Celtic and Old English Saints 7 March =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Deifer of Bodfari * St. Enodoch * St. Esterwine of Wearmouth * Ss. Kynesburga, Kyneswide and Tibba of Castor =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Deifer of Bodfari, Abbot -------------------------------------------------------- 6th century. A Welsh saint, Deifer was both abbot and founder of Bodfari in Flintshire (Benedictines). Troparion of St Deifer Tone 6 Desiring to serve God in monastic solitude,/ thou didst establish thyself at Bodfari, O Father Deifer,/ where attracted by thy piety,/ many were drawn to embrace the life of ascetic poverty./ May thine example be ever before us/ that we lose not our vision of eternal blessedness. Kontakion of St Deifer Tone 2 The tawdry worthlessness of our indiscipline/ contrasts starkly with the heights of thy virtue, O Father Deifer,/ therefore we earnestly entreat thee to pray for us,/ that amending our lives/ we may more worthily worship Christ our God and Saviour. St. Enodoch (Wenedoc) -------------------------------------------------------- Died c. 520. Enodoch was a Welsh saint of the Brychan race. Some writers identify him with St. Enoder (f.d. April 27), others state that she was a daughter--instead of a son--of Brychan and call her St. Qwendydd. The traditions are very confused (Benedictines). St. Esterwine (Easterwine) of Wearmouth, Abbot -------------------------------------------------------- Died 688. The noble Northumbrian Esterwine, spent his youth at court, and then entered the monastery of Wearmouth, where he was professed under his kinsman St. Benedict Biscop (f.d. January 12). He succeeded St. Benet as abbot of Wearmouth and ruled four years, dying before its founder. He was celebrated for his gentleness (Benedictines, Gill). Ss. Kynesburga, Kyneswide and Tibba of Castor ----------------------------------------------------- Died c.680. Also commemorated 5th March. Penda, King of Mercia, was the most stalwart enemy of the church all his life but it appears that all of his children became devout Christians and were instrumental in bringing many people to the Faith. Kyneburga his elder daughter was married to King Oswy of Northumbria, Aelfrith, who was patron of Sr. Wilfrid in his early years. She seemed to have lived with her husband in a brother and sister relationship so that it was said that their home was like a monastery. After a number of years, in 650 they both decided to retire from their royal estate as they held worldly position in contempt, "mundo contempto" as the Chronicle puts it. Aelfrith died soon after entering a monastery but Kyneburga starting to build a convent on the site of an old Roman settlement presented to her by her brothers and called Dormancaster on the river Neve. Kyneburga was soon joined by a large number of ladies, "multis congratis virginibus", and among these were her sister Kyneswide and her kinswoman Tibba. Kyneswide, the youngest of King Penda's daughters, vowed herself to a life of virginity from a very early age but this did not prevent her brother Wulfhere arranging a political marriage for her to Offa King of the East Saxons. When the time came for the wedding the princess commended her cause to Our Lady St Mary and set about convincing Offa of the excellence of a life totally dedicated to God. She was so successful that Offa resigned his Kingdom and went, in company with St. Egwin, on pilgrimage to Rome where he died as a monk. This left Kyneswide free to embrace the religious life at Dormancaster and to succeed her sister as Abbess when Kyneburga died in about 680. The village of Castor as it is now called is built over the remains of a large Roman villa which had been deserted around 450 and in which St. Kyneburga had erected her nunnery two hundred years later. In Roman times Castor had an international reputation for producing fine pottery and traces of this industry can be found in Normangate Field where a ridge is locally known as Lady Conneyburrow's Way, obviously a relic of the days of the Convent. The present fine church is dedicated to St. Kyneburga and although mainly Norman there is a tympanum from the Saxon church over the south porch and a carved stone in the south wall believed to be part of the original Saxon shrine, which was in the North aisle and where a chapel has been restored and dedicated to S. Kyneswide. The bodies of the Saints were translated to Peterborough early in the eleventh century and the Feast of the Translation was kept with great solemnity on March 6th or 7th. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle record that when the Abbey was founded by King Peada his sisters Kyneburga and Kyneswide were associated with him and there is a chapel in the South transcept of the Cathedral dedicated to them (Stanton, Cartwright, Darnell & Wild). Sources: ======== Cartwright, J.L. Peterborough Cathedral" Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The Book of Saints. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell. Bowen, Paul. When We Were One: A Yearbook of the Saints of the British Isles Complied from Ancient Calendars. Gill, F. C. (1958). The Glorious Company: Lives of Great Christians for Daily Devotion, vol. I. London: Epworth Press. Stanton, Richard. A Menology of England and Wales. Wild, J.P. & Darnell, G.B. Castor Church. 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 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
