Saint
Winefride. Vitrail (1934), Our Lady and Saint Non's chapel, St Davids, Wales
Sainte Wénefride
Vierge dans le pays de
Galles (7ème s.)
ou Winifrède.
Repoussant la brutalité
d'un certain Caradoc qui la trouva seule à la maison, elle réussit à s'enfuir
jusqu'à l'église où ses parents étaient alors en prière. Mais elle fut
rattrapée sur le seuil même de l'église où elle fut tuée par son poursuivant.
La légende veut qu'une fontaine jaillit à cet endroit. Elle existe encore et la
ville en prit le nom: Holy-Well, la fontaine de la sainte. Si les détails de la
légende ne sont pas historiques, l'existence de sainte Wenefride est certaine.
Recherches d'un fidèle
internaute: Sainte
Gwenvrewi de Holywell - Abbesse de Denbighshire - texte en pdf
Au pays de Galles, sans
doute au VIIe siècle, sainte Winifred, vierge, vénérée comme une moniale
éminente, près d’une source appelée Treffynnon ou Holywell.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/8978/Sainte-Wenefride.html
Also
known as
Guinevere
Guinevra
Gwenffrewi
Gwenfrewi
Vinfreda
Wenefrida
Winefred
Winefride
Winfred
3
November on some calendars
30
October on some calendars
Profile
Daughter to Trevith, a
member of the Welsh landed
class and advisor to the king.
Spiritual student of her maternal uncle Saint Beuno
Gasulsych. Physically beautiful, she made a private vow of chastity,
becoming a bride of Christ. Murdered when
she rejected the amorous advances of a chieftain named Caradog of Hawarden; she
had escaped from him, and was seeking shelter in a church when he caught
and killed her.
Legend says that where her head fell, a well sprang up which became a place
of pilgrimage,
and whose waters were reported to heal leprosy, skin
diseases, and other ailments. Saint Beuno raised
her back to life; he cursed Caradog who was promptly swallowed by the earth.
Winifred became a nun,
and later abbess at
Cwytherin, Deubighshire, Wales.
Born
beheaded in
the early 7th
century
c.655 of
natural causes at Denbighshire, Wales
relics translated
to Shrewsbury, England in 1138
shrine destroyed
and relics scattered
by order of King Henry
VIII in 1540
remaining relics taken
to Rome,
but returned to England in 1852,
and now housed at Holywell and Shrewsbury
Name
Meaning
friend of peace (Celtic /
Gaelic)
diocese of Shrewsbury, England
northern Wales
abbess with
a ring around her neck standing near the fountain
beheaded woman carrying
her head and a martyr‘s palm
beheaded woman with
a block, axe,
and her head at her feet
carrying a sword and palm with
a spring of water at her feet
Celtic maiden holding
a sword with
a fountain at
her feet, and red ring around her neck where her head has been severed and
restored
having her head restored
by Saint Beuno
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
New
Catholic Dictionary: Holywell
New
Catholic Dictionary: Saint Winefride
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Readings
A virgin flourishing as
the rose,
The comely bride of Him Who is the Lamb,
As the precious martyr of Christ,
Hath Winifred richly blossomed.
Sprung from the stock of
Britons,
Unshakable in faith, joyful in hope,
Holy in deeds, and pure of mind,
She was free of this world’s deceptions.
This virgin was slain by
Caradoc,
And immediately the pit of Orcus hell swallowed him up.
For that is the place for the wicked,
And there with Satan he is burning.
In demonstrating proof of
this happening,
A fountain welleth up at the bidding of God,
In the likeness of crimson reddening,
Where she was deprived of her head.
There many miracles are
performed;
The blind see, and the dumb are given speech,
All manner of disease is put to flight,
When those who ask have faith.
O Winifred, our glorious
lady,
Calm for us the billows of the sea,
Lest we become the ready prey of the enemy,
O compassionate one, afford us thy protection.
Amen.
– from the Complete Old
Sarum Rite Missal
MLA
Citation
“Saint Winifred of
Wales“. CatholicSaints.Info. 29 April 2022. Web. 14 December 2022.
<http://catholicsaints.info/tag/emblem-abbess/page/2/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/tag/emblem-abbess/page/2/
Winifred VM (RM)
(also known as Winefride,
Wenefrida, Gwenfrewi, Guinevra)
Died c. 680. Winifred is
evidently an historical personage, but it is equally true that her true story
can no longer be reconstructed because the written information is too late and
fanciful to be reliable. Throughout the time of the persecution of Roman
Catholics in England, miracles were wrought for the faithful who held
tenaciously to the belief in miracles. Many cures were worked through the
prayers of Saint Winefred at her tomb.
Winefred was the daughter
of Trevith, one of the chief advisers of the king of North Wales. Through her
mother she is related to the Welsh saint Beuno, a holy priest. Her parents put
her under instruction with this holy man, from whom she learned the heavenly
doctrine with great eagerness.
She grew daily in virtue
and desired to shun all earthly things so that she might devote herself
entirely to God. With the consent of her parents, she consecrated herself
entirely to God by a vow of virginity, choosing Jesus Christ as her Spouse.
Tradition says that a
prince of that country named Caradoc (Caradog of Hawarden or Penarlag or
Tegeingl in Flintshire) fell violently in love with her. One day finding her
alone in the house where she was preparing things for use at the altar, her
parents having already gone to Mass, he tried to seduce her. Winefred told him
she was already espoused to another, but he would not leave her alone.
Sensing his evil designs
she excused herself on the plea that she must first adorn herself more becomingly.
When she was free of him she escaped through her own chamber at the rear of the
house and fled toward the church with all speed. The prince, tired of waiting
and suspecting some kind of deceit, looking out of the house saw a figure
hurrying along the valley.
Violently angry at being
deceived, he mounted his horse but was not able to overtake Winefred until she
reached the door of the church. He was so angry that he raised his sword and
struck her before she could enter. Hearing the tumult outside, Saint Beuno and
her parents came out immediately, to find their dying child lying slain before
them at their feet.
The saint cursed the
slayer, some writers saying that the ground opened and swallowed him up. The
saint then praying to God, restored Winefred to life again. It was on this spot
where her blood had flowed that a fountain gushed forth from the ground. On account
of this blood-shedding she was always regarded as a martyr, though she lived
for many years thereafter.
The spot became known as
Holywell, a place of pilgrimage for many succeeding ages, even to the present.
After the death of Saint Beuno, having taken the veil, Saint Winefred went to
live at the convent she established at Guthurin (Gwytherin in Denbigshire);
there, with other holy virgins, she gave her life to God. (Another version says
she succeeded Abbess Tenoi at the convent of a double monastery already on the
site.)
She died on June 24. In
the 12th century (1138), her relics were taken from Guthurin to Shrewsbury and
deposited with great honor in the Benedictine Abbey, founded there some 50
years earlier. Her cultus spread to England as well. Miracles were attested at
Guthurin, Shrewsbury, as well as at Holywell (a.k.a. Treffynnon, Welltown).
Her story was recorded by
a monk named Elerius as early as 660. It can be safely said, however, from the
names of her contemporaries, that she lived and died in the first half of the
7th century, about the same time as Saint Eanswith of Kent (Murray).
At Holywell such vast
quantities of water spring without interruption that it is estimated 24 tons
are raised every minute, or 240 tons in less than 10 minutes. The water is
always clear as crystal.
In 1131 the Cistercians
founded a monastery at Basingwerk nearby, which was enriched by Henry II. At
that time the monks probably had charge of the well, though the spot was a
place of pilgrimage long before that time.
No place was more famous
for pilgrimages in the age of faith, where the divine mercy was implored
through the intercession of Saint Winefred, who at that spot had glorified God
and sanctified her own soul.
Many extraordinary
physical cures of leprosy, skin diseases, and other ailments are recorded up to
the time of the Reformation. Many authentic records of cures during the 17th
century are also extant, so that the people still made pilgrimages there.
Part of the beautiful
Gothic building erected by Henry VII and his mother, the Countess of Derby,
still remains. The people never forgot this holy place or the saint whom they
invoked. During the last century the pilgrimages were revived. There is now a
beautiful Catholic church adjoining the well.
In his diary, Wilfrid
Blunt (a well-known Catholic from the 1800's) tells us what he witnessed at
Holywell. "Three men were being passed through the water, a priest was
reciting the 'Hail Marys' and at the end of each, the name of Saint
Winefred--this in an unbelieving age--miraculous! There were lighted candles
and flowers and the fervor of these naked men (one a mere bag of skin and bone)
was tremendous. In the dim light of a foggy day, nothing at all congruous to
the 19th century was visible. It was a thing wholly of the Middle
Ages--magnificent, touching" (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Metcalf, Murray).
Pilgrimages to Saint
Winefred's Well persisted after the Reformation, and they do to this day. Two
poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins are devoted to this saint.
There is evidence that
the abbot Saint Beuno was a man of importance, but is story, too, as written in
1346, is legendary. His name is particularly associated with Clynnog in
Caernarvonshire, where sick people were still brought to his supposed
burying-place towards the end of the 18th century. He may well have had a small
monastery there (Attwater).
In art Winefred is
depicted as a Celtic maiden with a sword, fountain at her feet, and red ring
around her neck where her head has been severed and restored. Sometimes she is
shown with her head being restored by Saint Beuno, at others as an abbess with
a ring around her neck, standing near the fountain (Roeder).
She is venerated at
Holywell, Wales. Reputed as abbess of Gwytherin, Denbighshire. Saint Beuno,
Abbot, is chiefly venerated at Clynnog, Carnarvonshire (d. 630, AC April
21).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1103.shtml
St
Winefride's Well, Holywell
St. Wenefride, Virgin and
Martyr
[Or Winefride. 1] HER
father, whose name was Thevith, was very rich, and one of the prime nobility in
the country, being son to Eluith, the chief magistrate, and second man in the
kingdom, of North Wales, next to the king. 2 Her
virtuous parents desired above all things to breed her up in the fear of God,
and to preserve her soul untainted amidst the corrupt air of the world. About
that time St. Beuno, Benno, or Benow, a holy priest and monk, who is said to
have been uncle to our saint by the mother, having founded certain religious
houses in other places, came and settled in that neighbourhood. Thevith
rejoiced at his arrival, gave him a spot of ground free from all burden or
tribute to build a church on, and recommended his daughter to be instructed by
him in Christian piety. 3 When
the holy priest preached to the people, Wenefride was placed at his feet, and
her tender soul eagerly imbibed his heavenly doctrine, and was wonderfully
affected with the great truths which he delivered, or rather which God
addressed to her by his mouth. The love of the sovereign and infinite good
growing daily in her heart, her affections were quite weaned from all the
things of this world: and it was her earnest desire to consecrate her virginity
by vow to God, and, instead of an earthly bridegroom, to choose Jesus Christ
for her spouse. Her parents readily gave their consent, shedding tears of joy,
and thanking God for her holy resolution. She first made a private vow of
virginity in the hands of St. Beuno, and some time after received the religious
veil from him, with certain other pious virgins, in whose company she served
God in a small nunnery which her father had built for her, under the direction
of St. Beuno, near Holy-Well. 4 After
this, St. Beuno returned to the first monastery which he had built at Clunnock
or Clynog Vaur, about forty miles distant, and there soon after slept in our
Lord. His tomb was famous there in the thirteenth century. Leland
mentions, 5 that
St. Benou founded Clunnock Vaur, a monastery of white monks, in a place given
him by Guithin, uncle to one of the princes of North Wales. His name occurs in
the English Martyrology.
After the death of St.
Beuno, St. Wenefride left Holy-Well, and after putting herself for a short time
under the direction of St. Deifer, entered the nunnery of Gutherin in
Denbighshire, under the direction of a very holy abbot called Elerius, who
governed there a double monastery. After the death of the abbess Theonia, St.
Wenefride was chosen to succeed her. Leland speaks of St. Elerius as
follows: 6 “Elerius
was anciently, and is at present in esteem among the Welch. I guess that he
studied at the banks of the Elivi where now St. Asaph’s stands. He afterwards
retired in the deserts. It is most certain that he built a monastery in the
vale of Cluide, which was double and very numerous of both sexes. Amongst these
was the most noble virgin Guenvrede, who had been educated by Beuno, and who
suffered death, having her head cut off by the furious Caradoc.” 7 Leland
mentions not the stupendous miracles which Robert of Salop and others relate on
that occasion, 8 though
in the abstract of her life inserted in an appendix to the fourth volume of the
last edition of Leland’s Itinerary 9 she
is said to have been raised to life by the prayers of St. Beuno. In all
monuments and calendars she is styled a martyr; all the accounts we have of her
agree that Caradoc or Cradoc, son of Alain, prince of that country, having
violently fallen in love with her, gave way so far to his brutish passion,
that, finding it impossible to extort her consent to marry him, or gratify his
desires, in his rage he one day pursued her, and cut off her head, as she was
flying from him to take refuge in the church which St. Beuno had built at
Holy-Well. Robert of Shrewsbury and some others add, that Cradoc was swallowed
up by the earth upon the spot; secondly, that in the place where the head fell,
the wonderful well which is seen there sprang up, with pebble stones and large
parts of the rock in the bottom stained with red streaks, and with moss growing
on the sides under the water, which renders a sweet fragrant smell; 10 and
thirdly, that the martyr was raised to life by the prayers of St. Beuno, and
bore ever after a mark of her martyrdom, by a red circle on her skin about her
neck. If these authors, who lived a long time after these transactions, were by
some of their guides led into any mistakes in any of these circumstances,
neither the sanctity of the martyr nor the devotion of the place can be hereby
made liable to censure. St. Wenefride died on the 22d of June, as the old
panegyric preached on her festival, mentioned in the notes, and several of her
lives testify: the most ancient life of this saint, in the Cottonian
manuscript, places her death or rather her burial at Guthurin on the 24th of
June. The words are: “The place where she lived with the holy virgins was called
Guthurin, where sleeping, on the eighth before the calends of July, she was
buried, and rests in the Lord.” Her festival was removed to the 3d of November,
probably on account of some translation; and in 1391, Thomas Arundel,
Archbishop of Canterbury, with his clergy in convocation assembled, ordered her
festival to be kept on that day throughout his province with an office of nine
lessons, 11 which
is inserted in the Saurum Breviary. The time when this saint lived is not
mentioned in any of her lives; most with Alford and Cressy think it was about
the close of the seventh century. Her relics were translated from Guthurin to
Shrewsbury in the year 1138, and deposited with great honour in the church of
the Benedictin abbey which had been founded there, without the walls, in 1083,
by Roger Earl of Montgomery. Herbert, abbot of that house, procured the consent
of the diocesan, the bishop of Bangor, (for the bishopric of St. Asaph’s in
which Guthurin is situated, was only restored in 1143,) and caused the
translation to be performed with great solemnity, as is related by Robert, then
prior of that house, (probably the same who was made bishop of Bangor in 1210,)
who mentions some miraculous cures performed on that occasion to which he was
eye-witness. The shrine of this saint was plundered at the dissolution of
monasteries.
Several miracles were
wrought through the intercession of this saint at Guthurin, Shrewsbury, and
especially Holy-Well. To instance some examples: Sir Roger Bodenham, knight of
the Bath, after he was abandoned by the ablest physicians and the most famous
colleges of that faculty, was cured of a terrible leprosy by bathing in this
miraculous fountain in 1606; upon which he became himself a Catholic, and gave
an ample certificate of his wonderful cure signed by many others. Mrs. Jane
Wakeman of Sussex, in 1630, brought to the last extremity by a terrible
ulcerated breast, was perfectly healed in one night by bathing thrice in that
well, as she and her husband attested. A poor widow of Kidderminster in
Worcestershire, had been long lame and bed-ridden, when she sent a single penny
to Holy-Well to be given to the first poor body the person should meet with
there; and at the very time it was given at Holy-Well, the patient arose in
perfect health at Kidderminster. This fact was examined and juridically
attested by Mr. James Bridges, who was afterwards sheriff of Worcester, in
1651. Mrs. Mary Newman had been reduced to a skeleton, and to such a decrepit
state and lameness that for eighteen years she had not been able to point or
set her foot on the ground. She tried all helps in England, France, and
Portugal, but in vain. At last she was perfectly cured in the very well whilst
she was bathing herself the fifth time. Roger Whetstone, a quaker near
Bromsgrove, by bathing at Holy-Well was cured of an inveterate lameness and
palsy; by which he was converted to the Catholic faith. Innumerable such
instances might be collected. Cardinal Baronius 12 expresses
his astonishment at the wonderful cures which the pious bishop of St. Asaph’s,
the pope’s vicegerent for the episcopal functions at Rome, related to him as an
eye-witness. See St. Wenefride’s life, written by Robert prior of Shrewsbury,
translated into English with frequent abridgments and some few additions from
other authors, (but not without some mistakes,) first by F. Alford, whose true
name was Griffith, afterwards by J. F., both Jesuits: and printed in 1635; and
again with some alterations and additional late miracles by F. Metcalf, S. J.
in 1712. Lluydh, in his catalogue of Welch manuscripts, mentions two lives of St.
Wenefride in that language, one in the hands of Humphrey, then bishop of
Hereford, the other in the college of Jesus, Oxon.
Note 1. This name in
the English-Saxon tongue signifies Winner, or Procurer of Peace; but
in the British Fair Countenance. (Camd. Rem. p. 104.) The English
Saxons in West-Sex seem to have borrowed it from the neighbouring Britons; for
St. Winfrid changed his name in foreign countries into Boniface, a Latin word
of the same import. St. Boniface by this change rendered a rough uncouth name
familiar to foreigners among whom he lived. Otherwise, such changes, made
without reason, occasioned great obscurity in history. Yet this madness has
sometimes seized men. Erstwert, or Blackland, would be called from the Greek
Melancthon; Newman, Neander; Brooke, Torrentius; Fenne, Paludanus; Du Bois,
Sylvius; Reucklin or Smoke, Capnion, &c.
That this was the
etymology of St. Wenefride’s name appears—first, because she was of British
extraction; secondly, in the best MSS., and by the most correct antiquarians,
she is called Wenefride, or Guenfride, or Guenvera; and thirdly, in her
Cottonian life by an allusion to her name she is styled the Fair Wenefride,
Candida Wenefreda. [back]
Note 2. The English
editor J. F., construing ill the text of Prior Robert, says: “Eluith the Second
was then king;” whereas the author says: “Eluith was the second man from the
king. Thevith qui fuit filius summi senatoris et a rege secundi,
Eluith.” [back]
Note 3. Vit. Wenefr.
in app. ad Lei. Itiner. t. 4, p. 128, ed. Nov. [back]
Note 4. Several
objections made by some Protestants to this history are obviated by the remarks
on the saint’s name, and other circumstances inserted in this account of her
life. They allege the silence of Bede, Nennius, Doomsday Book, and Giraldus
Cambrensis. Bede wrote only the church history of the English, which the king
had desired of him. If he touches upon the British affairs, it is only by way
of introduction. He no where names St. David, St. Kentigern, and many other
illustrious British saints. Nennius, abbot of Bangor, wrote his history of the
Britons, according to Cave and Tanner, about the year 620; but, according to
the best manuscript copies of his book (see Usher, p. 217, et ed. Galæi, p.
93,) in 858; but is a very imperfect and inaccurate historian, and gives no
account of that part of Wales where St. Wenefride lived. At least Bede preceded
her; which is also probable of Nennius, who certainly brings not his history
down low enough. Doomsday Book was a survey to give an estimate of families and
lands. A well or prodigy was not an object for such a purpose; and many places
are omitted in it, because comprised under neighbouring manors. Giraldus
Cambrensis, bishop of St. David’s, in South Wales, wrote his Itinerary of Wales
in the year 1188, and died in 1210; before which times we have certain
monuments extant of St. Wenefride and Holy-Well. Many unknown accidents
occasion much greater omission in authors. Giraldus is very superficial, except
in Brecknockshire, of which he was archdeacon. He had imbibed at Paris an
implacable enmity against the monks of his age, (though he commends their
founders and institutes,) which he discovers in all his works, especially in
his Speculum Ecclesiæ, or De Monasticis Ordinibus, a manuscript in the
Cottonian library. His spleen was augmented after he lost his bishopric at
Rome. He probably never visited this well, nor the neighbouring monastery: or
omitted them, because lately described by the Prior Robert and others. What
omissions are there not in Leland himself relating to this very point? No
wonder if St. Wenefride is omitted in an old calendar of St. David’s, which
church in South-Wales kept its own festivals, but not those of North Wales, as
other examples show.
We have now extant
a MS. life of St. Wenefride, in the Cottonian library, written soon after the
conquest of England by the Normans, whom it calls French, (consequently about
the year 1100,) in which manuscript her body is said to have been then at Guthurin,
says Bishop Fleetwood. A second life was compiled in 1140, by Robert, prior of
Shrewsbury, who gives a history of the translation of her relics to that
monastery in 1138, and who discovers a scrupulous sincerity in relating only
what he gathered, partly from written records found in the monasteries of North
Wales, and partly from the popular traditions of ancient priests and the
people. Both these lives were written before Giraldus Cambrensis; nor had
Robert seen the former, their relations differing in some places. The life of
St. Wenefride which came from Ramsey abbey, and was in the hands of Sir James
Ware, and some others in manuscript, though copied in part from Robert’s, have
sufficient differences to show other memoires to have been then extant. Her
life in John of Tinmouth, copied from him by Capgrave, is an abstract from
Prior Robert’s work. Alford and Cressy seem to have seen no other life than
that in Capgrave. All these memoirs are mentioned by Dr. Fleetwood, bishop of
St. Asaph’s, afterwards of Ely, in his Dissertation or Remarks against the Life
of St. Wenefride. A manuscript which escaped the search of this learned
antiquarian, is a sermon on St. Wenefride, preached, as it seems by the rest of
the book, at Derby, whilst her festival was kept on the 22nd of June,
immediately after it had been appointed a holiday. In it we have a short
account of her life and martyrdom, with the mention of the miraculous cures of
a leper covered with blotches, of a blind man, and of another who was bedridden,
wrought at her shrine at Shrewsbury. This manuscript book called Festivale, is
a collection of Sermons upon the Festivals, and is in the curious library of
Mr. Martin of Palgrave in Suffolk. We must add the monuments and testimonies of
all the churches of North-Wales about the year 1000, which amount to certain
proofs of the sanctity and martyrdom of this holy virgin: and several memoirs
were then extant which are now lost. Gutryn Owen, quoted by Percy Enderbie, (p.
274,) observes, that even in the twelfth century, the successions and acts of
the princes of Wales were kept in the abbeys of Conwey in North-Wales (in
Caernarvonshire) and of Stratflur (of Cluniac monks in Cardiganshire) in
South-Wales, which are not to be found. [back]
Note 5. Itinerary,
t. 5, p. 14. ed Hearnianæ. [back]
Note 6. De Scriptor.
Brit. c. 49, ed Hearn. [back]
Note 7. St. Elerius
was buried in a church at Gutherin, which afterwards bore his name, and his
tomb was held in veneration in that place when Robert of Shrewsbury wrote; he
is named in the English Martyrology on the 14th of June. He survived St.
Wenefride, and is said by some to have been the original author of her life;
(see Tanner, in Leland de Script., p. 258, and Vossius de Historicis Latin., p.
267, Pits, p. 109. and Bale;) but this is no where affirmed by Leland, as
Bishop Fleetwood observes. [back]
Note 8. God has
often wrought greater miracles than those here mentioned. But as such
extraordinary events are to be received with veneration when authentically
attested, so are they not to be lightly admitted. Robert of Salop had some good
memoirs; but he sometimes relies upon popular reports. With regard to these
miracles, we know not what vouchers he had; so that the credibility of these
facts is left to every one’s discretion; as it is not impossible that some one,
imagining that she had not been at Gutherin before her martyrdom, might infer,
that after it she had been raised to life. It is well known that St. Dionysius
of Paris, and certain other martyrs are said by some moderns to have been
raised again to life, or survived their own death, and carried their several
heads in their hands to certain places. Muratori thinks these accounts, which
have no foundation in authentic historians or competent vouchers, to have been
first taken up amongst the common people from seeing certain pictures of these
martyrs with red circles about their necks, or carrying their heads in their
hands, as it were offering them to God; by which no more was originally meant
than to express their martyrdom. (Murat. Præf. in Spicilegium Ravennatis
Historiæ, t. 1, part 2, p. 527. All these miracles are easy to Omnipotence, but
must be made credible by reasonable and convincing testimonies. [back]
Note 9. Ed. Hearnii
Nov. an. 1744, p. 128. [back]
Note 10. Some
Protestants have ascribed the origin of Holy-Well to the monks of Basingwerk in
that neighbourhood. But that monastery was only founded in 1131, by Randle,
earl of Chester, first for the Grey-brothers, i. e. of the Order of
Sevigny, which was soon after united to the Cistercian, which rule this house
then embraced. It was so much augmented and enriched by Henry II. in 1150, that
he was called the principal founder. Holy-Well was certainly a place of great
devotion, and bore this name before that time. Richard, the second earl
palatine of Chester, (who was afterwards drowned, in 1120, in a voyage to
Normandy,) made a pilgrimage to Holy-Well, and was miraculously preserved in it
from an army of Welchmen by the intercession of St. Wereburge, as is related in
her life from Bradshaw. Ranulf or Randle, the nephew and successor of this
earl, in his charter of the foundation of Basingwerk, in 1131, gave to that
monastery, “Haly-Well, Fulbrook,” and other places. It is called Holy-Well in
the charter of Henry II. by which that prince confirmed this foundation; also
in a charter given to it by Leweline, prince of Wales, and David his son, in
1240. Ranulf Higden, a monk of Chester in 1360, inserts in his Polychronicon,
in the part published by Gale, (p. 1,) twenty rhymes on Holy-Well at
Basingwerk, in which he describes the wonderful spring stones tinged with red,
miraculous cures of the sick, and devotion of the pilgrims:
Ad Basingwerk fons oritur,
Qui satis vulgò dicitur,
Et tantis bullis
scaturit,
Quòd mox injecta rejicit:
Tam magnum flumen
procreat.
Ut Cambriæ sufficiat:
Ægri qui dant rogamina,
Reportant medicamina;
Rubro guttatos lapides,
In scatebris
reperies, &c.
St. Wenefride’s
well is in itself far more remarkable than the celebrated fountain of Vaucluse,
five leagues from Avignon, which is no more than a subterraneous river gushing
out at the foot of a mountain: or that of La Source two leagues from Orleans,
where the famous Lord Bolingbroke built himself a house. He could by no
experiments find any bottom, the weights and cords, &c., being probably
carried aside deep under water into some subterraneous river. At Holy-Well such
vast quantities of water spring constantly without intermission or variation,
that above twenty-six tuns are raised every minute, or fifty-two tuns two
hogsheads in two minutes: for, if the water be let out, the basin and well,
which contain at least two hundred and forty tuns, are filled in less than ten
minutes. The water is so clear that though the basin is above four feet deep, a
pin is easily perceived lying at the bottom. The spring head is a fine octagon
basin, twenty-nine feet two inches in length, twenty-seven feet four inches in
breadth, and eighteen feet two inches high, and is covered with a chapel. The
present exquisite Gothic building was erected by Henry VII. and his mother, the
Countess of Richmond and Derby. The ceiling is curiously carved, and ornamented
with coats of arms, and the figures of Henry VII., his mother, and the Earl of
Derby. Those who desire to bathe descend by twenty steps into the area under
the chapel; but no one can bathe there in the spring head, the impetuosity with
which the water springs up making it too difficult: hence the bathers descend
by two circular staircases under a larger arch into the bath, which is a great
basin forty-two feet long, fourteen feet seven inches broad, with a handsome
flagged walk round.
Dr. Linden, an able
physician, who made a considerable stay there, speaks of this well in his book
On Chalibeate Waters and Natural Hot Baths, printed at London in 1748. (c. 4,
p. 126.) He says, the green sweet-scented moss is frequently applied to
ulcerated wounds with signal success, in the way of contracting and healing
them: which powerful medicinal efficacy he supposes may be ascribed to a
vegetating spirit drawn from the water. For this water is clear of all gross
earth or mineral contents. This physician recommends Holy-Well as a cold bath
of the first rank, and says it has on its side the experience of ages, and a
series of innumerable authentic cures worked upon the most stubborn and
malignant diseases, such as leprosy, weakness of nerves, and other chronical
inveterate disorders. The salutary effects of cold water baths in several
distempers, as well as of the use of different kinds of mineral waters in
various cases, used with a proper regimen and method, and with due restriction
and precautions, are incontestable and well known. Nor will any one deny such
natural qualities in many of those called Holy-Wells. (See Philos. Transact, n.
57, vol. 5, p. 1160). Nevertheless, in the use of natural remedies we ought by
prayer always to have recourse to God, the Almighty Physician. (2 Paralip. xvi.
12.) And it is undoubted that God is pleased often to display also a miraculous
power in certain places of public devotion, and where the relics and other
pledges of saints or holy things render him more propitious, as in the Probatic
pond, John v. 2, &c. Thus St. Austin, ordering his clergy at Hippo to send
a priest named Boniface to pray in a certain church celebrated for holy relics,
said: (ep. 78. ol. 137, t. 2, p. 184. ed. Ben.) “God who created all things is
in all places, and is every where to be adored in spirit and in truth. But who
can explore the holy order of his providence, in dispensing his gifts, why
these miracles should be done in some places and not in others? The sanctity of
the place where the body of the blessed Felix of Nola is buried, is well known.
And we ourselves know the like at Milan. All the saints have not the gift of
healing, nor the discernment of spirits; (1 Cor. xii.
30.) so neither does it please him who distributes his gifts according to
his holy will, that such things be performed, in all the memories, or
chapels of the saints.” (See Instit. Cathol. or Catech. of Montpell. ed. Lat.
t. 1, p. 687 & t. 2, p. 933.) Perhaps no pilgrimage in the North was for
some ages more famous than that of Holy-Well, where the divine mercy was
implored through the intercession of her who in that place had glorified his
name and sanctified her soul. Many cures of corporal distempers, there wrought,
are proved by several circumstances to have been miraculous; which the very
answers of Bishop Fleetwood and other adversaries suffice to confirm. Some of
them were performed through the devotion of persons at a distance from the
place, mentioned in the life of this saint; and such as certainly cannot have
been produced by imagination, as Bishop Fleetwood would have us believe. [back]
Note 11. Lyndewoode,
fol. 76; Johnson’s Canons, t. 2, ad an. 1398. [back]
Note 12. Not. in
Martyr. Rom. bac dic. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume XI: November. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/11/033.html
St. Winefride
Born at Holywell, Wales,
about 600; died at Gwytherin, Wales,
3 Nov., 660. Her father was Thevit, a Cambrian magnate, the possessor of
three manors in what is now Flintshire; her mother Wenlo, a sister
of St.
Beuno and a member of a family closely
connected with the kings of South Wales. St.
Beuno had led at first a solitary life, but afterwards
established a community of cenobites at Clynog-vawr. While in search
of a suitable place for a monastery he
came to visit his sister's husband whose lands lay on a bluff
overlooking the town of Holywell on
the valley side of the well, and over against the present ruins of the Abbey of
Basingstoke; tradition points this out as the spot on which the convent of St.
Winefride was afterwards built. From this eminence there is a steep incline
down to the stream and the well. In the hollow, then called the "Dry
Hollow", beneath this incline St.
Beuno lived and built a chapel in
which he said Mass and
preached to the people. Winefride was then one of his most attentive listeners.
Though only fifteen years old she gave herself to a life
of devotion and austerity, passing whole nights watching in
the church. Prior to the conquest of Wales the saint was
known as Guenevra; after that her name was changed to
the English form of Winefride. She was a maiden of
great personal charm and endowed with rare gifts of intellect.
Under the guidance of St.
Beuno, Winefride made rapid progress in virtue and learning and
with her parents' consent prepared
to consecrate herself
to God.
The fame of her beauty
and accomplishments had reached the ears of Caradoc, son of the
neighbouring Prince Alen, who resolved to seek her hand
in marriage. Coming in person to press his suit he entered the
house of Thevit, and found Winefride alone, her parents having
gone early to Mass. The knowledge that
Winefride had resolved to quit the world and consecrate herself
to God seemed only to add fuel to his passion, and he pleaded
his cause with extraordinary vehemence, even proceeding to threats as he saw
her turn indignantly away. At length, terrified at his words and alarmed for
her innocence, the maiden escaped from the house, and hurried towards
the church, where her parents were
hearing Mass,
that was being celebrated by her uncle, St.
Beuno. Maddened by a
disappointed passion, Caradoc pursued her and, overtaking her on
the slope above the site of the present well, he drew his sword and at one blow
severed her head from the body. The head rolled down the incline and, where it
rested, there gushed forth a spring. St.
Beuno, hearing of the tragedy, left the altar, and accompanied by
the parents came
to the spot where the head lay beside the spring. Taking up
the maiden's head he carried it to where the body lay, covered
both with his cloak, and then re-entered the church to finish
the Holy
Sacrifice. When Mass was
ended he knelt beside
the saint's body, offered up
a fervent prayer to God,
and ordered the cloak which covered it to be removed. Thereupon Winefride, as
if awakening from a deep slumber, rose up with no sign of the severance of the
head except a thin white circle round her neck. Seeing
the murderer leaning on his sword with an insolent and defiant
air, St.
Beuno invoked the chastisement of heaven,
and Caradoc fell dead on the spot, the popular belief being
that the ground opened and swallowed him.
Miraculously restored
to life, Winefride seems to have lived in almost
perpetual ecstasy and to have had familiar converse with God. In
fulfillment of her promise,
she solemnly vowed virginity and poverty as
a recluse.
A convent was
built on her father's land, where she became the abbess of
a community of young maidens, and a chapel was
erected over the well. St.
Beuno left Holywell, and returned to Cærnarvon. Before he left
the tradition is that he seated himself upon the stone, which
now stands in the outer well pool, and there promised in the name
of God "that whosoever on that spot should thrice ask for a
benefit from God in the name of St. Winefride would obtain
the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul." St.
Winefride on her part made agreement with St.
Beuno that so long as she remained at Holywell,
and until she heard of his death, she would yearly send him a memorial of her
affection for him. After eight years spent at Holywell (reckoning
from the departure of St.
Beuno), St. Winefride, hearing of his death, received
an inspiration to leave the convent and
retire inland. There was reason to fear that Holywell would
soon be no longer safe from the Saxon. The Kingdom of
Northumbria was pressing upon the boarders of North Wales; Anglesea and Chester were
already in the hands of the Saxon. It was time for
the British recluses to
seek the safety of the mountains; accordingly St. Winefride went upon
her pilgrimage to
seek for a place of rest. Ultimately she arrived at Gwytherin near
the source of the River Elwy. This is still a most retired spot, where Welsh alone
is spoken.
Some ten miles further
across the vale of the Conway rises the double peak of
Snowdon. St. Winefride was welcomed at Gwytherin by St. Elwy
(Elerius), who gives his name to the River Elwy, and by whom the
first life of the saint was
written. She brought her companion religious with her, and found
there other nuns governed
by an abbess.
She seems to have lived at Gwytherin as an
acknowledged saint on earth, first in humble obedience to
the abbess,
and, after the latter's death, as abbess herself
until her own death. Her chief feast is observed on 3 Nov., the
other feast held in midsummer being that of her martyrdom.
Her death was foreshown to her in a vision by Christ Himself.
During her life she
performed many miracles,
and after her death, up to the present day, countless wonders and favours
continue to be worked and obtained through her intercession.
The details of St.
Winefride's life are gathered from a manuscript in
the British Museum, said to have been the work of the British monk,
Elerius, a contemporary of the saint,
and also from a manuscript life in
the Bodleian Library, generally believed to have been compiled (1130) by
Robert, prior of Shrewsbury.
Sources
Acta SS., Nov., I,
691 sq., 702 sq., 706 sq.; SWIFT, Life of S. Winefride; Winefride, Virgin
and Martyr; MEYRICK, MS. Life of St. Winefride.
Chandlery, Peter.
"St. Winefride." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1912. 3 Nov. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15656a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Paula J. Eckardt. Dedicated in
loving memory, and with deep gratitude, to my mother, Patricia J. Eckardt,
1924-1998.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15656a.htm
.jpg)
Santa Vinfreda
(Gwenfrewi, Winfred of Wales) Vergine e martire
Hollywell, Wales, 600 c.
- Caradog of Hawarden, 3 novembre 660
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: Presso la fonte in località Holywell in Galles, santa Vinfreda,
vergine, venerata come illustre monaca.
Il nome di Gwenfrewi,
patrona del Galles, appare piú spesso nella forma inglese Winifred o Winifrid;
un'altra forma è Guineura. Non c'è alcuna testimonianza della santità e neppure
dell'esistenza di Gwenfrewi anteriore a due Vitae del sec. XII, cioè cinque
secoli dopo l'epoca presunta della santa. La cosiddetta Vita prima fu scritta
probabilmente da un monaco di Basingwerk intorno all'anno 1200; la secunda, che
invece è la piú lunga e piú antica, è opera di Roberto, priore di Shrewshury
intorno all'anno 1139. Il nome di Gwenfrewi non appare, d'altra parte,
prima del sec. XIII nei Calendari gallesi.
Dalle due Vitae la storia di Gwenfrewi risulta abbastanza interessante; suo
padre era Teuyth, figlio di Eylud, il quale visse nel Tegeingl (Flintshíre) e
fu valoroso soldato e comandante sotto re Eliuth. Madre di Gwenfrewi era
Gweolo, figlia di Bugi e sorella di s. Beuno.
Teuvth dette a s. Beuno
della terra a Svchnant, ove questi costruí una chiesetta. In cambio s. Beuno
divenne il maestro spirituale di Gwenfrewi, figlia unica di Teuyth. Una
domenica, era il 22 giugno, i genitori di Gwenfrewi la lasciarono sola in casa
per andare alla Messa. Disgraziatamente Caradog di Hawarden, figlio del re
Alauc, che era andato a caccia ed era assetato, venne alla casa di Teuvth a
cercare acqua. Quando comprese che Gwenfrewi era sola le fece proposte
sconvenienti; benché allarmata, Gwenfrewi saggiamente disse di volersi ritirare
in un'altra camera per indossare il suo abito migliore, e scappò, andando a
Sychnant a chiamare in aiuto s. Benno. Adirato, Caradog la inseguí a cavallo e,
raggiuntala davanti alla chiesa, l e tagliò la testa. Nel punto in cui cadde la
testa scaturí una sorgente, chiamata poi Holvwell. Quando lo zio s. Beuno
giunse. rimise la testa di Gwenfrewi al suo posto e, come fu detto, solo una
cicatrice, come una linea bianca, rimase attorno al collo della santa, quindi
maledisse Der la sua perfidia Caradog, che morí in una maniera orribile.
Vi sono diversi resoconti
contrastanti su quello che accadde a Gwenfrewi dopo la sua meravigliosa guari
gione. La Vita prima afferma che Gwenfrewi si recò a Roma, ma ne tornò per
presenziare ad un concilio di monaci e eremiti britannici sulla riunione degli
eremiti in conventi. La Vita seconda, invece, narra che s. Beuno lasciò
Holywell per Clynnog, nel regno di re Cadvallon, figlio di Cadfan, intorno al
630. mentre, probabilmente, Gwenfrewi vi rimase dopo la sua partenza per sette
o otto anni, fondando un convento per vergini. Si dice pure che trascorse un
periodo di tempo a Bodfari con s. Deifer, che la mandò a Henllan da s. Sadwrn,
che a sua volta la mandò a Gwytherin da s. Elerio il quale mise Gwenfrewi nel
vicino convento di sua madre, Theonia. Gwenfrewi succedette a Theonia come
superiora di undici vergini. e morí a Gwytherin il 2 o 3 novembre, circa
quindici anni dopo la sua decapitazione (650?). Fu sepolta da s. Elerio.
La sorgente di Holywell,
ora molto impoverita da scavi vicini, è stata sempre nota per il volume
dell'acqua che vi scaturiva ed è la piú famosa fonte sacra delle isole
britanniche continuando ad attrarre molti pellegrini, che vi si curano con
risultati positivi confermati dalle autorità mediche. Altre fonti dedicate
a Gwenfrewi si trovano a Woolston (Shropshire) e ad Oxford (Holywell).
Le reliquie di Gwenfrewi
furono translate con grande solennità nell'abbazia di Shrewsbury nel 1138, come
riferisce la Vita secunda scritta da Roberto priore di Shrewsbury, nel 1139 o
1140. Nel 1398 l'arcivescovo Arundel di Canterbury ordinò che si celebrasse la
festa di Gwenfrewi nell'arcidiocesi di Canterbury, ordine rinnovato dal
successore Chichele nel 1415 . Da allora la sua popolarità è cresciuta:
Gwenfrewi è diventata la patrona del Galles e la sua intercessione è invocata
ovunque si reciti la preghiera per il paese. La festa di Gwenfrewi è celebrata
il 3 novembre probabilmente il giorno della sua morte, mentre il 22 giugno si
celebrava la ricorrenza della sua decollazione; alcuni calendari menzionano
invece Gwenfrewi al 19 ed al 20 settembre.
Gwenfrewi e lo zio s.
Beuno sono effigiati su un pulpito del XIV sec. nel refettorio dell'abbazia di
Shrewsbury. Una statua di Gwenfrewi, conservata alla sua fonte, la mostra con
un ramo di palma ed un pastorale e, sebbene non fosse una principessa, il capo
è coronato.
Autore: Joachim
Dolan
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/76025
Voir aussi : http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8481000/8481421.stm
http://people.bath.ac.uk/liskmj/living-spring/sourcearchive/ns1/ns1tgh2.htm
