Sainte ETHELBURGE
de Faremoutiers,
Abbesse
20/07 - 07/07
Morte
vers 664. Fille du roi Anna des Est-Angles, Ethelburge vécut longtemps comme
moniale. Il semble qu'elle faisait bien partie d'une famille de saints,
incluant sa soeur sainte Etheldred.
Sa soeur
aînée, sainte Sexburge, marriée au roi Erconbert de Kent. Sexburge influença
profondément son mari. Le Vénérable Bède rapporte qu'Erconbert fut "le
premier des rois ANglais à ordonner l'abandon complet et la destruction des
idoles à travers tout le royaume". Il ordonna aussi que tout le monde
respecte le jeûne du Carême de Pâques. Sa fille, sainte Ercongote, entra au
couvent en Gaule avec ses tantes saintes Ethelburge et Sethrida du fait, nous
dit Bede, "qu'à cette époque il n'y avait que fort peu de monastères en
Angleterre".
Vers 660,
Ethelburge succéda à la fondatrice de son couvent, sainte Fare et sa demi-soeur
Sethrida, comme abbesse du monastère de Faremoutier dans la forêt de la
Brie. Elle y entama la construction d'une église dédiée aux Douze Apôtres, mais
elle mourrut avant d'avoir pu l'achever, et fut enterrée dans le bâtiment à
moitié construit en 665. Les moniales décidèrent par la suite qu'elles ne
pouvaient pas se permettre d'achever l'église, et les reliques d'Ethelburge
furent ramenées dans l'église proche de Saint-Etienne le martyr. A cette
époque, son corps fut retrouvé incorrompu.
Dans
l'art, Sainte Ethelburge est dépeinte comme une abbesse portant les instruments
de la Passion. Elle est invoquée pour guérir les rhumatismes.
Santa Edilberga, 1602, Juan de Roelas. Sacristía de la Iglesia de San Miguel y San Julián, Valladolid.
Ethelburga of Faremoutiers, OSB Abbess (RM)
(also known as Aubierge, Ædilburh)
Died c. 664. The daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, Ethelburga longed to
live the life of a nun. It seems that she lived in a family of saints that
included her sister Saint Etheldreda.
Her eldest sister,
Saint Sexburga, married King Erconbert of Kent. Sexburga influenced her husband
a great deal. The Venerable Bede says that Erconbert was "the first
English king to order the complete abandonment and destruction of idols
throughout the kingdom." He also ordered everyone to observe the Lenten
fasts. Their daughter, Saint Ercongota, entered a convent in Gaul with her
aunts Ethelburga and Sethrida because, according to Bede, "as yet there
were few monasteries in England."
About 660,
Ethelburga succeeded her convent's founder, Saint Fara and her half-sister
Sethrida, as abbess of the monastery of Faremoutier in the forest of Brie. She
began to build a church there dedicated to all twelve Apostles, but she died
before completing it and was buried in the half- finished building in 665.
Later the nuns decided they could not afford to complete the church and
Ethelburga's relics were reinterred in the nearby church of Saint Stephen the
Martyr. At that time, her body was found to be incorrupt.
Ethelburga is
mentioned in the Roman, French, and several English martyrologies (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
In art, Saint
Ethelburga is depicted as a Benedictine abbess carrying the instruments of the
Passion. She is invoked to cure rheumatism (Roeder).
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_559767.jpg)
City parish churches: St. Ethelburga Bishopsgate (former) This church was rebuilt in 1390, survived the Great Fire in 1666 and was only modestly damaged in World War II. However, it was all but destroyed in an IRA bomb in 1993. It was restored/rebuilt to its former design, externally at least, and is now a centre for reconciliation and peace.
St.
Edelburga, Virgin
SHE
was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining
to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God
in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of
which she succeeded its foundress St. Fara. After her death her body remained
uncorrupt, as Bede testifies. 1 She is honoured in the Roman, French, and English
Martyrologies on this day. 2 In these latter her niece St. Earcongota is named with
her. She was daughter to Earconbercht king of Kent, and of St. Sexburga;
accompanied St. Edelburga to Faremoutier, and there taking the veil with her,
lived a great example of all virtues, and was honoured after her happy death by
many miracles, as Bede relates. Hereswide, the wife of king Anna, the mother of
many saints, after the death of her husband, retired also into France, and
consecrated herself to God in the famous monastery of Cale or Chelles, five
leagues from Paris, near the Marne, (founded by St. Clotilda, but chiefly
endowed by St. Bathildes,) where she persevered, advancing daily in holy
fervour to her happy death. See the history of the monastery of Chelles in the
sixth tome of the late history of the diocess of Paris, by Abbé Lebeuf, and
Solier on this day, p. 481, &c.
Note 2. On St.
Edelburga, see Solier the Bollandist, ad diem 7 Julij, t. 2, p. 481. She is
called in French St. Aubierge. See on her also Du Plessis, Hist. de
Meaux. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
St Ethelburga's Church: Great Givendale, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Saint Ethelburga of Faremoutier
Also known as
- Aubierge
- Edelburga
- Edilberga
Profile
Daughter of the king of East Angles. During her childhood, Ethelburga lived in a Gallic convent under the direction of Saint Burgundofara, a home she would have for the rest of her life. She
was known throughout the community for her adherence to the Rule of the Order. In the mid-seventh century, Ethelburga was chosen abbess. She ruled with wisdom and justice until her death. Saint Tortgith of Barking was one of her nuns.
