#st etheldreda

[caedmonofwhitby]

Now Etheldreda shines upon our days,

Shedding the light of grace on all our ways.

Born of a noble and a royal line,

She brings to Christ her King a life more fine.

-- The Venerable Bede

St. Etheldreda, Queen of Northumbria, Abbess of Ely's Double Monastery aka Audrey, Athelthryth, Ethelreda, Edilthride, Ediltrudis, Edeltrude

Feast Day: 23 June

Saint Aethelthryth of Ely from the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold depicted in an illuminated manuscript

British Library, London

[mysticismmess]

St Aethelthryth (also known as Etheldreda and Audrey) is one of my favourite saints for a few reasons. First of all, her entire life was spent convincing her husbands to leave her alone so she could be a nun, which the first agreed to but the second was not too keen on. Big m00d tbh. She went on to found an abbey and be your typical Anglo-Saxon female Saint. She’s also the patron Saint of throat complaints so that’s pretty relevant to me. Also I just love her name!

[mediumaevum]

Tawdry means "cheap and gaudy in appearance." Its story begins with a 7th-century queen Æthelthryth who renounced her royal life and became a saintly abbess.

Suffering from a fatal condition that included a swelling in her throat, the dying abbess attributed that symptom to God's punishment for her onetime fondness for necklaces.

After her death, the abbess became Saint Audrey, and her shrine became a popular site for English pilgrims. At an annual fair in her honor, all sorts of cheap knickknacks and jewelry were sold, including a type of necklace called Saint Audrey's lace.

By the 17th century, St. Audrey's lace had become tawdry lace. Tawdry came to be applied to other cheap goods sold at these fairs – and from there to other tastelessly showy things.

image: Saint Etheldreda's statue in Ely Cathedral

[oakapples]

The east window in Oakington church. Note the depiction of St Etheldreda (second from right), a very popular local saint who lived from ca 636 - 679. Her name in Old English is Æðelþryð, and she was one of the four saintly daughters of King Anna of East Anglia (of the mighty Wuffing dynasty), all of whom founded great abbeys. During an eventful life, Etheldreda reigned as a Princess of Gyrwas and a Queen of Northumbria, but she is chiefly remembered as foundress of the abbey on the Isle of Ely. She is often shown (as here) holding a model of her institution at Ely in her hand. Since the draining of the Fens, the Isle is no longer an island, and the abbey has become one of the most celebrated cathedrals in the country.

[medievallove]

St Etheldreda's in London by Lawrence OP on Flickr.