Celtic and Old English Saints 2 August =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Etheldritha of Croyland * St. Plegmund of Canterbury * St. Alban, Finding of his Relics * St. Wulvella =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Etheldritha of Croyland, Nun & Virgin (also known as ?lfryth, Alfrida, Alfreda, Althryda, Ethelfreda) ------------------------------------------ Died 834. Saint Etheldritha was daughter of King Offa of the Mercians and his queen, Quindreda. She was betrothed to King Ethelbert of the East Angles, who was killed by her father's treachery. Because she had wanted to consecrate her life entirely to the service of God, she left the court and established herself about 793 in a small cell on Croyland Island in the desolate marshes of Lincolnshire. There she lived as a recluse for forty years devoting herself to assiduous prayer and the practice of Christian virtue. Several miracles attested to her eminent sanctity, however, she was best known for her prophesies. Her tomb was among those arranged around that of Saint Guthlac, but her relics were lost during the ravages of the Danes when they destroyed Croyland Abbey in 870 (Benedictines, Farmer, Encyclopaedia, Husenbeth). St. Plegmund, Bishop of Canterbury ------------------------------------ Born in Mercia, England; died at Canterbury, England, on August 2, 914. Saint Plegmund was a hermit on an island near Chester, called Plegmundham after him and later Plemstall, who was noted for his holiness and scholarship. He was called to the court of Alfred the Great to be his tutor. He helped Alfred write the Old English version of Pope Saint Gregory the Great's "On Pastoral Care" (Liber regulae pastoralis) and may have been responsible for the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. At that monarch's request, in 890, he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Formosus in Rome. He crowned Edward the Elder at Kingston in 901, and consecrated the Newminster at Winchester in 908. Plegmund travelled to Rome again in 908, probably to secure approval of his bishopric by Pope Sergius III, because the consecrations of Formosus were condemned in 897 and 905. He returned from Rome with some of the relics of Saint Blaise. Archbishop Plegmund divided the Wessex dioceses of Winchester and Sherbourne into Winchester, Ramsbury, Sherbourne, Wells, and Crediton (which was later called Exeter) and consecrated bishops for each of them (plus two others) on the same day. His episcopacy was noted for promoting learning and developing Canterbury's metropolitan jurisdiction. (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer). Service to our Holy Father Plegmund Archbishop of Canterbury http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servpleg.htm Finding of the Relics of Alban, Protomartyr of Britain ----------------------------------------------------- See 22 June for his Life http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/1591 St. Wulvella (6th c.), Sister of St Sidwell ------------------------------------------ See yesterday's Life. Lives kindly supplied by: For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints *****************************************
