'Gaude
mater Ethelburga', British
Library Harley 2900, f.68v
Sainte Éthelburge
Abbesse de
Barking (7ème s.)
Sœur de saint Erconwald qui
fonda pour elle l'abbaye de Barking, Essex, Angleterre. Eduquée par
Sainte Hildelite qui
lui succéda, on connaît peu de choses sur sa vie si ce n'est qu'elle est d'une
famille ayant comporté de nombreux saints et saintes. Elle serait morte en 664
ou en 678 suivant les sources consultées.
Statue
of Saint Ethelburga (Nathaniel Hitch, 1890s) on of three niche figures
above the north porch of All Hallows-by-the-Tower, London (Ward-Jackson,
Philip (2003). Public Sculpture of the City of London. Public Sculpture of
Britain. Vol. 7. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 6.).They
are by Nathaniel Hitch and to John Loughborough Pearson's design. They survived
the German bombing in 1940. The Church was restored and is now All Hallows by
The Tower/St Dunstan in the East. Some photographs of Hitch’s sculptures are
shown below. The three figures are St Ethelburga who was the sister of
Erkenwald the founder in the seventh century of Barking Abbey and the original
church on this site had belonged to that Abbey, the Virgin and Child and
Lancelot Andrewes. Andrewes had been Bishop of Winchester in the reign of James
I and was baptised in All Hallows. Both Bishop John Fisher and Archbishop
William Laud were buried in All Hallows Barking and it was from the church
tower that Samuel Pepys saw the Great Fire of London. William Penn was baptized
in the church and President John Quincy Adams was married there. The Revd
P.B.”Tubby” Clayton was the rector of All Hallows in the inter-war years and
the TOC H lamp burns perpetually on a tomb chest at the east end of the
church’s north aisle
Also
known as
Adilburga
Æthelburh
Edilburge
Etelburga
Ethelburga
Ethelburge
12
October (diocese of
Brentwood)
Profile
Related to the East
Anglian royal family and sister of Saint Erconwald
of London. Nun and
a spiritual student of Saint Hildelith
of Barking. First abbess of Barking
Abbey in Essex, England.
Founded the church of
All Hallows Berkyngechirche (All Hallows Barking; All Hallows by the Tower)
in London, England.
Born
early 7th
century in Stallington, East Anglia (in modern England)
c.682 at Barking
Abbey, Essex, England of
natural causes
legend says that a sister
nun of Barking saw Ethelburgh’s soul being drawn up to heaven by golden chains
buried in
Barking
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Wikipedia:
Æthelburh of Barking
Wikipedia:
All Hallows by the Tower Church
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Ethelburgh of
Barking“. CatholicSaints.Info. 12 December 2023. Web. 16 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ethelburgh-of-barking/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ethelburgh-of-barking/
Book of
Saints – Ethelburga – 11 October
Article
ETHELBURGA (Saint) Virgin
(October 11) (7th century) The sister of Saint Erkenwald, Bishop of London, and
first Abbess of that Saint’s foundation at Barking. Saint Ethelburga is famous
for the many miracles worked at her shrine. She died A.D. 670 about.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Ethelburga”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
16 January 2013. Web. 16 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-ethelburga-11-october/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-ethelburga-11-october/
St. Ethelburga of Barking
Feastday: October 11
Death: 688
Benedictine abbess,
daughter of the king of the East Angles and sister of Sts. Eronwald,
Etheldreda, Sexburga, and Withburga. St. Erconwald founded a convent for
her at Barking, in Essex, England. She was trained as an abbess by
St. Hildelid, who came from France to
assist her.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3193
Ethelburga (Æthelburh) of
Barking V (AC)
Born at Stallington,
Lindsey, England; died at Barking, England, 678; feast day formerly October 11;
feasts of her translations on March 7, May 4, and September 23 at Barking. The
histories of the various saints named Ethelburga are confused almost beyond my
ability to sort them one from another. Two, including today's saint, are said
to have been the daughters of King Anna of the East Angles and died within 20
years of one another.
Not enough is known about
Saint Ethelburga's life to make it remarkable to commemorate it more than a
thousand years after her death except that she hailed from one of those
incredibly holy families. Her eldest sister Saint Sexburga, married King
Erconbert of Kent and greatly influenced her husband to order the complete
abandonment and destruction of idols throughout his kingdom. He issued an order
that everyone should observe the Lenten fasts.
Her sister Queen Saint
Etheldreda was abbess of Ely. Her youngest sister, Saint Withburga, took the
veil after Anna died in battle and live mostly in the convent she founded at
Dereham. Her brother Erconwald, who later became bishop of London, founded
monasteries at Chertsey, which he governed, and at Barking, over which he
placed his sister Ethelburga. A late tradition notes that Erconwald invited
Saint Hildelith to leave Chelles in France and serve as prioress at Barking in
Essex. She was placed in the difficult position of teaching Saint Ethelburga
the observance of monastic traditions while remaining in a subordinate role.
Eventually Ethelburga learned and governed alone as a great abbess.
The Venerable Bede wrote
that "she showed herself in every way worthy of her brother, in holiness
of life and constant solicitude for those under her care, attested by miracles
from above." He then relates several unusual events that occurred shortly
before the death of Ethelburga, including the death of a three-year-old boy
after calling out the name Edith three times, and the cure of Saint Tortgith of
paralysis after a vision of Ethelburga (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,
Delaney, Farmer).
In art, Saint Ethelburga
is depicted as an abbess holding Barking Abbey. Sometimes she is shown with
Saint Erconwald, her brother, or with Saint Hildelith, who trained her
(Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1012.shtml
St. Ethelburge, or
Edilburge, Virgin and Abbess
THIS saint was an English
Saxon princess, sister to St. Erconwald, bishop of London. To the end that she
might live entirely to herself and God, she in her youth renounced the world,
and neither riches nor the tempting splendour of a court could shake her resolution;
for the world loses all its influence upon a mind which is wholly taken up with
the great truths of faith and eternal salvation. A soul which is truly
penetrated with them, listens to no consideration in the choice of a state of
life but to what virtue and piety suggest, and being supported by those noble
principles which religion inspires, whether she is placed in the world or in a
religious state, whether in opulence or poverty, amidst honours or in contempt,
equally carries all her desires to their proper mark, and studies with
constancy and perseverance to acquit herself of every duty of her state, and to
act up to the dignity of her heavenly vocation. This makes saints who live in
the world the best princes, the best subjects, the best parents, the best
neighbours, the most dutiful children, and the most diligent and faithful
tradesmen or servants. The same principle renders them in a cloister the most
humble, the most obedient, the most devout, and the most fervent and exact in
every point of monastic discipline. St. Erconwald considered only the
perfection of his sister’s virtue, not flesh and blood, when he appointed her
abbess of the great nunnery which he had founded at Barking in Essex.
Ethelburge, by her example and spirit, sweetly led on all the chaste spouses of
Christ in that numerous house in the paths of true virtue and Christian
perfection. How entirely they were dead both to the world and to themselves,
and how perfectly divine charity reigned in their souls, appeared by the ardour
with which they unanimously sighed after the dissolution of their earthly
tabernacle, desiring to be clothed with immortality; in the mean time exerting
continually their whole strength and all their affections that they might not
be found naked when they should appear before God. When a raging pestilence
swept off a part of this community, in 664, all rejoiced in their last moments,
and thought even every day and every hour, long before they went to the
possession of their God, to love and praise whom with all their powers, and
without interruption for eternity, was the pure and vehement desire with which
they were inflamed; and the living envied the dying. The comfort of those that
survived was in the divine will, and in knowing their retardment could be but
for a moment, that they might labour perfectly to purify their hearts, before
they were united to their friends, the saints, and swallowed up in a glorious
immortality. St. Ethelburge survived this mortality for the support and comfort
of the rest. Having sent before her so many saints to heaven, she met her own
death with a great spirit, 1 and
her glory was manifested by miraculous visions. See Bede, l. 4, c. 6, 10. St.
Ethelburge’s body was honoured at Nunnaminstre in Winchester. Leland
Collect. t. 1, p. 10.
Note 1. Ecclus.
xlviii. 24. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/10/113.html
Saint of the Day – 11
October – Saint Ethelburga of Barking (Died c782) Virgin, Abbess
Posted on October
11, 2023
Saint of the Day – 11
October – Saint Ethelburga of Barking (Died c782) Virgin, First Abbess of the
double Monastery (for men and women) at Barking, in Essex, England, ounded by
her brother, Miracle-worker. Sister of St Erconwald of London (Died c 693,
Bishop of London and known as “The Light of London.” Ethelburga is one of a
significant number of female religious leaders who played an important role in
the first Century of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Also known as – Adilburga,
Æthelburh, Edilburge, Etelburg, Ethelburgh. Ethelburge. Additional
Memorial – 12 October in the Diocese of Brentwood of which Barking forms a part
Not much is known about
the family origin of these two saintly siblings but their names suggest they
might have been connected to the Kentish Royal family. The main source for
Ethelburga’s life is St Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum which
recounts the foundation of Barking Monastery, early miracles there and
Ethelburga’s death. St Bede describes Ethelburga as “upright in life and
constantly planning for the needs of her community.”
Some time before he
became the Bishop of London in 675, Erconwald founded a double Monastery at
Barking for his sister and a Monastery at Chertsey for himself. Barking appears
to have already been established by the time of the plague in 664.
Around the same year,
675, Ethelburga founded the Church of All Hallows Berkyngechirche (now known as
All Hallows Barking or All Hallows by the Tower) in the City of London on land
given to her by her brother.
St Bede writes:
“In this Convent many
proofs of holiness were effected which many people have recorded, from the
testimony of eyewitnesses, in order that the memory of them might edify future
generations. I have, therefore, been careful to include some in this history of
the Church …
When Ethelburga, the
devout Mother of this God-fearing community, was herself about to be taken out
of this world, one of the sisters, whose name was Tortgyth, saw a wonderful
vision. This nun had lived for many years in the Convent, humbly and sincerely
striving to serve God and had helped the Mother to maintain the regular
observances, by instructing and correcting the younger sisters.
In order that Ethelburga’s strength might be ‘made perfect in weakness’ as the Apostle says, she was suddenly attacked by a serious disease. Under the good Providence of our Redeemer, this caused her great distress for nine years, in order that any traces of sin which remained among her virtues, through ignorance, or neglec,t might be burned away, in the fires of prolonged suffering.
Leaving her cell one night at first light of dawn, this Sister saw distinctly,
what appeared to be a human body wrapped in a shroud and shining more brightly
than the sun. This was raised up and carried out of the house where the Sisters
used to sleep. She observed closely to see how this appearance of a shining
body was being raised and saw, what appeared to be cords, brighter than gold
which drew it upwards until it entered the open heavens and she could see it no
longer. When she thought about this vision, there remained no doubt in her mind
that some member of the Community was shortly to die and that her soul would be
drawn up to Heaven by her good deeds as though by golden cords. And so it
proved not many days later, when God’s beloved Ethelburga, the Mother of the
Community, was set free from her bodily prison. And none, who knew her holy
life, can doubt that when she departed this life, the gates of our heavenly
home opened at her coming.
In the same convent there
was also a Nun of noble family in the world, who was yet more noble in her love
for the world to come. For many years she had been so crippled that she could
not move a single limb and hearing that the venerable Abbess’ body had been
carried into the Church until its burial, she asked to be carried there, and to
be bowed towards it, in an attitude of prayer. Then she spoke to Ethelburga as
though she were still alive and begged her to pray to God on her behalf and ask
Him of His mercy to release her from her continual pain. Her request received a
swift reply; for twelve days later she was set free from the body and exchanged
her earthly troubles for a heavenly reward.
Three years after the
death of the Abbess, Christ’s servant Tortgyth, was so wasted away by disease …
that her bones scarcely held together, until finally, as death drew near, she
lost the use of her limbs and even of her tongue. After three days and nights
in this condition, she was suddenly refreshed by a vision from Heaven, opened
her eyes and spoke. Looking up to Heaven, she began to address the vision …: “I
am so glad that you have come; you are most welcome.” She then remained silent
for a while, as if awaiting an answer from the person whom she saw and spoke
to; then, seeming a little displeased, she said, “This is not happy news.”
After another interval of silence, she spoke a third time: “If it cannot be
today, I beg that it may not be long delayed.” Then she kept silent a little
while as before and ended: “If this decision is final and unalterable, I
implore that it may not be delayed beyond the coming night.” When she had
finished, those around her asked her to whom she had spoken. “To my dearest
Mother Ethelburga,” she replied and, from this they understood that she had
come to announce the hour of her passing was near. So after a day and a night
her prayers were answered and she was delivered from the burden of the body and
entered the joys of eternal salvation.”
Several more miracles are
also recorded, relating to an outbreak of plague in the community. In
Ethelburga’s time, Barking Abbey was a double Monastery as was common in the
earlier Anglo-Saxon period but it’s the bonds of community and affection
between Ethelburga and her Nuns which emerge most memorably from St Bede’s
account – ‘golden cords’ of another kind than those Tortgyth saw in her vision.
Barking Abbey grew to be
one of the most important Monasteries in the country and, at the time of the
Dissolution, it was the third richest in England. It was closely associated
with a number of powerful Royal and noble women, including the wives and
sisters of Kings – and, even St Thomas à Becket’s sister. The Abbess of Barking
was not only an important landowner but a baroness in her own right, required
to supply the king with soldiers in wartime like any secular lord. Barking also
had a strong literary and educational tradition which continued throughout the
medieval period- learned authors such as St Aldhelm (in the 8th Century) and
Goscelin (in the 11th) wrote Latin works for the Nuns of Barking and several Nuns
composed their own poetry and prose. Perhaps the first female author from
England whom we can name was Clemence of Barking Abbey, who wrote a Life of St
Catherine in Anglo-Norman, in the twelfth Century; a Nun of Barking (either
Clemence or someone else) also wrote a Life of St Edward the Confessor, around
the same time. Barking Abbey has been described as “perhaps the longest-lived,
albeit not continuously recorded, institutional centre of literary culture for
women in British history.” And it all began with our Saint Ethelburga.
Ethelburga was buried at
Barking Abbey. The Old English Martyrology records her Feast day as 11 October.
There are many Churches across England dedicated to St Ethelburga and many
regions, streets, estates, schools and institutions too.
St Eerconwald HERE:
Saint
of the Day – 30 April – Saint Erconwald of London (Died c 693) “The Light
of London”April 30, 2020In "SAINT of the DAY"
Saint
of the Day – 7 July – Saint Ethelburga of Faremoutier (Died 664)
Virgin, AbbessJuly 7, 2023In "INCORRUPTIBLES"
Feast
of the Divine Maternity and Memorials of the Saints for 11 OctoberOctober
11, 2023In "FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES"
Author: AnaStpaul
Passionate Catholic.
Being a Catholic is a way of life - a love affair "Religion must be like
the air we breathe..."- St John Bosco Prayer is what the world needs
combined with the example of our lives which testify to the Light of Christ.
This site, which is now using the Traditional Calendar, will mainly concentrate
on Daily Prayers, Novenas and the Memorials and Feast Days of our friends in
Heaven, the Saints who went before us and the great blessings the Church
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of my many favourite Saints and especially, St Paul. "For the Saints are
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Tagged: stethelburgaof barking
Friday, 11 October 2013
St
Ethelburga and the Nuns of Barking
St Æthelburh (or
Ethelburga), whose feast is 11 October, is one of a significant number of
female religious leaders who played an important role in the first century of
the Anglo-Saxon church. She was the first abbess of Barking Abbey in Essex,
which was founded for her by her brother, St Earconwald, in the late
660s or early 670s. Earconwald also founded Chertsey Abbey in Surrey, and later
became bishop of London.
Not much is known about the family origin of these two saintly siblings, but
their names suggest they might have been connected to the Kentish royal family;
Ethelburga shares a name with St
Æthelburh of Kent, the daughter of King Ethelbert who became queen of
Northumbria and abbess of a similar community at Lyminge, near Folkestone. Her
brother's name-element earcon, as
in Arkenstone, is found in the names of a king of Kent and his daughter
(names and name-elements were commonly repeated in Anglo-Saxon royal families).
Almost everything we know about the two of them comes from Bede, who says a
little about Earconwald, and much more about Ethelburga, in Book 4 of his Historia
Ecclesiastica (chapters 6-9):
Both before and after his
consecration as bishop, Earconwald is said to have lived so holy a life that
heaven still affords proof of his virtues. To this day, the horse-litter in
which he travelled when ill is preserved by his disciples, and continues to
cure many folk troubled by fever and other complaints. Sick people are cured
when placed under or against the litter, and even chips cut from it bring
speedy relief when taken to the sick.
Before he became bishop, Earconwald had built two well-known monasteries, one
for himself and the other for his sister Ethelburga, and had established an
excellent regular discipline in both houses. His own monastery stood by the
River Thames at Cerotaesei - meaning, Cerot's island - in the district of
Surrey. The convent where his sister was to rule as mother and instructress of
women devoted to God was at a place called In-Berecingum in the province of the
East Saxons. Entrusted with the affairs of this convent, she always bore
herself in a manner worthy of her brother the bishop, upright of life and
constantly planning for the needs of her community, as heavenly miracles
attest.
In this convent many proofs of holiness were effected, which many people have
recorded from the testimony of eyewitnesses in order that the memory of them
might edify future generations; I have therefore been careful to include some
in this history of the Church...
When Ethelburga, the devout Mother of this God-fearing community, was herself
about to be taken out of this world, one of the sisters whose name was Tortgyth
saw a wonderful vision. This nun had lived for many years in the convent,
humbly and sincerely striving to serve God, and had helped the Mother to
maintain the regular observances by instructing and correcting the younger
sisters. In order that her strength might be 'made perfect in weakness' as the
Apostle says, she was suddenly attacked by a serious disease. Under the
good providence of our Redeemer, this caused her great distress for nine years,
in order that any traces of sin that remained among her virtues through
ignorance or neglect might be burned away in the fires of prolonged suffering.
Leaving her cell one night at first light of dawn, this sister saw distinctly
what appeared to be a human body wrapped in a shroud and shining more brightly
than the sun. This was raised up and carried out of the house where the sisters
used to sleep. She observed closely to see how this appearance of a shining
body was being raised, and saw what appeared to be cords brighter than gold
which drew it upwards until it entered the open heavens and she could see it no
longer. When she thought about this vision, there remained no doubt in her mind
that some member of the Community was shortly to die, and that her soul would
be drawn up to heaven by her good deeds as though by golden cords. And so it
proved not many days later, when God's beloved Ethelburga, the Mother of the
Community, was set free from her bodily prison. And none who knew her
holy life can doubt that when she departed this life the gates of our heavenly
home opened at her coming.
In the same convent there was also a nun of noble family in the world, who was
yet more noble in her love for the world to come. For many years she had
been so crippled that she could not move a single limb; and hearing that the
venerable abbess' body had been carried into the church until its burial, she
asked to be carried there, and to be bowed towards it in an attitude of
prayer. Then she spoke to Ethelburga as though she were still alive, and
begged her to pray to God on her behalf, and ask him of his mercy to release
her from her continual pain. Her request received a swift reply; for
twelve days later she was set free from the body, and exchanged her earthly
troubles for a heavenly reward.
Three years after the death of the abbess, Christ's servant Tortgyth was so
wasted away by the disease that I mentioned earlier that her bones scarcely
held together, until finally, as death drew near, she lost the use of her limbs
and even of her tongue. After three days and nights in this condition, she was
suddenly refreshed by a vision from heaven, opened her eyes, and spoke.
Looking up to heaven, she began to address the vision that she saw: "I am
so glad that you have come; you are most welcome." She then remained
silent for a while, as if awaiting an answer from the person whom she saw and
spoke to; then, seeming a little displeased, she said, "This is not happy
news." After another interval of silence, she spoke a third time: "If
it cannot be today, I beg that it may not be long delayed." Then she kept
silent a little while as before, and ended: "If this decision is final and
unalterable, I implore that it may not be delayed beyond the coming
night." When she had finished, those around her asked her to whom
she had spoken. "To my dearest Mother Ethelburga," she replied;
and from this they understood that she had come to announce that the hour of
her passing was near. So after a day and a night her prayers were
answered, and she was delivered from the burden of the body and entered the
joys of eternal salvation.
Bede, A History of the English Church and People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price (Harmondsworth, 1974), pp. 217-8, 220-2.
Bede was writing within half a century of Ethelburga's death, and his source
for all this was probably a now-lost account of the miracles of Ethelburga
written at Barking. Several other miracles are also recorded, relating to an
outbreak of plague in the community, but I liked the description of these three
linked, peaceful deaths. In Ethelburga's time Barking was a double monastery
(for men and women), as was common in the earlier Anglo-Saxon period, but it's
the bonds of community and affection between Ethelburga and her nuns which
emerge most memorably from Bede's account - 'golden cords' of another kind than
those Tortgyth saw in her vision.
Barking Abbey grew to be one of the most important monasteries in the country,
and at the time of the Dissolution it was the third richest nunnery in England.
It was closely associated with a number of powerful royal and
noble women, including the wives and sisters of kings - and even Thomas
Becket's sister. The Abbess of Barking was not only an important landowner but
a baroness in her own right, required to supply the king with soldiers in
wartime like any secular lord. Barking also had a strong literary and
educational tradition which continued throughout the medieval period: learned
authors such as Aldhelm (in
the 8th century) and Goscelin (in
the 11th) wrote Latin works for the nuns of Barking, and several nuns composed
their own poetry and prose. Perhaps the first female author from England whom
we can name was Clemence of Barking, who wrote a Life of St Catherine in
Anglo-Norman in the twelfth century; a nun of Barking (either Clemence or
someone else) also wrote a Life of Edward the Confessor around the same
time. Jocelyn
Wogan-Browne has described Barking as "perhaps the longest-lived,
albeit not continuously recorded, institutional centre of literary culture for
women in British history". And it all began with Ethelburga.
SOURCE : https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2013/10/st-ethelburga-and-nuns-of-barking.html
St. Ethelburga of Barking,
Abbess of Barking
(Died AD 675)
St. Ethelburga was first
Abbess of Barking. Of the family of Offa, King of Essex, she was sister
of St.
Erconwald, Bishop of London. Before his promotion to the bishopric, the
latter founded two famous monasteries: one for himself at Chertsey (Surrey) and
the other at Barking (Essex) for his sister. He invited St. Hildelith, from
Chelles in France, to teach Ethelburga the monastic customs. Ethelburga proved
herself a sister worthy of such a brother and Barking became celebrated, not
only for the fervour of its nuns, but for the zeal they displayed for the study
of the Holy Scriptures, the fathers of the Church and even the classic
tongues. Like her brother, she had the gift of miracles.
Hers was a double
monastery. It is recorded that when the pestilence of AD 664 ravaged the
country and the ranks of the monks were being rapidly thinned by the terrible
scourge, Ethelburga consulted her nuns as to where they would themselves wish
to be buried when the pestilence came to their part of the monastery. Nothing
was decided until one night, at the end of matins, soon after midnight, the
nuns had left the oratory to pray beside the graves of the departed monks, when
suddenly they saw a light which seemed to cover them as with a shining shroud.
It was brighter than the Sun at noonday. The sisters, alarmed, left off singing
and the light, rising from that place, moved to the south of the monastery and
west of the oratory. After some time, it was drawn up again to heaven. All took
this as a heavenly sign to show the place where their bodies were to rest.
Several revelations were made to the nuns during this plague as to the deaths
of each other. St. Tortgith had a vision of a glorified body, wrapped in a
shining sheet, being drawn up to heaven by cords brighter than gold. Within a
few days, the Abbess Ethelburga died - on 11th October AD 675 - and so
fulfilled the vision. The church of St. Ethelburga in Bishopsgate is named in
commemoration of this saint.
Edited from Agnes Dunbar's "A Dictionary of Saintly Women" (1904).
SOURCE : http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/ethelburgabarking.html
Sant' Etelburga di
Barking Badessa
Festa: 12 ottobre
VII sec.
Santa Etelburga (o Adilburga) è una badessa vissuta nel secolo VII.
Nata probabilmente a Stallington (Lindsey) era la figlia di Anna, re degli Angli orientali e la sorella di San Erconwald, vescovo di Londra, fondatore un monastero doppio per monaci e monache, con la regola benedettina, a Barking, e a capo del quale aveva posto Santa Etelburga.
La fonte principale dove sono contenute alcune notizie sulla badessa è il testo di Beda, “Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum” dove nel quarto capitolo si parla della fondazione del monastero di Barking, i primi miracoli e la morte di Santa Etelburga, descritta come “santa nella vita e attenta ai bisogni della sua comunità”.
Beda nel parlare di loro afferma che i due fratelli erano “legati insieme da un amore comune e formavano un sol cuore e una sola anima”.
Santa Etelburga ebbe quale maestra di vita spirituale Santa Idelide, una monaca che arrivò da Chellers o da Faremountiers, in Francia, e con la quale mantenne un’interrotta amicizia.
Nell’anno 675 la santa badessa fondò la chiesa di All Hallows Berkyngechirche in un terreno donatole dal fratello.
Morì tra il 678 e il 686, e alla guida del monastero le succedette proprio Santa Idelide.
In un documento del IX secolo, si riporta una visione di una monaca di Barking che poco prima della morte di Santa Etelburga, la vide portata in cielo avvolta da corde o catene d’oro. L’anima della santa era portata in cielo dalle sue opere buone, e con la morte veniva liberata dalle catene della carne”.
Esisteva una festa per la traslazione delle sue reliquie con le sante Idelide e Wulfride.
In suo onoro sono le sono state dedicate le chiese di Santa Etelburga vergine nella city di Londra, a Great Givendale.
Nella diocesi di Brentwood la festa per Santa Etelburga si celebra nel giorno 12 ottobre.
Autore: Mauro Bonato
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/99672
Voir aussi : http://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.ca/2013/10/st-ethelburga-and-nuns-of-barking.html
