Sainte Edith de Barking
Miniature
d'Edgar le Pacifique avec ses enfants dans une généalogie royale du XIVe
siècle.
Sainte Edith de Barking
Abbesse de Wilton (+
984)
Elle était la fille d'Edgar, roi des Angles et
suivit sa mère Wilfride, concubine du roi, lorsqu'elle se retira dans le
monastère de Wiltshire. Elle devint religieuse. Lorsqu'elle mourut, âgée de
vingt-trois ans, elle fut aussitôt placée sur les autels et dans les
calendriers de son pays.
À Wilton en Angleterre,
vers 984, sainte Édith, vierge. Fille d’Edgar, roi des Angles, consacrée à Dieu
toute jeune au monastère de ce lieu, elle a ignoré ce monde plutôt qu’elle ne
l’a laissé.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/37/Sainte-Edith-de-Barking.html
Edith de Wilton
Princesse, religieuse,
sainte
961-984
Sainte Édith de Wilton ou
Eadgyth est née en 961, morte à l'âge de 23 ans le 16 septembre 984 au
monastère de Wilton.
Née à Kensing, elle
était la fille naturelle du roi d'Angleterre saint Edgar le Pacifique, roi des
Anglo-Saxons de 959 à 975, et de Wulfrida.
Enfant encore, elle fut,
par sa mère, aux religieuses de l’abbaye de Wilton, où elle reçut une éducation
extrêmement soignée pour l'époque. Elle s’y consacra au service des pauvres et
des malades.
Malgré les cadeaux de son
père et de ses demi-frères, elle ne fut guère attirée pas le monde séculier.
Elle refusa la couronne
qui lui fut offerte après la mort de son père et celle de son frère Saint
Edouard le Martyr, mort assassiné en 978, pour rester fidèle à ses vœux
monastiques.
Dans cette même abbaye
elle fut rejointe par sa mère, Wulfrida, qui devint plus tard — après
avoir amèrement regretté son ancienne vie dissolue de
courtisane — abbesse du même monastère. Ce fut cette dernière qui fit
construire l’église de Saint-Denis à Wilton.
Considérée comme une
sainte de son vivant, comme plusieurs femmes de son sang, elle mourut de
maladie à vingt-trois ans, le 16 septembre 984.
On la fête le 16
septembre.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/edith_de_wilton.htm
Sainte Édith
Vierge, Princesse
d´Angleterre
(† 984)
Édith vint au monde en
961. Elle était fille naturelle du roi Edgar. Ce prince l'avait eue d'une dame
illustre par sa naissance, qu'il avait enlevée, et qui se nommait Wulfride ou
Wilfrith. Sa femme étant morte, il voulut épouser celle qu'il avait déshonorée;
mais Wulfride ne voulut point y consentir, et alla même prendre le voile dans
le monastère de Wilton, dont elle devint abbesse peu de temps après. Elle
voulut se charger elle-même du soin d'élever Édith, sa fille, qui par là fut
arrachée à la corruption du monde, avant d'en avoir ressenti les effets. C'est
ce qui a fait dire au rédacteur du martyrologe romain, en parlant de notre
Sainte, que, «s'étant consacrée à Dieu dès son enfance, elle avait moins quitté
le monde qu'elle ne l'avait ignoré»: ignorance infiniment précieuse, et qui est
le plus sûr moyen de vivre dans une parfaite innocence.
La jeune princesse
profita si bien des exemples et des instructions de sa mère, qu'elle se fit
religieuse dans le même monastère. Elle faisait l'office de Marthe à l'égard de
toutes les religieuses et des externes, et les fonctions de Marie à l'égard de
Notre-Seigneur; car, sans considérer sa naissance, elle s'appliquait aux plus
vils ministères de la maison, assistait les malades, et se faisait la servante
des étrangers et des pauvres. Elle fonda pour eux, près de son monastère un
hôpital pour en entretenir toujours treize. Secourant de ses aumônes et de ses
soins ceux qu'elle savait être dans l'indigence, elle cherchait les affligés
pour leur donner de la consolation, et aimait mieux converser avec les lépreux,
qui sont abandonnés de tout le monde, qu'avec les premiers princes du royaume.
Plus les personnes étaient rebutées des autres à cause de leurs infirmités,
plus elles étaient bienvenues auprès d'elle; en un mot, Édith était
incomparable dans son zèle à rendre service à son prochain. L'abstinence
faisait ses plus grandes délices, et elle fuyait autant les viandes délicates
que les autres les recherchent avec empressement, joignant à cette
mortification celle d'un rude cilice qu'elle portait sur sa chair nue, afin de
réprimer de bonne heure les mouvements de la nature. Telle fut la vie de cette
jeune princesse jusqu'à l'âge de quinze ans.
Le roi informé de tant de
belles qualités de sa fille, voulut la faire abbesse de trois monastères; mais
elle le remercia, et se contenta de lui proposer pour cela des religieuses que
son humilité lui faisait juger beaucoup plus capables qu'elle d'occuper ces
places. Elle ne put se résoudre à quitter une maison où elle avait déjà reçu
tant de grâces; elle aima mieux obéir que commander, et demeurer sous la
conduite de sa mère, que d'être chargée de la conduite des autres. Mais son
humilité parut bien davantage lorsqu'elle refusa la couronne d'Angleterre; car
après la mort de saint Édouard II que l'Église honore comme un martyr, les
seigneurs vinrent la trouver pour lui présenter le sceptre, et employèrent
toutes les raisons possibles, et même tentèrent les voies de la violence pour
l'obliger de l'accepter. Elle leur résista toujours généreusement, et l'on
aurait plutôt transmué les métaux, dit son historien, que de la retirer de son
cloître, et de lui faire quitter la résolution qu'elle avait prise d'être toute
sa vie dévouée au service de Dieu.
Elle avait fait bâtir une
église en l'honneur de saint Denis; elle pria saint Dunstan d'en faire la
dédicace. Pendant la solennité de la messe, ce saint prélat eut la révélation
que la mort de la jeune princesse, qui n'avait encore que vingt trois ans,
arriverait au bout de quarante jours. Cette nouvelle attendrit son coeur et
tira de ses yeux des torrents de larmes: «Hélas!» dit-il à son diacre qui lui
demanda le sujet de sa tristesse, «nous perdrons bientôt notre bien-aimée
Édith; le monde n'est plus digne de la posséder. Elle a, en peu d'années,
acheté la couronne qui lui est préparée dans les cieux. Sa ferveur condamne
notre lâcheté; notre vieillesse n'a pu encore mériter cette grâce; elle va
jouir des clartés éternelles, et nous demeurons toujours sur la terre dans les
ténèbres et les ombres de la mort». S'étant aperçu, durant la cérémonie, que la
Sainte faisait souvent le signe de la croix sur le front, il dit aussi par un
esprit de prophétie: «Dieu ne permettra pas que ce pouce périsse jamais».
L'événement vérifia l'une
et l'autre de ces deux prédictions; car, au bout de quarante jours, le 16
septembre 984, elle rendit son âme dans la même église, entre les mains des
anges, qui honorèrent son décès de leur présence et d'une mélodie céleste; et
ce même pouce, dont elle s'était tant de fois servie pour former sur elle le
signe de la croix, fut trouvé treize ans après sa mort sans aucune marque de
corruption, quoique tout le reste de son corps fût presque entièrement réduit
en cendres. Cette église de Saint-Denis, qu'elle avait souvent visitée et
arrosée de ses larmes pendant sa vie, lui servit de sépulture. Trente jours
après son décès, elle apparut à sa mère avec un visage serein et tout lumineux,
lui disant que le Roi des anges, son cher Époux, l'avait mise dans Sa gloire;
que Satan avait fait tout ce qu'il avait pu pour l'empêcher d'y entrer, en
l'accusant devant Dieu de plusieurs fautes; mais que, par le secours des saints
Apôtres, et par la vertu de la croix de son Sauveur Jésus, elle lui avait
écrasé la tête, et, en triomphant de sa malice, l'avait envoyé dans les enfers.
Plusieurs miracles ont été opérés par ses mérites. Nous rapporterons seulement l'exemple suivant, qui montre combien pèchent ceux qui usurpent les biens de l'Église. Un homme s'étant approprié une terre de sainte Édith, tomba tout à coup malade, qu'on le crut mort sans avoir eu le temps de faire pénitence. Mais un peu après, étant revenu à lui, il dit aux assistants: «Ah! mes amis, ayez pitié de moi et secourez-moi par la ferveur de vos prières; l'indignation de sainte Édith contre moi est si grande que, pour me punir de l'usurpation que j'ai faite d'une terre qui lui appartenait, elle chasse mon âme malheureuse du ciel et de la terre. Il faut que je meure, et cependant je ne puis mourir. Je veux réparer mon injustice, et restituer à l'Église le bien que je lui ai ravi». Il n'eut pas plus tôt témoigné cette bonne volonté, qu'il expira paisiblement. On la représente tenant d'une main une bourse, et de l'autre une pièce de monnaie, pour marquer son grand amour pour les pauvres.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/sainte_edith.html
Sainte Edith de Barking
Also
known as
Edith of Barking
Eadgyth…
Eadgith…
Editha…
Ediva…
Profile
Daughter of King Edgar
the Peaceable and Saint Wilfrida.
Raised in the abbey in Wilton, England,
which she never left. Educated at the royal court,
learning to read, write, illuminate manuscripts, sew and embroider. Benedictine nun from
age 15. Offered the position of abbess at
three houses, and her father’s throne, but she refused them all. Built the Saint
Denis Church at Wilton. Had a gift for communicating with wild animals. Saint Dunstan nursed
her during her fatal illness,
having received a vision of
her passing.
Born
15
September 984,
a date foretold by Saint Dunstan
of Canterbury, of natural causes
a week later she appeared
in a vision to her mother,
claiming to have smacked the devil in the head
Benedictine nun holding
a book and
with one hand raised
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Truth Society of London
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
Readings
She did not leave the
world; she never knew it. – Roman Martyrology
MLA
Citation
“Saint Edith of
Wilton“. CatholicSaints.Info. 28 February 2024. Web. 31 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-edith-of-wilton/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-edith-of-wilton/
Book of Saints
– Edith – 16 September
Article
EDITH (Saint) Virgin
(September 16) (10th century) The natural daughter of King Edgar the Peaceful,
brought up by her mother Wulfridis, who had become a nun in the monastery of
Wilton near Salisbury, and, her father reluctantly consenting, admitted while quite
a child to make her Religious Profession. Of her the Martyrology simply says:
“She did not leave the world; she never knew it.” The sick and poor, more
especially lepers, were her care through life, and she persistently refused the
position offered her of Abbess. Her holy death, foretold by Saint Dunstan, took
place at the early age of twenty-three (A.D. 984) and numerous miracles have
since borne witness to her sanctity.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Edith”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 22
November 2012.
Web. 31 January 2025.
<http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-edith-16-september/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-edith-16-september/
St. Edith of Wilton
Feastday: September 16
Patron: of Wilton Abbey
Birth: 961
Death: 984
Edith of Wilton was the
daughter of King Edgar of England and Wulfrida. She was born at Kensing,
England, and was brought as a very young child to Wilton Abbey by
her mother, who later became a nun there and Abbess. Edith became a nun when
fifteen, declined her father's offer of three abbacies, and refused to leave
the convent to
become queen when her half-brother, King Edward the Martyr was
murdered, as many of the nobles requested. She built St. Denis Church at
Wilton. Her feast day is
September 16.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=623
St. Edith of Wilton
Edith of Wilton was the
daughter of King Edgar of England and Wulfrida. She was born at Kensing,
England, and was brought as a very young child to Wilton Abbey by
her mother, who later became a nun there and Abbess. Edith became a nun when
fifteen, declined her father's offer of three abbacies, and refused to leave
the convent to
become queen when her half-brother, King Edward the Martyr was
murdered, as many of the nobles requested. She built St. Denis Church at
Wilton. Her feast
day is September 16.
SOURCE : http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=623
St. Editha, or Eadgith,
Virgin
SHE was born in 961,
being natural daughter of King Edgar, by Wulfrida or Wilfrith, a noble lady
whom that prince had ravished; for which he underwent a penance of seven years,
as hath been related in the life of St. Dunstan. Edgar, after the death of his
wife, endeavoured with great importunity to marry Wulfrida; but she constantly
rejected his solicitations, and took the religious veil in the monastery of
Wilton, of which house she.was shortly after chosen abbess. Her daughter Editha
or Eadgith, was brought up by her in this religious community, and thus rescued
from the corruption of the world before she had any taste for its deceitful
pleasures. Ignorance of vice being the most perfect fence of innocence, the
Roman Martyrology draws from this circumstance the eulogium of St. Editha,
that, “being from her tender years dedicated to God in a monastery, she may be
said rather not to have known the world, than to have left it.” She never knew
the enchantments of sin, or the allurements and snares of the world, which she
only feared at a distance; and her tender heart was always open to God, because
always a stranger to any other love. Wulfrida took a particular care to improve
her religious sentiments by repeating constantly to her lessons of Christian
perfection, and setting before her eyes the most illustrious examples of
sanctity. Editha repaid her care with an admirable docility, and proficiency in
the school of virtue. She was admitted very young to her religious profession,
for which the consent of the king, her father, was obtained with much
difficulty. She united the active life of Martha with the contemplation of
Mary, and though it was her greatest delight to hear the voice of her heavenly
spouse speak to her heart in silence and retirement, she frequently deprived
herself of that celestial pleasure, that she might attend and serve him in his
distressed members. She fed the poor, took care of the sick, and dressed their
most foul and loathsome sores, preferring the leprous to the king’s children.
Her abstinence and other austerities were wonderful, and she wore a hair cloth
next her skin. She had a great devotion to the memory of her crucified spouse,
which she expressed by the constant use of the sign of the cross
When she was but fifteen
years old, her royal father pressed her to undertake the government of three
different monasteries: of which charge she was judged then most capable, such
was her extraordinary virtue and discretion; but she humbly declined all
superiority, and chose to remain in her own community, subject to her mother,
who was abbess there. Soon after this refusal, Edgar died, and was succeeded by
his son, Edward the Martyr. Upon the death of the latter, the nobility, who
adhered to the martyred king, desired Editha to quit her monastery, and ascend
the throne; but she preferred a state of humility and obedience to the prospect
of a crown, says the author of her life. She built the church of St. Denis, at
Wilton; to the dedication of which she invited the holy archbishop St. Dunstan.
This prelate during mass was observed to weep exceedingly; the reason of which
he afterwards discovered to be, because he learned that Editha should shortly
be taken out of this world, and translated to the regions of everlasting light;
whilst we, said he, shall still continue sitting here below in darkness and in
the shades of death. According to this prediction, forty-three days after this
solemnity, she happily reposed in our Lord, on the 16th of September, 984,
being but twenty-three years old. St. Dunstan, who had assisted her in her last
illness, performed the funeral solemnity, she being buried in the church of St.
Denis. William of Malmesbury, who lived in the beginning of the twelfth
century, assures us that her festival was kept with great devotion. See her
life in Capgrave; and William of Malmesbury de Pontific. Angl. l. 2, c. 4, and
de Regibus, Angl. l. 2, c. 13. Suysken the Bollandist, t. 5, Sept. p. 364.
Our calendars mention
another St. EDITHA or EADGITHE, daughter to Earl Frewald, who died a
nun at Ailesbury.
Rev. Alban Butler
(1711–73). Volume IX: September. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-ix-september/st-editha-or-eadgith-virgin
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Edith, Royal and Religious
Article
Saint Edith was a Royal
Princess of England. After her mother, Wolftrudis or Wilfrith, had renounced
the crown, the court and the world, and had retired into a convent, Edith,
although still very young, desired to follow her and take the veil. But she
only obtained permission to remain until her education was finished. Her mother
herself took charge of it, and brought her daughter up as a model of virtue.
Edith, after the example of her mother, devoted herself to prayers, to reading
devout books, to work, according to her station, and to mortification.
Outwardly she was clothed in garments which befitted her rank, but under these
she wore a rough penitential robe. It was her pleasure to serve others,
especially the sick, and how frightful and tedious soever the malady was, she
nursed those suffering from it with tender love and solicitude, as well by day
as by night She would not be called princess, neither did she permit any marks
of respect to her on account of her high birth. The king, her father,
frequently sent her large sums of money, but she employed the greater part of
it in comforting the sick and needy. Having thus spent several years in the
convent, it became her greatest desire to join the number of the virgins who
had consecrated themselves to God. Turning to God, she prayed that He might
incline her father’s heart according to her wishes. Meanwhile she repeated her
request so often to the king, that at last he gave his consent, and she
received the veil from the hands of the Bishop in her father’s presence. Edith
was inexpressibly happy, and once invested with the sacred habit, she hastened
forward in the path of perfection. She conformed her life to the regulations of
the convent, and never overstepped a single rule knowingly, so that in a short
time she became a perfect example of virtue. It was the king’s wish that she
should become Abbess, and all the religious of the convent desired to have so
holy a superior; but Edith would rather submit to the will of others than be
raised above them, and she preferred obeying to commanding. After the death of
her father and her only brother, Edward, the nobility resolved to withdraw
Edith from the convent and raise her to the throne. The deputation came to the
convent and making Edith acquainted with the resolution, solicited her consent.
The pious princess was horrified and solemnly declared that she neither would
nor could give her consent, as she had consecrated her life to God, but that
even if this were not the case, she would never exchange the eternal kingdom
for an earthly and transitory one. The nobility, not satisfied with this
answer, made known to her by a second deputation, that they would forcibly take
her out of the convent, if she persisted in her refusal. Edith was not
frightened by this menace. She placed her trust in God, who inspired her with
such convincing arguments to defend and justify herself, that at last they
disturbed her no more. Her joy on being allowed to continue her peaceful life
was much greater than others of her sex would have evinced had they been raised
to the royal throne.
She continued in her
pious conduct, and endeavored to increase her good works, to glorify God and
the Saints and to benefit mankind. Thus, she built a large church in honor of
Saint Denis, at Wilton, and a hospital for the poor, and endowed both richly.
This church was consecrated by the holy Bishop, Saint Dunstan, at her request.
This holy prelate observed that Edith, during the ceremony of consecration,
several times, made the sign of the cross with the thumb of her right hand on
her forehead. When, after the ceremony, he held a devout discourse with her, he
praised the frequent use of the sign of the holy cross, and while taking her
hand, he said prophetically, pointing to her thumb, “This finger shall never
corrupt.” At another time, when the holy Bishop was standing before the altar
offering to the Almighty the unbloody sacrifice of Holy Mass, tears were seen
streaming from his eyes. When asked why he had wept, the Saint replied, with a
deep sigh: “Edith, the beloved of God, will soon be taken from us to her
heavenly home. Forty-three days more, and this bright star shall be
extinguished.” This prophecy was fulfilled; at the expiration of forty-three
days Edith ended her holy life after a short sickness. God had revealed to her
the time of her death: for, one day, when as usual, she visited the Church of
Saint Denis, she said to her companions: “This shall soon be my resting-place.”
From that time she daily visited this church, and it was there, while
performing her prayers, that she was seized with her last illness. No sooner
had Saint Dunstan been informed that she was sick, than he went and
administered the Last Sacraments to her. After this she requested to be carried
into the church, as she desired to end her life within its sacred walls. She
was buried in the same church with great solemnities, Saint Dunstan performing
the funeral service. She was only twenty-three years of age, but had arrived at
the summit of perfection.
She appeared, arrayed in
heavenly brightness, to her mother, thirty days after her death. Thirty years
later, she appeared in the same glory to Saint Dunstan, and announced to him
that it was the will of the Almighty, that he should raise her body and honor
it with a magnificent tomb. She further told him that he would find reduced to
dust all the parts of her body, which, before her conversion, had been misused
in vanity, but the others, still incorrupt. The holy prelate went to Wilton,
and on opening the coffin, found all as the Saint had told him. The whole body
was perfect except the eyes, hands and feet; but the thumb of the right hand,
with which she had so often made the sign of the cross, was also preserved.
Saint Dunstan raised the holy body with due reverence, and laid it under a
magnificent altar. The mother of Saint Edith, who was still living when this
took place, was filled with inexpressible joy, on beholding the body of her
holy child. Kissing it over and over again, she gave thanks to the Almighty
that He had given her the grace to lead Edith from her childhood in the path of
righteousness. God wrought many and great miracles on those who prayed to Him
through the intercession of His faithful handmaid, Edith. This Saint is one of
those infinitely happy ones who have kept their first innocence and purity
inviolate; and this alone ought to be sufficient to make us highly esteem and
venerate her.
Practical Considerations
• Saint Edith manifested
a wonderful perseverance as well in preserving her virginity, as in her
religious life. She allowed nothing to turn her from the resolution she had
taken. You make many holy intentions to avoid this or that sin, to practice
this or that virtue; but where is the perseverance to do what you intended? I
know that you are a weak, frail human being. Satan, as well as men, endeavors
to disturb you, and prevent you from keeping your resolutions. But was not
Saint Edith also a weak human being like yourself? Did not men and evil spirits
try to disturb her and prevent her from accomplishing her intentions? She,
however, remained constant. Hence, the excuse of your frailty will be of no
avail before God. But do you know what you ought to do in the knowledge of your
feebleness? Pray as earnestly to the Almighty as Saint Edith; place entire
trust in His assistance, and work with the grace which He will impart to you;
and you too will remain constant. For God is willing to help any one, who while
doing all in His power, asks for divine grace to be assisted where his own
strength is insufficient. “The spirit helps our infirmity,” says Saint Paul.
(Romans 8)
• The fact that Saint
Edith’s eyes, hands and feet decayed, because she had used them in the service
of vanity when she was still very young, while the entire remainder of her body
was incorrupt, is a sign that God is displeased when we thus misuse our
members. But how much more displeased must He be when they are employed in the
service of sin and vice! And how often is this done! We misuse our eyes by
fastening them upon sinful or dangerous objects. We misuse the feet when we
repair to places where we know that we shall be in danger of sin. We misuse the
hands in transgressions against the Commandments of God by sins, on account of
which countless persons have been precipitated into hell, as out of hundreds
and thousands who become habituated to them, hardly one, without a miracle of
divine mercy, does true penance and thus escapes hell Examine your conscience
today, and ascertain if you have not misused your eyes, hands and feet to
offend the Majesty of God, and correct yourself if you are guilty. Rest assured
that if you neglect this, those very members with, which you now transgress the
Commandments of God, will one day suffer indescribable pain in hell. For, it is
written: “By what things a man sins, by the same he is also tormented.” (Wisdom
11) Thus those members will suffer especial pains, which in this world are used
to offend the Almighty. Woe, therefore, to your eyes, hands and feet, if you
employ them to dishonor Him, who in His great mercy has bestowed them upon you.
It will happen to them as happened to the tongue of the rich man, who begged
for one drop of water to cool it, which clearly manifested that he suffered
especially in that member of his body. And why this? “Because he had sinned
more with his tongue, than with any other member of his body,” says Saint
Cyprian.
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Edith, Royal and Religious”. Lives
of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
5 May 2018. Web. 31 January 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-edith-royal-and-religious/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-edith-royal-and-religious/
St. Edith of Wilton
(AD 961-984)
Born: AD 961 at Kemsing,
Kent
Died: 16th September AD
984 at Wilton, Wiltshire
St. Edith of Wilton was
the illegitimate daughter of King
Edgar the Peaceable, born at Kemsing in Kent. Her mother was St.
Wulfthrith, a nun of noble birth, whom Edgar forcibly carried off from her
monastery at Wilton. Under St.
Dunstan's direction, he did penance for this crime by not wearing his crown
for seven years. As soon as Wulfthrith could escape from him, she returned to
her cell and, there, Edith was born. Educated with great care, she became a
wonder of beauty, learning and piety. After his wife's death, Edgar would have
married Wulfthrith, but she preferred to remain a nun at Wilton. Edith took the
veil very early, with her father's consent. He made her abbess of three
different communities, but she chose to remain under her mother at Wilton,
where she was a Martha with regard to her sister nuns, and a Mary in her
devotion to Christ.
In AD 979 Edith dreamt
that she lost her right eye and knew the dream was sent to warn her of the
death of her brother, who, in fact, was murdered at that very time, while
visiting his step-mother, Queen Elfrida, at Corfe in Dorset. The nobles then
offered the crown to Edith, but she declined. Notwithstanding her refusal of
all Royal honours and worldly power, she always dressed magnificently and, as
St. Aethelwold remonstrated, she answered that purity and humility could exist
as well under Royal robes as under rags. She built a church at Wilton, and
dedicated it in the name of St. Denis. St. Dunstan was invited to the
dedication and wept much during mass. Being asked the reason, he said it was
because Edith would die in three weeks, which actually happened, on 15th
September AD 984.
A month afterwards, she
appeared in glory, to her mother, and told her the devil had tried to accuse
her, but she had broken his head. Many years after, King Canute laughed at the
idea that the daughter of the licentious Edgar could be a saint. St. Dunstan
took her out of her coffin and set her upright in the church, whereupon Canute
was terrified, and fell down in a faint. He had a great veneration for St. Edith
ever after.
Edited from Agnes
Dunbar's "A Dictionary of Saintly Women" (1904).
SOURCE : http://www.britannia.com/bios/saints/edithwilton.html
Wilton Abbey
A Benedictine convent in
Wiltshire, England,
three miles from Salisbury.
A first foundation was made as a college of secular
priests by Earl Wulstan of Wiltshire, about 773, but was
after his death (800) changed into a convent for
12 nuns by
his widow, St.
Alburga, sister of King Egbert. Owing to the consent given by
this king he is counted as the first founder of this monastery. St.
Alburga herself joined the community, and died at Wilton. King
Alfred, after his temporary success against
the Danes at Wilton in 871, founded a new convent on
the site of the royal palace and united to it the older foundation. The
community was to number 26 nuns. Wilton
is best known as the home of St. Edith, the child of a
"handfast" union between Edgar, King of
the English (944-75), and Wulfrid, a lady wearing the
veil though not a nun,
whom he carried off from Wilton probably in 961. After Edith's
birth, Wulfrid refused to enter into a
permanent marriage with Edgar and retired with her child
to Wilton. Edith, who appears to have been learned, received the veil
while a child, at the hands of Bishop
Ethelwold of Winchester, and at the age of fifteen refused
the abbacy of three houses offered by her father. She built
the Church of St. Denis at Wilton, which was consecrated by St.
Dunstan, and died shortly afterwards at the age of twenty-three (984).
Her feast is
on 16 September. St. Edith became the
chief patron of Wilton, and is sometimes said to have been abbess.
In 1003 Sweyn, King of Denmark,
destroyed the town of Wilton, but we do not know whether
the monastery shared
its fate. Edith, the wife of Edward the Confessor, who had been educated at Wilton,
rebuilt in stone the monastery which
had formerly been of wood. In 1143 King Stephen made it his
headquarters, but was put to flight by Matilda's forces under Robert
of Gloucester. The Abbess of Wilton
held an entire barony from the king, a privilege shared by only three
other English nunneries,
Shaftesbury, Barking, and St. Mary, Winchester. Cecily Bodenham, the
last abbess,
surrendered her convent on
25 March, 1539. The site was granted to Sir William Herbert,
afterwards Earl of Pembroke,
who commenced the building of Wilton House, still the abode of his
descendants. There are no remains of the ancient buildings.
Sources
DUGDALE, Monasticon
Anglicanum, II (London, 1846), 315; HUNT in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v. EDITH
(London, 1888).
Webster, Douglas Raymund. "Wilton
Abbey." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 21 Mar. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15647b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to
the religious of Wilton Abbey.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15647b.htm
Juan de Roelas, Santa Editha (Edith of Wilton), circa 1605, Iglesia de San Miguel and San Julián, Valladolid
Catholic
Truth Society of London – Saint Editha of Wilton
“Lord, who shall dwell in
Thy tabernacle? and who shall rest in Thy holy hill? He that walketh without
blemish.” – Psalm 14
The motives which induce
persons to embrace religious life are perhaps as varied as their vocations. Yet
briefly they may be reduced to the following heads, (1) There are those who
have sinned deeply and, having been converted to God, feel the need of devoting
the remainder of their lives to penance and atonement. (2) Then there are those
who dread the temptations to which a secular state would expose them, and wish
by leaving the world to ensure as far as possible their eternal salvation. (3)
Others again, having probed the hollowness of the world, long to find in a
holier atmosphere a happiness which shall endure, a beauty which shall never
fade, love which shall not disappoint, truth without alloy. (4) Finally, there
are those whose love for God makes them long to give Him all they have and are,
to make reparation to His outraged Majesty for the neglect and coldness of
their fellow-men, to be victims of His love: in short, to attain to the highest
degree of union with Him compatible with their exile. In the monastic state
examples of all these classes may be found, it has its penitents as well as its
innocents; yet, taken as a whole, the Benedictine spirit is rather one of
innocence than of penance, and by far the greater number of its saints are
those who, like Saint Editha, have rather never known the world than left it.
They have not turned to God when all else failed them, but they have offered
themselves to Him from the very outset, and embraced religious life at an- age
when hopes are highest and the world seems brightest. They have given to God
their first freshness, the bloom of their youth, not a faded offering dried up
and withered. Many, it is true, were called upon afterwards to mix with the
world, to combat vice and to defend the Church against her foes; but we do not
find a Hildebrand the less fitted for the struggle because he has borne the
yoke of monasticism from his childhood. Yet the majority, both of monks and
nuns, lived and died unsullied, like the subject of the present sketch, within
the walls of their monastery. These are, so to speak, the spring flowers of
God’s garden; and those who live in an atmosphere impregnated with worldliness
and sin would do well at times to refresh and revive their drooping souls by
imbibing the pure air and life-giving fragrance which distills itself from the
history of those whose lives were innocent, and who saw God because they were
clean of heart.
Saint Editha was born in
961. Her father, King Edgar, was a great-grandson of King Alfred the Great, and
a son of Edmund, one of Alfred’s three grandsons, who succeeded his brother
Athelstan. Editha was called after her aunt, the Abbess of Tamworth, who had
died in the odour of sanctity. The Princess Editha of Tarn worth had been
betrothed to Sightric the Danish king of Northumbria, upon the occasion of his
making peace and claiming the friendship of her brother Athelstan. The
engagement was based merely on motives of policy, and it is therefore not
surprising to find that the Dane proved faithless. Editha, rejoicing to be free
from a tie which she had never courted, hastened to ally herself with a
Bridegroom who could never fail her. She took the veil in the Abbey of
Polesworth, and not long afterwards the news reached her of Sightric’s
miserable end. In course of time she was judged worthy to undertake a new
foundation at Tamworth, the home of her childhood. She died in 925, after a
life devoted to prayer, good works, and penance, and her tomb was much resorted
to on account of the miraculous favours there obtained. King Edgar caused a
church to be erected in her honour, directly her canonization made it possible
to do so, and dedicated his little daughter to her, calling her by the same
sweet name.
Editha of Tamworth had a
sister named Edburga, whom her father, Edward the Elder, had offered to God
from her very infancy in a monastery at Winchester, where, says William of
Malmesbury,’s she gained the affection of all by her obsequious diligence, and
was in due time clothed with the habit of a religious virgin. The sublimity of
her birth did not at all exalt her mind, for she esteemed it a most generous
and noble thing to become vile in the service of Christ. Her sanctity increased
with her years and her humility grew with her stature, so that it was her usual
practice by night to steal away her religious sisters stockings, which, after
she had washed and perfumed, she would again set down by their beds. Now,
though Almighty God did in her life time honour her with many miracles, yet,
omitting them, I would rather choose to set down this example to show that all
her actions were begun by charity and consummated by humility.”
The intercession of
Edgar’s two holy aunts may perhaps have recalled their erring nephew to a sense
of the wickedness of his life, for, previous to Saint Editha’s birth, he had
been anything but a good man. Yet his former vices only served to throw his
subsequent virtues into a brighter light, while the story of his repentance
forms one of the brightest pages in our Saxon annals.
It runs as follows: “When
the knowledge of the king’s excesses reached Saint Dunstan he was deeply moved
with grief. Whereupon without any delay he went to the king, who, according to
his custom, reverently met him, and when he would have taken him by the hand to
lead him to his seat, Saint Dunstan with a troubled, severe countenance drew
back his hand and would not permit him to touch it. Hereat the king was
astonished and asked him why he refused him his hand. To which the bishop
answered, Sir, I do not give into your sinful hands this hand which has
immolated to the eternal Father the Son of a Virgin. First cleanse your hands
by penance, and then you may reverently embrace a Prelate’s hand which is to
reconcile you to the favour of God. These words did so terrify the king that he
presently fell prostrate at the bishop’s feet, and with words interrupted with
many deep sighs acknowledged his sins. Saint Dunstan, seeing so great an
example of humility in the king, immediately embraced him and raised him up
with a mild, cheerful look, discoursing with him familiarly of matters touching
the good of his soul and imposed upon him a seven years penance. He therefore
having obtained pontifical absolution, applied himself with a zealous diligence
to perform his enjoined penance, and moreover, by the counsel of his spiritual
father, added super-abundantly many other good works of piety thereby to pacify
the wrath of God. Saint Dunstan forbade the king for all that long space of
seven years to wear the crown of his kingdom; he commanded him every week to
fast two days, to dispense his treasure liberally to the poor, and moreover to
found a monastery for devout virgins to praise God. He enjoined him likewise to
expel out of their churches such clergymen as lived scandalous lives and to
intro duce congregations of religious monks; to enact just and wholesome laws
agreeable to God, and to take care that they were observed by the people.” How
well the king carried out his severe penance, we shall see in the course of the
narrative.
Soon after Saint Editha’s
birth her mother retired into a monastery at Wilton despite the entreaties of
Edgar, who was sincerely devoted to her and was really desirous, now that his
first wife was dead, of sharing his crown and his throne with her. It is
evident that she had been rather sinned against than willingly consented to
evil, in testimony of which we have the lessons from the monastic breviary,
which may be thus freely translated. “By the intervention of Saint Ethelwold,
bishop of Winchester, or rather, urged on by that love for Christ which is
strong as death, the venerable Queen Wilfritha, mother to Saint Editha,
withdrew herself from the kingdom and bride-chamber of this world and retired
into a monastery at Wilton, in honour of the Mother of God. Instead of fine
purple, interwoven with gold, she clothed herself in a “black tunic, and in
place of the royal diadem she wore a dark veil; and having taken upon herself
the religious habit she made such progress in the paths of perfection, that she
was looked upon as a teacher of holiness and placed at the head of the
monastery. Here her daughter Editha was guided by divine providence like a
branch of frankincense, and a beautiful olive growing out of so holy a root.
Here also came the most Christian king Edgar, with a great crowd of princes and
nobles and a vast gathering of people as though coming to the court of Christ
and to assist at divine nuptials. The city rejoiced at the coming of the king,
welcoming him as the father of his country and the prince of peace. Edgar had
come to offer a gift at the nuptials, to present his first fruits. In obedience
to an inspiration of the most High, Edgar caused a splendid carpet to be laid
on the steps of the high altar of our Lady, as it were before the throne and at
the feet of the Divine Majesty. On this carpet he placed all the different
tokens of worldly honour, beautiful diadems, golden bracelets, rings, jewels
and brilliant ornaments of every description, which he offered to Editha.
Meanwhile her mother showed to her a nun’s black veil, a Psalter, a chalice,
and a paten. All prayed together that God, who knoweth all things, might deign
to show to one still at such a wayward age what life she should choose for
herself. But the holy virgin Editha, in the midst of all that brilliant array
chose the veil and tokens of sanctity and left all the rest untouched for the
maidens of the world. Then the king, with his consort now become his sister,
betrothed the little Editha to the Child Christ Jesus, in the presence of
angels and men and congratulated themselves on thus becoming allied to the Lord
of heaven and earth. Gathered thus early into the very bosom of the Church and
into that virginal band, Editha passed her life in such charity, goodness, and
cheerfulness, that she deservedly seemed to be none other than that paradise of
delights and that perfume of a fruitful field which God had blessed.”
Wilfritha trained her
little daughter with the utmost care, fostering the natural piety and gravity
of her character. Editha readily responded to the teaching of her mother; she
was studious and painstaking, and nothing pleased her better than to read the
lives and writings of the saints and holy fathers. Among her many virtues, she
especially endeared herself to the nuns by her sweet humility in rendering them
every lowly service. Yet, desirous as the child was of consecrating herself for
ever to the Spouse to whom she had been betrothed, her mother thought it well
that she should be brought up with a view to the possibility of having to take
her place in the world as the king’s daughter, in the event of it not proving
to be the will of God that she should remain in the monastery. She therefore
caused other children of high rank to associate with her as her playfellows,
and made her dress according to the luxurious fashion of the day instead of in
the habit of a religious. To all this Editha submitted, waiting patiently for
the time when she might lay aside once for all her worldly garments and put on
the poor clothing of a nun. In the meantime she knew how to carry a detached
and humble heart beneath her royal robes, and to macerate her innocent and
tender body with practices of penance and a rough haircloth, which, even as a
child, she constantly wore. Once when the holy bishop Ethelwold came to visit the
monastery, Editha was decked out in her best for the occasion, and the good
bishop was some what astonished to see such gorgeous apparel among the sombre
habits of the nuns. Calling Editha to him, he said,’s O daughter, these are not
such garments as our Lord takes delight in.” But she, knowing that love of
display held no place in her heart, meekly replied, “Believe me, my father, as
poor and humble a mind may, through God’s grace, dwell under these garments as
under the roughest goatskins; God looks to the heart and not to the exterior.”
Not far from the
monastery was a large hospice where wayfarers were entertained and the sick
nursed and cared for. Editha was sent daily to this hospice by her mother to
cheer and comfort the sick, to minister to their wants, and even to dress their
sores. She would wait on the poor beggars, giving them food and alms with those
sweet words which are above the best gift. On one occasion, as she was standing
distributing alms to the poor, a child came to her, destitute in appearance,
yet with so fair a face that Editha’s heart went out to him at once. On giving
him succour she laid her hand in blessing on his head, and as she did so the
child vanished, leaving only the happy conviction in her heart that while she
always served Christ in the person of His little ones, on that occasion He had
sent her His approval by an angel in disguise. We read that her predilection
was for lepers, seeing in them a more perfect image of her Spouse, who for our
sakes willed to be esteemed a leper and the outcast of men. In her lessons we
are told that “she preferred lepers to the royal children, and the more vile
and deformed any one appeared the more eager she would he in serving him.”
Truly one scarcely knows which to admire most, the mother or the child. The
faith of the mother in letting her only daughter risk the contagion of that
most terrible and repulsive of all maladies, or the charity of the child in her
eagerness to relieve suffering, even at the cost of what must naturally have
been most revolting to her delicate nature.
In 974 Editha lost her
grandmother, Elfgiva, who died at the monastery of Shaftesbury, which she had
herself built. After the death of her husband, Edmund, who was murdered in 946
by Seof the outlaw, she entrusted her two sons, Edwy and Edgar, to the care of
their aunt, and retired to Shaftesbury, where she spent the remainder of her
life in continual mourning. William of Shaftesbury says of her that’s she was a
woman always given to good works, and full of piety and mildness, insomuch that
she would often redeem from death condemned malefactors. Costly garments, which
to some women are an enticement to vanity, furnished her charities, for she
would oft bestow them on the poor. Envy itself could not discommend the lovely
features of her body, nor the curious works of her hands. God likewise bestowed
on her the grace of prophecy. Both in her life and after her death she wrought
many miracles. Having for several years suffered painful infirmities, at last
she yielded up her soul, purified in the furnace of afflictions.”
In the same year, 974,
King Edgar, having most faithfully performed his penance, was permitted to
assume his crown for it was the custom in those days for kings to wear their
crowns on the three great solemnities of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, on
which occasions all the great nobles of the realm met at the Court to treat of
affairs of State and feast with the king. The coronation was attended with all
possible display, destined to impress the king’s vassals. He styled him self
now King of all England, and not long afterwards he caused eight petty kings to
row him down the river Dee, he himself directing at the stern. He earned for
himself the title of “The Peaceful,” for during the sixteen years of his reign
he never had occasion to unsheath the sword against a foreign or domestic foe.
This constant peace enabled him the more effectually to carry out the reforms
so sadly needed among the clergy, and which had been imposed upon him by Saint
Dunstan as part of his penance. He was ably seconded in his endeavours, not
only by Saint Dunstan, but also by Saint Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, and
Saint Oswald, bishop of Worcester. A quaint old story regarding the former will
illustrate the state of the clergy at that time. The holy bishop, on arriving
at Winchester, was pained and troubled to see the extremely worldly, not to say
evil, lives led by the canons of his cathedral. Again and again he exhorted
them to mend their ways and to live up to their obligations, but in vain. They
seem to have been easy-going sort of men, and took his entreaties in good part,
but the burden of their answer was always the same: “Eras, eras, tomorrow,
tomorrow! we can’t oblige you to-day.” At last, one Sunday, after the Introit of
the Mass, which happened to be’s Servite Domino in timore,” he harangued the
offenders and asked them if they understood the meaning of the words which they
had just sung, and as they answered “Yes,” he replied, “Well then, I will no
longer give credit to your ravens voices crying * Cras, eras! submit yourselves
now once for all to regular discipline, or leave your benefices and quit your
dwellings.” The result was that the best of them reformed their manners and
stayed, while the incorrigible resigned, and their places were taken by monks
from Abingdon.
Unfortunately, with a few
glorious exceptions, the monasteries were not less in need of reform than the
canonries. Thus we read that at Saint Albans the Abbot, who was of royal stock,
so far forgot the sanctity and gravity of his office as to use garments of silk
with gorgeous embroidery, changing not only the colour but the shape of the
monastic habit, and using his time in hunting, unmindful of his duties towards
his spiritual children. To remedy this state of things Saint Dunstan drew up a
collection of rules called “A Religious Concord.” These regulations had been
most carefully collected from those monasteries, whether in England or abroad,
in which the Rule of Saint Benedict was most carefully observed, especially
from Fleury. This “Concord” was sent by King Edgar to every Abbot and Abbess in
his kingdom, commanding them, by a decree which accompanied it, to follow most
exactly the rules therein contained, that thereby religious discipline and
fraternal union might again revive and flourish.
Besides these most
necessary reforms, Edgar, with the advice of the bishops, published several
most excellent laws relating to ecclesiastical matters, one of which seems to
have inaugurated our English half-holiday on Saturday; for he decreed that the
Lord’s day was to be observed from three o clock on the afternoon of Satur day
till daybreak on Monday.
Very shortly before the
death of this great monarch he went to Wilton to assist at the profession of
his daughter in the year 975. Editha was then considered old enough to make her
final choice as to her future state; and as she continued firm in her holy
purpose of dedicating herself to God in a monastic state, she was allowed to
make her profession of the Rule she had already so faithfully practised, and to
ratify by vow the offering she had made of herself to God when little more than
a babe. Her vows were scarcely pronounced when she had occasion to show how
deeply they had taken root in her heart. Her father, justly proud of the
virtues which she evinced and the evident prudence and maturity of her
character, was bent on making her Abbess over the three convents he had founded
in expiation of his sins. The customs of the times did not make the proposal
such an abnormal one as we should now consider it, and there is no doubt that
if Editha had had the slightest ambition for such an honour very few would have
disputed her right. As it was, she utterly rejected the offer, pleading her
youth and inexperience, and telling her father that her only design was to
remain in obedience and humble subjection. However, as he would not be entirely
put off, the nuns of Wilton, in order to pacify him, bestowed on Editha the
honorary title of Abbess, but the holy virgin, nothing elated by their choice,
remained as before, sitting like Mary at our Lord’s feet, yet “withal serving
her sisters in the most menial offices like a very Martha.”
A very short time after
Editha’s profession she had the grief of losing her excellent father, who went,
we may believe, to swell that glorious band of penitents who shall endure for
ever in the City of God as monuments of His infinite mercy and the plenitude of
Christ s Redemption. Lingard quotes an interesting eulogium from the Saxon
Chronicles regarding his death. “Here ended the earthly joys of Edgar,
England’s king; he chose the light of another world, beauteous and happy. He
was known afar among many nations; kings beyond the baths of the sea-fowl
worshipped him far and wide; they bowed to the king as one of their own kin.
There was no fleet so proud, there was no host so strong as to seek food in
England while the noble king ruled the kingdom. He reared up God’s honour; he
loved God s law; he preserved the people’s peace the best of all the kings that
were before in the memory of man. And God was his helper, and kings and earls
bowed to him and they obeyed his will, and without battle he ruled as he
willed.”
Edgar left two sons,
Edward, who was thirteen and succeeded to his throne, and Ethelred, his half-brother,
who was but seven. Editha and her brother were very much of an age and both
were animated by the same sentiments of piety and virtue which naturally drew
them much together. In the Breviary we find the following description of
Edward:’s When Edward was raised to the throne he was directed by the Lord, the
King of kings, in the way of all justice and truth. Relying on His help, he
excelled in great power of intellect coupled with the deepest humility, so that
by the daily increase of his virtues he elevated his newly acquired dignity to
the very acme of its original integrity. He always deferred his youth and
inexperience to the advice of Archbishop Dunstan, seeking in all things to
follow his counsel and to exercise justice according to his judgement and that
of other holy and wise men.”
One night the nuns of
Wilton were disturbed in their slumbers by the sound of Editha sighing and
weeping. The next morning they asked her what had caused her such unwonted
grief; to which she answered,’s Alas, woe is me! I dreamt that I had lost my
right eye, and I understood this to signify that my brother Edward had met with
a fatal accident and been deprived by his enemies of his kingdom and his life.”
The event proved only too well the truth of her forebodings. Edward’s
stepmother had conceived a violent dislike to him, despite all his endeavours
to win her favour and the deference and respect he always showed her. His very
virtues were a continual reproach to her, while his growing popularity was
daily minimizing any prospect of putting her own son on the throne in his
stead. But let us transcribe the remainder of the story from the old
chronicle.’s There was at that time among the English great tranquillity and
abundance of all things. They were replenished with joy to see their king
addicted to virtue and piety, affable to all, beautiful in his features, and,
considering his tender years, sage and provident in his counsels. In the
meantime, that old serpent, swell ing with rage and tormented with envy,
endeavoured with all his power to disturb the general contentment. Therefore he
darted into the heart of Queen Elfrida a great portion of his rage and envy to
see this young prince preferred before her son Ethelred; whereupon she spent
nights and days in contriving ways how to destroy him, and with her joined
several of the discontented nobility. King Edward had now passed three years
and a half of his reign, when he was desirous to recreate himself with hunting
in a forest to which the town of Wareham is adjoined. Where, having wearied
himself with that exercise and being separated from his company, he diverted to
his stepmother’s house named Corfe. She, hearing of it, went out to meet him
attended with her servants, and seemed to take great joy at his arrival. But
he, refusing to enter the house, said that he only desired to see his younger
brother. Where upon she, thinking this a favourable opportunity to execute her
abominable designs, commanded drink to be brought out for him. And he,
suspecting no harm, accepted it; but as he lifted the cup to his mouth, one of
the Queen’s servants, having first saluted him humbly, suddenly with his sword
rushed upon him and pierced him through, of which wound he presently fell dead.
When his stepmother knew that he was dead, she commanded his body to be carried
into a lodging near, in which there lived a woman who had been blind from her
birth. She, lodging there alone that night, by the holy martyr’s merits had her
sight restored and saw a heavenly light shining through the whole house. This
execrable fact was committed on 18 March 978. As soon as day appeared the woman
told the Queen what had happened, at which she was grievously affrighted lest
the murder should be discovered. To prevent this she commanded the body to be
taken away and plunged deep into a marshy ground where none might find it. But
such being the pleasure of Almighty God that His martyr should be known to the
world, by a pillar of light descending on the place He discovered the sacred
body to some of His servants who searched after it; whereupon certain pious men
of the adjoining town took it up and carried it to a church dedicated to our
Blessed Lady. And in the place where the sacred body had been hidden there
broke forth a spring of most pure water, called the fountain of Saint Edward,
where miraculous cures are daily worked on sick people.”
When at last the murder
was discovered the majority of the nobles, justly indignant, declared they
would have nothing to do with the son of the murderess. As the only way to
avoid acknowledging so odious a ruler they resolved to make the Princess Editha
their queen, and a representative body set out for Wilton to offer her their
allegiance, with the crown. The arrival of so important a deputation created
quite a sensation at Wilton, and perhaps the calmest person in the monastery
was the one whom the mission most concerned, though she was but eighteen at the
time. Editha listened unmoved to their proposal, and told them that if her
brother Edward was dead to the world, so also was she; that to God she had
vowed herself, and that to God, while she lived, she would keep her pledge, and
that no power on earth should induce her to exchange her cowl for a crown. Her
words were so decided, and her resolution so firmly fixed, that the astonished
assembly did not attempt to press the matter further, but left the Abbey
marvelling at so great wisdom and contempt of honour in one so young. Moreover,
Editha prevailed on them to accept the inevitable, and to acknowledge as king
one who had had no share in his brother’s murder. For three years Edward’s body
lay at Wareham, after which, as God continued to show by miracles how pleasing
the innocent life had been to Him, and how, though deprived of an earthly
crown, he had received an imperishable one in heaven, it was determined to translate
his relics to the monastery of Shaftesbury, founded by his ancestors, and where
many of them lay. Saint Editha came with her mother to assist at the ceremony,
which was to be performed with all possible splendour as an act of reparation
to the murdered king. When the body of the martyr was exhumed it was as fresh
and supple as though the blood still coursed in his veins; no signs of his
violent death marred the peaceful beauty of his countenance, so that he seemed
to be gently sleeping. At the sight Editha sprang forward and clasped him in
her arms, her love and tenderness for her brother finding vent in the repeated
kisses she gave him, while tears of joy showed her rapture. What was it she
asked him in that close embrace? Was it that he would obtain for her the grace
to join him speedily in his heavenly kingdom? May be, for in three short years
the brother and sister were reunited in that home where death shall be no more,
and the just shall reign for ever and ever.
By far the greatest
miracle worked by the saint was the conversion of his murderess. She had tried
to present herself at the solemn ceremony, but had been prevented by an
invisible power, like that which held back the penitent Saint Mary of Egypt on
the threshold of the church. This terrible warning made her sensible of how she
was repudiated by God, as well as shunned by men. For many years she sought to
win her pardon by the practice of the severest penances. She became as hard and
relentless to herself as she had formerly been to others, never sleeping except
on the hard pavement, chastising her body with every austerity she could
invent, and giving every sign of a real conversion and heartfelt compunction.
Not so the man who had aided and abetted her in her evil purpose, for he hardened
himself to every inspiration of grace and repentance, was struck with a
horrible disease and died miserably eaten up by worms.
Towards the beginning of
August, in the year 984, there was a great concourse of people and great
rejoicings at Wilton, on the occasion of the consecration of the new church
adjoining the Abbey, dedicated by Saint Editha’s desire to Saint Denis, the
patron of France, to whom she had a special devotion. The Archbishop, Saint
Dunstan, who had ever been her faithful friend, came to perform the ceremony.
In the course of his sojourn at the Abbey he had noticed how often Editha would
sign her heart with the sign of the Cross, and taking her hand one day he
exclaimed in a spirit of prophecy, “My daughter, this thumb deserves never to
perish.” And even as he had foretold, so did it fall out. On the morning of the
dedication the deacon who was assisting the holy prelate noticed that during
the Mass, after the Consecration, the bishop began to weep bitterly. The deacon
was much disturbed at the sight of such un wonted grief on so joyful a
solemnity, and when the Archbishop was unvesting he ventured to question him,
saying,’s My father, why do you weep so sorely on this festal day?” To which
Dunstan replied, “Alas, my son! Editha, the flower of our virgins, the jewel of
our land, shall quickly wither. Within six weeks shall this happen, for this
wicked world is not worthy of the presence of so heavenly a light.” While the
church was in course of erection Editha had often told her sisters that she
would be buried in it, saying, “Here is my rest, here will I lie, for I have
chosen it.” But none of them thought for a moment that she was merely awaiting
its completion to obtain her desire; she showed no signs of disease, and they
looked to her companionship for many a long year. Only the angels had watched
the growth of her wings, the wings of simplicity and purity which, as the
Imitation says, infallibly carry us to God. Soon after Saint Dunstan’s vision
Editha fell ill with a fever which exhausted her delicate frame, so that on the
16th day of September she succumbed to it, in the twenty-third year of her age,
after being comforted by the Sacraments of Holy Church, and assisted in her
last moments by her spiritual father, Saint Dunstan. The nuns were inconsolable
at her loss, and mourned much and long over her premature death. One who was
away when she died, on re-entering the cloister heard the sound as of a large
choir of voices singing in the church. She knew that the other nuns were not
there, for they were busy preparing for the funeral, so, filled with surprise,
she hastened to see what it could be, but was stopped on the threshold of the
church by an angel, who said to her, “Go no further; the voices which you hear
are those of the angels who have come to conduct the soul of Editha to the
realms of bliss.”
Not long after her death
Editha appeared to her mother, who more than all felt and wept for her loss.
Her countenance was radiant with joy, and she was clothed in a robe of glory;
while she bade her mother weep no more for her, seeing that she had been
received by the Heavenly King into eternal joys. She added that she had been
accused before God by Satan, but by the assistance of the saints she had
triumphed over him, treading him under her feet by the virtue of the Cross of
her Saviour Jesus Christ.
The following year the
holy virgin came one night to Saint Dunstan as he was asleep, and called him by
his name. “Hitherto,” she said, “I, who am numbered with the saints above and
united for ever to my eternal Spouse, rest on earth in an unworthy grave; now I
have come to make known to you that it is God’s will that I should be
re-entombed for the comfort of many in this land who will come to pay reverence
to my bones. And lest you should imagine that you have been a prey to a passing
dream, know that when you exhume me you will find my thumb incorrupt, even as
you foretold, neither let it trouble you that my eyes, feet and hands have
fallen into decay. They have putrified by divine judgement because I sometimes
abused them in childish levity.” So saying, she vanished. The Archbishop was
much impressed by the vision, but he would not at once act upon it, fearing
some delusion. However, a few days later a pilgrim arrived from Wilton, who
asked to have speech with him. This pilgrim told him that he had been
irresistibly drawn to the church of Saint Denis, where, being tired after his
journey, he had fallen asleep. As he slept he thought he saw Saint Denis with
Saint Editha at his side. They were standing on the altar step, shining with a
radiant light. Saint Editha then spoke to him, telling him that it was God’s
will that her relics should be more honourably buried, and that she wished him
to go to Saint Dunstan to confirm him regarding a similar revelation which she
had made to him. Saint Denis then repeated the injunction, and the church was
once more wrapped in darkness.
Saint Dunstan, after this
second intimation, no longer hesitated to undertake the translation, which,
after the necessary preparations, took place on 3 November 985. All fell out
just as the holy virgin had foretold; her thumb was intact, hut her other
extremities had gone to dust. On the occasion of the translation there was a
great concourse of people, and, as often happens, the piety of a crowd is apt
to become ill-judged, so much so, that the saints are obliged to defend
themselves from the well-meaning violence of those who would pilfer their
relics, tear their garments, and even mutilate their bodies to satisfy their
pious greed. Among the pilgrims was a monk named Edulph, from Glastonbury. He
actually had the audacity to try- to cut off one of the shin bones of the saint
for his private devotion. However, as he did so the blood began to flow as
copiously as if the corpse had life. Edulph was filled with consternation at
the prodigy, and, terrified at the speedy vengeance of the saint, he let the
knife fall and began to pray for mercy. The blood then ceased to flow, and
Edulph went away a wiser man, and more inclined to be cautious in his dealings
with holy relics. One of the nuns had also stolen quietly into the church by
night and began cutting away a piece of her garment, when Editha raised her
head, as though she were alive, and at the sight of her stern countenance the
surreptitious invader remained half dead with fright. For many long years
Edith’s tomb continued to be the scene of miracles, which, from their
similarity, might weary the reader; but one legend is noteworthy as being
unique of its kind. In those days it was not an uncommon practice for clerics
who were poor and without any regular special duties to travel about the
country collecting alms, and carrying with them in a closed coffer the body of
a martyr or confessor. On one occasion some clerics came over from France,
bearing the body of Saint Junius, and in the course of their travels tarried at
Wilton. Entering the church, they placed the coffer containing the relics on
the altar step before the shrine of Saint Editha, and then went to beg alms in
the neighbourhood. After a successful collection they came to reclaim their
treasure, but no human power could lift the coffer; and, cry and lament as they
would, it remained as if nailed to the spot. Who could wonder that Saint Junius
preferred to be at the feet of innocence and purity rather than be carried on
the shoulders of sinful men who might use him for a means of earthly gain? At
last the Abbess, to rid herself of the travellers, gave them a gift of money to
compensate for the loss of the rich reliquary, and they went away contented,
while Saint Junius remained peacefully at Wilton as Saint Etlitha’s honoured
guest.
Many of these stories may
seem quite incredible, and no doubt much that is only legendary may have got
mingled with truth; yet it is impossible to argue from the fact that similar
prodigies do not often happen now, that they could not have happened then. We
must remember that the Anglo-Saxon Church was at that time only in its infancy,
and God was obliged to appeal more to the senses of His children, and to give
them from time to time some sensible token which might reach their
understanding. Now that the Church has, so to speak, matured after the lapse of
so many centuries, God has ceased to instruct men so frequently in this manner;
He now rather addresses himself to the intellect, and convinces souls in a less
striking but not less effectual way. However, sceptics are not confined to our
own days, and perhaps the best argument in favour of the miracles of our Saint
is the scepticism of King Canute when the stories we have just related were
told to him. He happened to be at Salisbury, about the year 1020, and was
invited by the good Bishop Ethelnoth to a banquet at Wilton. During dinner, as
was but natural, the bishop talked a great deal about the subject always
uppermost at Wilton, namely, the wonders wrought by Saint Editha. The king,
excellent as he was in many respects, was a thorough man of the world, and
after listening with an incredulous smile, said at length,’s My good father, do
not try to make me believe these fables, I am too old and have seen too much of
the world to be easily taken in.” The Archbishop was rather hurt at the slight
offered to his patroness, but wisely held his peace, only secretly praying her
to vindicate her own honour. After dinner he proposed showing the king the
church, to which the latter readily agreed. When they approached the shrine an
extraordinary prodigy happened. Editha suddenly rose from her tomb, her face
shining with the fire of holy indignation. The king, speechless with terror,
fell fainting to the ground; his servants at length restored him to
consciousness, and he began with much reverence and much sorrow to beg pardon
of the Saint for the irreverent manner in which he had spoken of her. As a
token of the devotion which he now for ever promised to her, he ordered a
costly shrine, adorned with jewels, to be prepared for her at his expense, and
begged of her henceforth to be his patroness. Soon after he had proof of the
Saint’s forgiveness and patronage, for, being in imminent danger of shipwreck,
he called to her in his anguish to save him from a watery grave, upon which the
storm instantly subsided and the king continued his journey without further
mishap. He did not fail to spread abroad the account of his miraculous escape,
and when Bishop Aeldred was threatened with a similar danger in the Adriatic,
he bethought himself of Editha, and invoked her assistance when all human means
had failed and the ship was actually sinking. At this supreme moment the Saint
suddenly stood beside him saying: “Be of good heart, I will deliver thee from
the tempest.” And it fell out even as she had promised.
Like Saint Junius, we too
have been resting awhile at Saint Editha’s feet, and we, like him, have
recognised in her that innocence which is loved by God and man. Though we
cannot, as he did, remain always with her, let us at least carry away with us
this lesson which the author of the Imitation thus expresses, “God is
the lover of purity, He seeks a pure heart and there is the place of His rest.”
O God, who dost make for
Thyself a dwelling in a pure heart, grant that we, who venerate with humble
homage the purity of Editha, Thy faithful spouse, may imitate the example of
her holy life. Amen.
– text taken from the
booklet Saint Editha of Wilton,
author unknown, published by the Catholic Truth Society of London
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/catholic-truth-society-of-london-saint-editha-of-wilton/
Miniature
d'Édith de Wilton dans une généalogie royale du XIIIe siècle.
Santa Edith di Wilton Badessa
† Wilton, Inghilterra, 16
settembre 984
Martirologio
Romano: A Wilton in Inghilterra, santa Edith, vergine, che, figlia del re
degli Angli, consacratasi a Dio in un monastero fin dalla tenera età, questo
mondo, più che lasciarlo, non lo conobbe affatto.
Figlia di Edgaro re d'Inghilterra e di Wulfthryth, nacque nel 961. Passò tutta la sua vita nel monastero di Wilton, ove morì nel 984, il 16 sett., giorno in cui ancor oggi è festeggiata.
La sua biografia ci è trasmessa da Goscelino, monaco benedettino prima a St. Bertin poi a Canterbury (ove si trasferì alla metà del sec. XI), agiografo lodato da Guglielmo di Malmesbury come « in laudibus sanctorum Angliae nulli post Bedam secundus ». Lo stesso Guglielmo fissò le tappe essenziali della breve vita di Edith nel suo De gestis regum Anglorum.
Intorno al 1420, la vita della santa ispirò anche un'opera in dialetto del
Wiltshire, intitolata Chro-nicon Vilodunense, sive De vita et miraculis S.
Edithae regis Edgarii filiae Carmen vetus anglicum.
Autore: Edith
Pasztor
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/70390
Voir aussi : http://iconesalain.free.fr/Presentations/37.Ste.Edith.Presentation.htm
