Celtic and Old English Saints 9 September =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (see #1) * St. Bettelin of Croyland * St. Osmanna of Brieuc * St. Wilfrida of Wilton * St. Wulfhilda of Barking =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Bettelin of Croyland, Hermit ------------------------------------------ (also known as Beccelin, Bertelin, Berthelm, Bertram, Bethlin, Bethelm) 8th century. Saint Bettelin, a disciple of Saint Guthlac, was a hermit who practised the most austere penances and lived a life of continual prayer in the forest near Stafford, England. He received counsel from his master on his deathbed and was present at his burial. After the death of Guthlac, Bettelin and his companions continued to live at Croyland under Kenulphus, its first abbot. There are unreliable legends about Bettelin, including a later one that he had to overcome temptation to cut Guthlac's throat while shaving him. They also say that Bettelin was the son of a local ruler who fell in love with a princess during a visit to Ireland. On their return to England, she died a terrible death. He left her in the forest when she was overcome by labour pains, while he had gone in search of a midwife. During his absence she was torn to pieces by ravenous wolves. Thereafter, Bettelin became a hermit. Another legends relates that Saint Bettelin left his hermitage to drive off invaders with the help of an angel, before returning to his cell to die. Some of his relics may have been translated to Stafford before the plunder and burning of Croyland by the Danes. He is the patron of Stafford, in which his relics were kept with great veneration (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth). St. Osmanna (Argariarga) of Brieuc, Virgin ----------------------------------------------------------- Died c. 650. Saint Osmanna was descended from an illustrious Irish family. She migrated to Brittany in northern France to live as a consecrated virgin and served God with fervour in solitude until her death near Saint Brieuc. Until the Reformation, her relics were enshrined in a chapel under her patronage in the abbatial church of Saint Denys near Paris; but some of them were dispersed by the Calvinists in 1567 (Benedictines, Husenbeth). St. Wilfrida of Wilton, Abbess (also known as Wulfritha, Wulfthryth) ------------------------------------------------- Died c. 988. Saint Wilfrida was a novice at the convent of Wilton when she caught the eye of the King Saint Edgar the Peaceful, who had been rejected by her cousin, Saint Wulfhilda. She became his concubine and bore his daughter, Saint Edith of Wilton, out of wedlock. Shortly after Edith's birth, she returned to Wilton with her child. There she took the veil at the hands of Saint Ethelwold. As a nun, and later as abbess, Wilfrida did penance and made ample amends for the irregularity of her liaison with Edgar (Benedictines, Farmer). St. Wulfhilda of Barking, Abbess -------------------------------------------- Died c. 980-1000; other feasts include that of her translation on September 2, c. 1030 (with the relics of Saints Hildelith and Ethelburga), as well as on March 7 and September 23 at Barking. Saint Wulfhilda was raised in the abbey of Wilton. When she was a novice, King Saint Edgar sought her hand in marriage, but she had a vocation that was irrevocable. Her aunt, Abbess Wenfleda of Wherwell, invited the young novice to become her successor, but it was just a ploy to lure her from Wilton. When she arrived at Wherwell, she found the king waiting for her and her aunt willing to allow him to seduce her. Wulfhilda escaped through the drains despite the chaperons inside and the guards outside the convent. The king pursued her back to Wilton and caught her in the cloister, but she escaped his grasp and took refuge in the sanctuary among the altars and relics. Thereafter Edgar renounced his claim on her and took her cousin Saint Wilfrida as his mistress instead. Wulfhilda went on to found and serve as the first abbess of the convent of Horton in Dorsetshire. Later she was appointed abbess of the convent of Barking, which had been restored by King Edgar and endowed with several churches in Wessex towns. During this period she was credited with several miracles, including the multiplication of drinks when King Edgar, Saint Ethelwold, and a naval officer from Sandwich visited the abbey. After Edgar's death, his widowed queen, Elfrida (Aelfthryth), conspired with some of Wulfhilda's nuns, to drive her out of Barking. She retired to Horton for the next 20 years until she was recalled to Barking by King Ethelred. For the last seven years of her life, Wulfhilda served as abbess of both Horton and Barking. Goscelin wrote her "vita" within 60 years of her death. (Benedictines, Farmer). 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 *****************************************
