. While on a visit to Rome, he met Pope St. Gregory III (r. 731-741), who sent him to Germany to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his important missionary endeavors. Boniface ordained him in 741 and soon appointed him bishop of Eichstatt, in Franconia. the Site of Willibald's most successful efforts as a missionary. With his brother Winebald, he founded a double monastery at Heidenheim, naming Winebald abbot and his sister Walburga abbess. Willibald served as bishop for some four decades. His Vita is included in the Hodoeporicon (the earliest known English travel book). An account of his journeys in the Holy Land was written by a relative of Willibald and a nun of Heidenheim.

Willibald (Willebald) of Eichstätt B (RM) Born in Wessex, October 21, c. 700; died on July 7, 786; canonized 938 by Pope Leo VII; feast day formerly on July 7.
The life of Saint Willibald had been despaired of as a child and he had been cured, so it was believed, by being placed at the foot of a market cross where his royal parents had prayed and made a vow that if his life were spared it should be dedicated to the service of God. As a result, when five years old, he was placed for education in Waltham Monastery in Hampshire.

In 721, he accompanied his father, King Saint Richard of the West Saxons, and brother, Saint Winebald, to Rome and the Holy Land. Richard died at Lucca in Italy. At some point Willibald was arrested at Emessa as a spy and imprisoned at Constantinople for two years. After an absence of six years, during which he visited many lauras, monasteries, and hermitages, Willibald settled in the great monastery of Monte Cassino, where he assisted Saint Petronax in its restoration. During his ten years there, Willibald was appointed sacristan, dean and, for eight years, porter.
While on a visit to Rome in 740, he met Pope Saint Gregory III, who sent him to Germany to join his uncle (or cousin) Saint Boniface in his missionary labors. Soon after his arrival, Boniface ordained him priest (741) and then consecrated him bishop of Eichstätt in Franconia (742). It was a hard and rough task in a barbarous land, for it was pioneering work demanding great qualities of energy and evangelism.

During that period he lived in the Heidenheim Abbey ruled by his brother, Saint Winebald, and afterwards by his sister, Saint Walburga. There he found a welcome retreat from the cares of his work, but was no less diligent in his pastoral oversight. "The field which had been so arid and barren soon flourished as a very vineyard of the Lord."
For over 50 years he labored for God in a foreign land and no story of missionary enterprise is more exhilarating than that of this faithful prince, who, whether as porter of a monastery or bishop of a diocese, served the needs of men and to the glory of God. And thus these three children of the good Saxon King Richard came to be numbered among the saints.

Willibald was the first known Englishman to visit the Holy Land. The account of his wanderings, Hodoeporicon, is the earliest known English travelogue. It was dictated from his memories and recorded by a nun at Heidesheim (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).

Saint Willibald is depicted in art holding two arrows. Sometimes he may be shown (1) with a crown at his feet as he talks to a woodsman who fells a tree; (2) in infancy as he is dedicated by his parents at the foot of the cross; (3) as a pilgrim with his father and brother; (4) receiving the mitre from the pope; (5) with the words fides, spes, charitas on his cloak or arm; (6) with a broken glass; or (7) directing the building of a church (Roeder).