Celtic and Old English Saints 30 April =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Cynwl of Wales * St. Erconwald of London * St. Forannan * St. Swithbert the Younger * St. Onenn of Brittany =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Cynwl of Wales, Hermit ------------------------------------ 6th century. Cynwl, the brother of Saint Deiniol (Daniel), was the first bishop of Bangor (Wales.) He lived an austere life in northern Wales. Many churches have been dedicated to his honour (Benedictines). Troparion of St Cynwl Tone 7 Thou wast a worthy brother of Bangor's Bishop Deiniol,/ O holy hermit Cynwl./ Having passed from thine austere life on earth/ to eternal glory in heaven,/ pray to Christ our God for the people of these lands,/ that He may grant us His great mercy. St. Erconwald (Erkenwald) Bishop of London, Abbot of Chertsey -------------------------------------------------------------- Born in East Anglia; died at Barking, April 30, c. 686-693; second feast day on May 13. Erconwald is reputed to have been of royal blood, son of Annas or Offa. In 675, Saint Theodore of Canterbury appointed Erconwald bishop of the East Saxons with his see in London and extending over Essex and Middlesex. His episcopate was the most important in that diocese between that of Saint Mellitus and Saint Dunstan. His shrine in Saint Paul's Cathedral was a much visited pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages, where miracles were reported until the 16th century, but little is known of his life except that he founded a monastery at Chertsey in Surrey, which he governed, and a convent at Barking in Essex to which he appointed as abbess his sister, Ethelburga. Erconwald took some part in the reconciliation of Saint Theodore with Saint Wilfrid. In Saint Bede's time, miracles were recorded as a result of touching the couch used by Erconwald in his later years. At his death, Erconwald's relics were claimed by Barking, Chertsey, and London; he was finally buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, which he had enlarged. The relics escaped the fire of 1087 and were placed in the crypt. November 14, 1148, they were translated to a new shrine behind the high altar, from where they were again moved on February 1, 1326 (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Farmer) Erconwald is portrayed in art as a bishop in a small 'chariot' (the Saxon equivalent of a bath chair) in which he travelled because of his gout. Sometimes there is a woman touching it or he may be shown with Saint Ethelburga of Barking (Roeder). Erconwald is invoked against gout (Roeder). Another Life: Believed to be an early convert of the mission led by S. Mellitus, Erconwald founded two religious houses on either side of the Thames, on the pattern that was later adopted by S. Benedict Biscop, when he built the twin monasteries of St. Peter, Monk Wearmouth and St. Paul, Jarrow. The abbey Erconwald built at Chertsey he presided over, as Abbot, but the other, at Barking, he gave to his sister St. Ethelburga, recalling St. Hildelid from France to train her in the religious life and to guide her in the governance of this double monastery of monks and nuns. His sister remained very close to him and later, when he was Bishop of London, used to accompany him on his journeys. Latterly, he was incapacitated by gout and had to be helped into a wheeled litter, the fore-runner of the Bath-chair, and the remains of this was preserved in Old St Paul's and shown as a relic. On the death of St. Cedd, in the plague of 664, Erconwald, who was descended from the house of Uffa, the royal family of the East Angles, was recommended by King Sebbi, to Archbishop Theodore, as the new Bishop of London. His ministry for the next eleven years was to be one of reconciliation. His diocese still contained some Britons who had remained, when the land was overrun by the Saxons, but the invaders were the predominant population. They had received the Christian Faith first of all through the Roman clergy sent by St. Gregory, but it had been established by the monks from Lindisfarne under St. Cedd, who were of the Celtic Church, so the see had a mixed tradition. Moreover, there was a certain amount of resistance to the reforms being introduced by St. Theodore, and Erconwald had a share in healing the divisions in the English Church as a whole, for the quarrel between Wilfrid and Theodore was finally settled in Erconwald's house just before the Archbishop's death. St. Erconwald's sanctity and peacemaking earned him an enduring place in the hearts of Londoners, and there are also many stories of miracles. A curious tale has been preserved of how, during the rebuilding of St Paul's, a coffin was discovered containing the body of a man wearing a crown and with a sceptre in his hand. There was no indication to whom this well preserved body belonged and, on the following day, St. Erconwald said mass for him and then asked who he was. The corpse immediately replied that he had been a judge of the New Troy, the legendary name for London, and because he was so renowned for his exemplary judgements he had earned the name of King of the Judges. The bishop asked him where he was now, and the judge answered that, because he had died without baptism, he was denied entrance into the Eternal City. St. Erconwald was so distressed by this that he began to weep saying how much he wished that he could have baptised him in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Some of the tears fell upon the face of the righteous judge, and with a great cry of joy, he thanked the saint for releasing him from his earthly state by the washing with tears in the Name of the Trinity, and straight away his body disintegrated into dust. St. Erconwald died at his sister's abbey at Barking, and there was contention between the priests of St Paul's and the monks of Barking as to where he was to be buried. A great storm broke out, and there was flooding of the river, but then the sun broke through the clouds, seeming to point a golden path to the Cathedral. His body was interred in the crypt, but when the church was rebuilt in 1148 it was translated to a shrine behind the High Altar. It was a favourite place of pilgrimage until the sixteenth century and his feast day was kept on April 30th, the day of his death, with great splendour. November 14th was observed as the feast of the translation (Baring Gould, Bowen, Stanton, Shortt). Icon of Saint Erkenwald http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/erkenwal.htm St. Forannan, Abbot --------------------------- Died 982. A bishop, Saint Forannan left Ireland to join a community at the abbey of Waulsort on the Meuse and in 962 became its abbot. He spent some times at Gorze studying the monastic observance established by Saint John in order to introduce it at Waulsort, which he did most successfully (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia). St. Swithbert the Younger, Bishop ---------------------------------------------- Born in England; died 807. Swithbert may have been a monk. He joined the missionaries in Germany and eventually became bishop of Werden in Westphalia (Benedictines). Saint Onenn (Onenna, Onenne) of Brittany -------------------------------------------------------- Onenne was the daughter of King Judael of northern Armorica. She was venerated by the local people and become the local patron saint of the parish of Trehorenteuc. Living at the end of the 6th century and begining of the 7th century, she had a very humble destiny, despite her noble origin. She vowed herself to poverty, and became a goose- keeper. Thanks to those birds, one day she was saved from an aggressor, the population hearing their noise came to her rescue. Today, she is still venerated in the Morbihan, in Trehorenteuc (canton of Mauron), where the church and a well are dedicated to her name. Pilgrims still come to the church builted on the place of her burial. They ask for the healing of eye-illnesses. The well, being on private ground, is only accessible 2 days a year, during the pilgrimages. In an earlier time, there was a procession to that healing-well, with a group of geese walking first in the procession. In our days, this tradition is being revitalised. (Hippolyte Gancel) Sources: ======== Attwater, D. (1983). The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, NY: Penguin Books. Baring-Gould, S. (1882) The Lives of the Saints (15 volumes) John Hodges. Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Bowen, Paul. When We Were One: A Yearbook of the Saints of the British Isles Complied from Ancient Calendars. Encyclopaedia of Catholic saints, April. (1966). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gancel, Hippolyte, (2000) Les Saints qui Guerissent en Bretagne", vol 1, p.45, ISBN 2-7373-2513-7 Shortt, L M. (1914). Lives & Legends of English Saints Methuen & Co. Ltd. Stanton, R A. (1887). Menology of England and Wales Burns & Oates. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm These Lives are archived at: 1. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints 2. The website of Kathleen Hanrahan in monthly calendar format http://celticsaints.org/ 3. Mail Archive http://www.mail-archive.com/celt-saints@yahoogroups.com/ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
