[celt-saints] 19 October
Celtic and Old English Saints 19 October
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* St. Ethbin of Kildare
* St. Frideswide of Oxford
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St. Ethbin of Kildare, Abbot
--
Born in Great Britain; died c. 600. Saint Ethbin's noble father died when he
was only about 15 years old. His widowed mother then entrusted
his education to his countryman, the great Saint Samson (f.d. July 28), at
Dol Abbey in Brittany. At Mass one day, he really heard the words:
"Every one of you that cannot renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my
disciple." He immediately resolved to renounce the world. Because he was a
deacon, Ethbin sought the permission of his bishop to withdraw from the
world. Upon receiving it, Ethbin retired to the abbey of Taurac in 554. For
his spiritual director, the saint chose another: Saint Winwaloee (f.d. March
3). The community was dispersed by a
Frankish raid in 556 and Winwaloee died soon thereafter. Ethbin then
crossed over to Ireland, where he led the life of a hermit in a forest
near Kildare called Nectensis (unidentified) for 20 years.
His relics are claimed by Montreuil and Pont-Mort (Eure), France. It has
been suggested by P. Grosjean that the "silva" called "Necensis"
could be a corruption of Silvanectensis (i.e., Senlis, France), rather than
Ireland (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
Troparion of St Ethbin tone 8
As a disciple of our Father Samson,/ thou wast radiant in thy asceticism, O
Father Ethbin,/ and having been driven out of Tantac by the unruly Franks/
thou didst seek refuge in the remoteness of Erin's green desert./ Wherefore,
O Saint, pray for us that we may not be swayed from our course,/ despite all
difficulties, that our souls may be saved.
St. Frideswide (Fredeswinda, Frevisse) of Oxford,Virgin
Died c. 735; second feast day is February 12. Her maxim from childhood is
said to be: "Whatsoever is not God is nothing."
Little can be said for certain about Frideswide because the earliest written
account dates only from the 12th century, when her abbey became
an Augustinian foundation. William of Malmesbury recorded the legend from a
version attributed to Prior Robert of Cricklade. Nevertheless,
recent historical and archaeological research has clarified the background
and some of the details of the saint's traditional legend.
This account follows the archetypical miracles of God preserving His holy
virgins. The story goes that Frideswide was a Mercian princess,
the daughter of Didian (or Dida) of Eynsham, whose lands included the upper
reaches of the River Thames. Her father, a sub-king under the
Mercian overlordship, endowed minster churches at Bampton and Oxford.
Frideswide took a vow of perpetual virginity, but Algar, a local prince, (or
Aethelbald of Mercia) could not believe that she would not marry him.
Desiring to fulfil her vow, she fled into hiding at Binsey (near the current
Oxford), where she remained for three years as Algar continued to search for
her. Then Algar was struck blind. When he renounced his desire to marry her,
his sight was restored at Bampton upon Frideswide's intercession.
Eventually, Frideswide was appointed the first abbess of Saint Mary's double
monastery at Oxford, where she peacefully lived out the balance
of her life. The convent flourished becoming the site of Christ Church and
her name was not forgotten as the town of Oxford arose around the
abbey.
Most of the early records of the monastery were destroyed in a fire set in
1002 while Scandinavians were inside the church in the attempted
massacres triggered by the notorious decree of Ethelred II. The existence of
her shrine is formally attested by 'On the Resting Places of the Saints' in
"Die Heiligen Englands" in the 11th century.
In 1180 in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry II of
England, her remains were translated to a new shrine in the
monastery church. A yet greater shrine was built nine years later.
Countless pilgrims visited her relics. Twice a year Oxford University held a
solemn feast in her honour and came to venerate her bones.
Then in 1525 Cardinal Wolsey suppressed Saint Frideswide's monastery. Two
decades later the monastery church became the new cathedral of Oxford. But
the shrine containing Frideswide's relics had been broken up by the impious
Protestant reformers to use in other buildings in
1538. Happily the saint's bones have survived.
Meanwhile Catherine Dammartin, the wife of the Protestant professor Peter
Martyr Vermigli, had been buried in the cathedral. About 1558-1561, in an
extraordinary burst of fanaticism James Calfhill, a Calvinist canon, dug up
her bones and mixed them with those of Saint Frideswide, adding the epitaph
"Hic jacet religio cum superstitione" ('Here lies religion with
superstition').
Part of her shrine has been reconstructed from pieces found in
[celt-saints] 19 October
Celtic and Old English Saints 19 October
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
* St. Ethbin of Kildare
* St. Frideswide of Oxford
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Ethbin of Kildare, Abbot
--
Born in Great Britain; died c. 600. Saint Ethbin's noble father died when he
was only about 15 years old. His widowed mother then entrusted
his education to his countryman, the great Saint Samson (f.d. July 28), at
Dol Abbey in Brittany. At Mass one day, he really heard the words:
"Every one of you that cannot renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my
disciple." He immediately resolved to renounce the world. Because he was a
deacon, Ethbin sought the permission of his bishop to withdraw from the
world. Upon receiving it, Ethbin retired to the abbey of Taurac in 554. For
his spiritual director, the saint chose another: Saint Winwaloee (f.d. March
3). The community was dispersed by a
Frankish raid in 556 and Winwaloee died soon thereafter. Ethbin then
crossed over to Ireland, where he led the life of a hermit in a forest
near Kildare called Nectensis (unidentified) for 20 years.
His relics are claimed by Montreuil and Pont-Mort (Eure), France. It has
been suggested by P. Grosjean that the "silva" called "Necensis"
could be a corruption of Silvanectensis (i.e., Senlis, France), rather than
Ireland (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
Troparion of St Ethbin tone 8
As a disciple of our Father Samson,/ thou wast radiant in thy asceticism, O
Father Ethbin,/ and having been driven out of Tantac by the unruly Franks/
thou didst seek refuge in the remoteness of Erin's green desert./ Wherefore,
O Saint, pray for us that we may not be swayed from our course,/ despite all
difficulties, that our souls may be saved.
St. Frideswide (Fredeswinda, Frevisse) of Oxford,Virgin
Died c. 735; second feast day is February 12. Her maxim from childhood is
said to be: "Whatsoever is not God is nothing."
Little can be said for certain about Frideswide because the earliest written
account dates only from the 12th century, when her abbey became
an Augustinian foundation. William of Malmesbury recorded the legend from a
version attributed to Prior Robert of Cricklade. Nevertheless,
recent historical and archaeological research has clarified the background
and some of the details of the saint's traditional legend.
This account follows the archetypical miracles of God preserving His holy
virgins. The story goes that Frideswide was a Mercian princess,
the daughter of Didian (or Dida) of Eynsham, whose lands included the upper
reaches of the River Thames. Her father, a sub-king under the
Mercian overlordship, endowed minster churches at Bampton and Oxford.
Frideswide took a vow of perpetual virginity, but Algar, a local prince, (or
Aethelbald of Mercia) could not believe that she would not marry him.
Desiring to fulfil her vow, she fled into hiding at Binsey (near the current
Oxford), where she remained for three years as Algar continued to search for
her. Then Algar was struck blind. When he renounced his desire to marry her,
his sight was restored at Bampton upon Frideswide's intercession.
Eventually, Frideswide was appointed the first abbess of Saint Mary's double
monastery at Oxford, where she peacefully lived out the balance
of her life. The convent flourished becoming the site of Christ Church and
her name was not forgotten as the town of Oxford arose around the
abbey.
Most of the early records of the monastery were destroyed in a fire set in
1002 while Scandinavians were inside the church in the attempted
massacres triggered by the notorious decree of Ethelred II. The existence of
her shrine is formally attested by 'On the Resting Places of the Saints' in
"Die Heiligen Englands" in the 11th century.
In 1180 in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry II of
England, her remains were translated to a new shrine in the
monastery church. A yet greater shrine was built nine years later.
Countless pilgrims visited her relics. Twice a year Oxford University held a
solemn feast in her honour and came to venerate her bones.
Then in 1525 Cardinal Wolsey suppressed Saint Frideswide's monastery. Two
decades later the monastery church became the new cathedral of Oxford. But
the shrine containing Frideswide's relics had been broken up by the impious
Protestant reformers to use in other buildings in
1538. Happily the saint's bones have survived.
Meanwhile Catherine Dammartin, the wife of the Protestant professor Peter
Martyr Vermigli, had been buried in the cathedral. About 1558-1561, in an
extraordinary burst of fanaticism James Calfhill, a Calvinist canon, dug up
her bones and mixed them with those of Saint Frideswide, adding the epitaph
"Hic jacet religio cum superstitione" ('Here lies religion with
superstition').
Part of her shrine has been reconstructed from pieces found in
