Celtic and Old English Saints 8 July =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * Ss. Kilian, Colman, and Totnan * St. Morwenna of Cornwall * St. Sunniva of Bergen * St. Urith of Chittlehampton * St. Withburga of Dereham * St. Grimbald of Winchester * St. Edgar the Peaceful =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ss. Kilian, Colman, and Totnan, Martyrs (also known as Chillien or Chilianus, Colman, and Tadhg) ------------------------------------------------------ Died c. 689. Kilian, an Irish monk from Mullagh, County Cavan, was consecrated bishop and set out to evangelize Germany with eleven companions. They arrived at Aschaffenburg on the Rhein and then sailed up to the River Main and Wurzburg. With the able, zealous assistance of Colman, a priest, and Totnan, a deacon, he was successful in his missionary endeavours, especially after he converted the local lord, Duke Gosbert (Gospert) of Wurzburg. Somewhat anachronistically, about 686, he went to Rome and received permission from Pope Conon to evangelize Franconia (Baden and Bavaria) and East Thuringia. Upon his return his mission ran into a roadblock, Duke Gosbert had married Geilana, his brother's widow. Like most Irish missionaries, the trio spoke out fearlessly against any breach of faith or morals. In this case Kilian openly rebuked the duke for his irregular marriage to his brother's widow. According to legend, while Gosbert was away on a military expedition, Geilana had the three missionaries beheaded when she found that Gosbert was going to leave her because their marriage was forbidden by the Church. A strong cultus was immediately established in Germany and spread as far as Vienna, Austria, and Ireland. Even today, the Kilianfest is one of the better known festivals of the German peoples, including German-Americans. Kilian's Bible is exposed on the high altar of Wurzburg cathedral on his feast and an annual mystery play of his life is produced. Kilian's relics were translated in 752 by Saint Burchard. The strength of the veneration of the three martyrs drew the attention of Pope Saint Zachary, who permitted public veneration of the martyrs in 752. From the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, it was common for emperors to make a pilgrimage to their shrine at Wurzburg, which Saint Boniface established as a bishopric in honour of Saint Kilian. Kilian's name is also found with that of Saint Boniface in the calendar of Godescale (c. 782). Kilian, Colman, and Totnan are also unusual in that the Irish themselves have shown veneration for the expatriates, rather than showing their usual disinterest. Many illustrious Irishmen have visited Wurzburg over the centuries to honour the saints. In 1134, one of the 12 Irish monasteries governed by that in Regensburg was established in Wurzburg (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Montague). In art, Saint Kilian is a bishop holding a sword (often large) and standing between two priests. Sometimes all three are shown assassinated at the command of the duchess or the Kilian is shown between Colman and Totnan buried in a stable as a blind priest is cured at their grave (Roeder). Kilian's image appears on seals and coins of the region. Some old hymns in Latin and German survive that honour him (Farmer). They are venerated at Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg, Munnerstadt, and as the patrons of whitewashers. They are invoked against gout and rheumatism (Roeder). St. Morwenna of Cornwall, Virgin --------------------------------------------- 5th century. This is another of the confusing list of saints with the names of Modwenna and Moninne. She has given her name to several places in Cornwall (Benedictines). St. Sunniva of Bergen and Her Companions (also known as Sunnifa or Synnove of Norway) ------------------------------------------------------------ 10th century; some show this feast on July 3. Several authorities refer to Saint Sunniva as an Irish nun who was shipwrecked in Norway and set up a convent with her companions. There is no information about her in Ireland, but according to tradition (which is similar to that of Saint Ursula), she was a princess, nun, or both, who fled from Ireland with her brother Alban and several other maidens. Some say they were seeking a haven where they could live consecrated lives in exile for Christ. She was shipwrecked off the west coast of Norway and finally reached Selje Island. There they engaged in a devout, communal life, dwelling in caves and subsisting on fish. The story has two endings. One says that they were killed by people from the mainland. The other relates that the neighbouring Jarl Haakon heard about their landing and went to investigate. The community members fled to the caves. Masses of rock crashed down and blocked all the entrances, eventually killing the saints. When the caves were excavated much later, Sunniva's incorrupt body was discovered. In 995, Olaf Tryggyason built a chapel in her honour. In 1170, their relics were enshrined in Bergen; Selje's church was given to the Benedictines who dedicated it to Saint Alban (her brother?). Five churches or ruins of churches still survive on the island (Benedictines, Farmer, Montague). The Service to Saint Sunniva http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servsunn.htm St. Urith of Chittlehampton, Virgin (also known as Erth, Heiritha) ---------------------------------------------- Born at East Stowford, Devonshire, England; date unknown. Few sources mention Saint Urith, foundress of the church at Chittlehampton. She was a consecrated virgin who was killed by haymakers at the instigation of a jealous, possibly pagan, stepmother. A stream sprang out of the ground where she fell, much as in the legends of Saints Sidwell and Cyniburg. She may have been persecuted by the Saxons. The vita found at her shrine records the miracles wrought by her and is the basis for the rhyming Latin poem about her in Trinity College, Cambridge (Manuscript 0.9.38). The offerings at her shrine were sufficient to build the tower of Chittlehampton, reputed to have been the finest in Devon. So great was her reputation for miracles that the offerings provided to the vicar were three times the income from tithes and glebe. The removal of her statue from the church in 1539-1540 led to a diminution of her cultus. The pulpit built about 1500 survives with a figure of Saint Urith holding the palm of martyrdom and the foundation of the stone church. There is a 16th-century stained-glass window of her at Nettlecombe in Somerset (Farmer). Troparion of St Urith tone 5 O holy Virgin Martyr Urith/ who didst suffer martyrdom in a Devon village/ and didst patiently endure the jealousy of thy pagan stepmother;/ pray for the faithful/ who are today suffering persecution,/ that evil may be destroyed and that God may be glorified,/ that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, O Virgin Urith. Icon of St. Urith http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Urith.htm##1 St. Withburga of Dereham, Virgin (also known as Withburge, Witburh) ---------------------------------------------- Died March 17, c. 743; other feasts are celebrated on April 18 at Cambridge and on March 17; today's feast commemorates her translation. She was the youngest daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. Like her holy sisters, she devoted herself to the divine service, and led an austere life in solitude for several years at Holkham, near the sea-coast in Norfolk, where a church dedicated to her was afterwards built. After the death of her father she changed her abode to East Dereham, now a market-town in Norfolk, but then an obscure place of retirement. Withburga assembled there some devout maidens, and laid the foundation of a church and convent, but did not live to finish the buildings. Her body was interred in the churchyard at East Dereham and 50 years later was found incorrupt and translated into the church. In 974, with soldiers and under the cover of night but with the blessing of King Edgar and Saint Ethelwold, Abbot Brithnoth of Ely removed it to Ely. They moved the body to wagons, drove 20 miles to Brandun River, and continued their journey by boat--much to the dismay of the men of Dereham who had pursued them by land and could only watch helplessly as their treasure drifted away. At Ely Brithnoth deposited Withburga's relics near the bodies of her two sisters. In 1102, Withburga's relics were moved into a new part of the church. In 1106, the remains of four saints were translated into the new church and laid near the high altar. The bodies of Saints Sexburga and Ermenilda were reduced to dust, except the bones. That of Saint Etheldreda was entire, and that of Saint Withburga was not only sound but also fresh, and the limbs flexible. This is related by Thomas, monk of Ely, in his history of Ely, which he wrote the following year. He also tells us that in the place where Saint Withburga was first buried, in the churchyard at Dereham, a spring of clear water gushed forth when her body was first exhumed: it is to this day called Saint Withburga's well. The church at Holkham is dedicated to her honour (Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh). In art, Saint Withburga is portrayed as an abbess with two hinds at her feet because William of Malmesbury described her as being provided milk in her solitude by a doe. She may be holding a church inscribed Ecclisia de Estderham. She is venerated at Barham, Burlingham, and Dereham in Norfolk (Roeder). St. Grimbald of Winchester, Abbot ----------------------------------------------- Born at Therouanne (Pas-de-Calais), France, c. 825; died 903. Grimbald became a monk about 840, was ordained priest in 870, and was abbot of Saint-Bertin. He entertained King Alfred on his way to Rome in 885. As a well-known scholar, he went to Rheims in 886. Upon the advice of Archbishop Eldred of Canterbury and through Fulk of Rheims, Alfred invited Grimbald to England in 887. Grimbald accepted the offer. He lived in Winchester in a small "monastery" and served as a court-scholar, assisting Alfred with his translations of Latin works into Old English, including Saint Gregory's Pastoral Care (Liber regulae pastoralis). Eventually, Grimbald was appointed the first professor of divinity at Oxford (some say that he actually founded the university). Upon the death of Eldred in 889, Alfred tried to persuade Grimbald to become archbishop of Canterbury, but he refused and became instead dean of the secular canons of New Minster at Winchester, the town-church where prominent citizens had burial rights. Alfred's son, King Edward, reburied his father and mother (Queen Alswithe) in this new church, which probably absorbed the small community that Grimbald had previously governed. (Later, King Henry I removed New Minster to Hyde, now called Saint Grimbald's monastery.) Grimbald restored learning in England. He may have brought to England the 9th-century manuscript of Prudentius, now at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, as well as the famous Utrecht Psalter. During his last illness, the extremely feeble Saint Grimbald rose out of bed and prostrated himself on the ground to receive the holy viaticum. Thereafter, he asked to be left alone with God for three days. On the fourth day the community was called into his chamber, and amidst their prayers the saint calmly breathed forth his happy soul in his 83rd year. His body was reposed in New Minster and honoured amongst its most precious relics together with those of Saint Judocus. It was taken up by Saint Alphege, and exposed in a silver shrine. Other translations occurred in 938, c. 1050, and 1110, when the whole establishment was moved to Hyde Grimbald's vita was written by Goscelin, monk of Saint-Bertin's. While his cultus centred on Winchester, it was extended by Malmesbury to other Benedictine abbeys and to York and Hereford (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Husenbeth) St. Edgar the Peaceful, King --------------------------------------- Died 975. Saint Edgar was wise in his choice of friends and advisors: Saint Dunstan. His reign was distinguished by a strong religious revival in England. He enjoyed a local cultus at Glastonbury (Benedictines). Lives kindly supplied by: 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: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints *****************************************
