Saint Egwin
Évêque
de Worcester (✝ 717)
bénédictin anglais
qui fut évêque de Worcester et fondateur de l'abbaye d'Evesham.
À Evesham en Angleterre, l’an 717, le trépas de saint Egwin, évêque
, qui tint, non sans peine, le siège de Worcester dont il finit par se démettre
pour mourir dans le monastère qu’il avait fondé.
Martyrologe
romain
Egwin of Worcester, OSB
B (AC)
(also known as Ecgwine)
Died at Evesham, England, on December 30, 717; feast of the translation of his
relics on September 10 and January 11.
The translation of
Egwin's relics in 1039 by Ælfward, bishop of London and former abbot of the
monastery founded by Egwin, was the impetus for the first vita of Egwin, which
bears some resemblance to that of Saint Aldhelm. It claimed to incorporate
older elements but may not be entirely reliable.
According to this
vita, Egwin was born into the royal house of Ethelred, king of Mercia. He was
consecrated to God in his youth. About 692, he became the third bishop of
Worcester. Egwin governed the see of Worcester until he incurred the enmity of
some of his flock for his severity against vice, and they denounced him to the
king and archbishop of Canterbury.
Seeking vindication,
Egwin appealed to Rome. Before leaving England on a penitential pilgrimage to
answer before the Holy See the complaints lodged against him, he is said to
have locked his feet in fetters and to have thrown the key into the Avon River.
Miraculously, this key appeared in the belly of a fish he bought at a market in
Rome (no one says how he was able to get around the market with his feet
shackled). Because of this miracle, the pope vindicated Egwin and he was
reinstated in his episcopal chair until 711.
During his
episcopacy he founded the abbey of Evesham under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin
because of a vision of Mary seen first by the herdsman Eof and the by Egwin in
a meadow by the River Avon. Probably about 709, Egwin undertook another
pilgrimage to Rome in the company of Kings Cenred of Mercia and Offa of the
East Saxons. It is recorded that Egwin received considerable privileges for his
foundation from Pope Constantine. Evesham became one of the great Benedictine
monasteries of medieval England after its refounding about 975.
Egwin's connection
with Malmesbury was further emphasized by his conducting the funeral of Aldhelm
in 709. Some connection with Wilfrid is possible, but unsupported by
contemporary evidence, but Evesham could have been one of Wilfrid's seven
unidentified Mercian foundations.
The monks of Evesham
strongly supported the cultus of Egwin. In the late 11th century, when some of
the cults of Anglo-Saxon saints were being questioned by Blessed Lanfranc and
the Normans, Egwin's sanctity was verified in the minds of many by an ordeal by
fire; miracles in Dover, Oxford, and Winchester; and, in 1077, a successful
fundraising tour of southern England undertaken by the monks of Evesham, who
carried Egwin's relics with them. The money was needed to buy the materials to
build a new church for the rapidly expanding community. Two ancient churches
are dedicated to Egwin (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh).
Saint Egwin is
portrayed as an English bishop with a fish and one key. (Not to be confused
with the German Saint Benno) (Roeder).
St. Egwin
Third Bishop of Worcester; date of birth unknown; d. (according to Mabillon) 20 December, 720, though his death may have
occurred three years earlier. His fame as founder of the great Abbey of Evesham no doubt tended to the growth of legends
which, though mainly founded on facts, render it difficult to reconcile all the
details with those of the ascertained history
of the period. It appears that either in 692, or a little later, upon the death
of Oftfor, second Bishop of Worcester, Egwin, a prince of the Mercian blood royal,
who had retired from the world and sought only the seclusion
of religious life, was forced by popular acclaim to assume
the vacant see. His
biographers say that king, clergy, and commonalty all united in demanding his
elevation; but the popularity which forced on him this reluctant assumption
of the episcopal functions was
soon wrecked by his apostolic zeal in their discharge.
The Anglo-Saxon
population of the then young diocese
had had less than a century in which to become habituated to the restraints of Christian morality;
they as yet hardly appreciated the sanctity of Christian marriage, and the struggle of the English Benedictines for the chastity
of the priesthood had already fairly begun. At the
same time large sections of England were more or less permanently occupied by pagans closely allied in blood to the Anglo-Saxon Christians. Egwin displayed undaunted zeal in his efforts to evangelize the heathen and no less in the enforcement of ecclesiastical discipline. His rigorous policy towards his
own flock created a bitter
resentment which, as King Ethelred was his friend, could only find vent in
accusations addressed to his ecclesiastical superiors. Egwin undertook a pilgrimage to seek vindication from the Roman Pontiff himself. According to a legend,
he prepared for his journey by locking shackles on his feet, and throwing the key
into the River Avon. While he prayed before the tomb of the Apostles,
at Rome, one of his servants brought him this very key
— found in the maw of a fish that had just been caught in the Tiber. Egwin then
released himself from his self-imposed bonds and straightway obtained from the pope an authoritative release from the load of
obloquy which his enemies had striven to fasten upon him.
It was after
Egwin's triumphant return from this pilgrimage that the shepherd Eoves
came to him with the tale of a miraculous vision by which the Blessed Virgin had signified
her will that a new sanctuary
should be dedicated to her.
Egwin himself went to the spot pointed out by the shepherd (Eoves
ham, or "dwelling") and to him also we are told the same vision
was vouchsafed. King Ethelred granted him the land thereabouts upon which the
famous abbey was founded. As to the precise date
of the foundation, although the monastic
tradition of later generations
set it in 714, recent research points to some year previous to 709. At any rate
it was most probably in 709 that Egwin made his second pilgrimage to Rome, this time in the company of Coenred, the successor
of Ethelred, and Offa, King of the East
Saxons, and it was
on this occasion that Pope Constantine granted him the extraordinary privileges
by which the Abbey of Evesham was distinguished. One of the last
important acts of his episcopate
was his participation in the first great Council of
Clovesho.
Macpherson, Ewan. "St. Egwin." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 30 Dec. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05329a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald M. Knight.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald M. Knight.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil
Obstat. May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Saint Egwin of
Worcester
Also
known as
§
Egwin
of Evesham
§
Ecgwin….
§
Ecgwine….
§
Eegwine….
§
Egvino….
§
Egwinus….
§
10
September (translation of his relics)
§
11
January (translation of his relics)
Profile
English nobility, and the descendant of Mercian kings. Consecrated to God
in his youth. Benedictine
monk. Bishop of Worcester, England from 692 to 711.
There was a need in his diocese
for some reform, but Egwin let it get out of hand, and he was charged with
being too severe with his priests. To answer the charges, give everyone a
chance to cool off, and show his repentance for any harm done, he made a
penitial pilgrimage to Rome. Legend says that he locked his feet in shackles
and threw the key into the River Avon; when he arrived in Rome the key was miraculously found in the belly of a
fish he bought in the market.
Founded the Benedictine
monastery
of Evesham, England; the site was chosen because of an apparition
of the Virgin Mary to a local herdsman. It became one of the
great Benedictine houses of the Middle Ages.
Born
§
30
December 717 of natural causes
§
relics
translated again in 1077 when they were taken on tour throughout the region which drew
enough donations to rebuild the monastery
church
St. Egwin, Bishop in England, Confessor
HE was of the
royal blood of the Mercian kings, devoted himself to the divine service in his
youth, and succeeded Ostfor in the episcopal see of Worcester, in 692. By his
zeal and severity in reproving vice, he stirred up some of his own flock to
persecute him, which gave him an opportunity of performing a penitential
pilgrimage to Rome. Some legends tell us, that setting out he put on his legs
iron shackles, and threw the key into the river Severn, others say the Avon;
but found it in the belly of a fish, some say at Rome, others in his passage
from France to England. After his return, with the assistance of Coenred or
Kenred, king of Mercia, he founded the famous abbey of Evesham, under the
invocation of the Blessed Virgin. After this he undertook a second journey to
Rome, in the company of Coenred, king of the Mercians, and of Offa, of the East
Saxons, who gave up their temporal principalities to labour with greater
earnestness to secure an eternal crown. St. Egwin died on the 30th of December,
in 717, and was buried in the monastery of Evesham. His body was translated to
a more honourable place in 1183, probably on the 11th of January, on which day
many English Martyrologies mark his festival. See his life in Capgrave, the
Annals of Worcester, in Wharton’s Anglia Sacra; Malmesbury, l. 4. de Pontif.
Ang. Harpsfield. Sæc. 8. c. 15. 18. and Dr. Thomas in his History of the
Cathedral of Worcester. Monast. Anglic. vol. 1. p. 144, and vol. 2. p. 851.
Leland’s Collections, vol. 1. p. 240, and 298. vol. 3. p. 160. Dr. Brown
Willis, History of Abbeys, t. l. p. 90.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume I: January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
St. Egwin,
Bishop of Worcester
(Died AD 717)
St. Egwin was of the Royal
Blood of the Mercian Kings, possibly a nephew of King Aethelred during whose
reign, he was born at Worcester. He was elected Bishop of that city in AD 693.
By his zeal in rebuking the illicit connections formed by some of the great men
in his diocese and his vehemence in reforming the corrupt morals of all, he
stirred up a party against him and, with the connivance of the King, he was
expelled from his diocese. Egwin, meekly bending to his fate, determined to
make a pilgrimage to Rome. According to a popular medieval legend, he also
resolved to expiate certain sins of his youth, at the same time, by putting
iron fetters on his feet, which were fastened with a lock. He then cast the key
into the Avon. As he neared Italy, on a ship from Marseilles, a huge fish
floundered upon deck and was killed and cut open. Much to the surprise of the
Saint, in its belly, was found the key to his fetters. He accepted this as an
expression of the will of heaven and released his limbs. According to another
version of the story, the fish was caught in the Tiber, after St. Egwin had
appeared before the Pope in Rome. The latter dismissed the charges against
Edwin and he was soon restored to his diocese.
After his return,
with the assistance of Coenred King of Mercia - and possibly St. Wilfred
the Elder who
founded seven unnamed Mercian monasteries around this time - St. Egwin founded
the famous Abbey of Evesham. After this, he undertook a second journey to Rome,
in company with both Coenred and King Offa of Essex. St. Egwin died on 30th
December AD 717 and was buried in his Abbey at Evesham, to which his shrine
brought many a medieval pilgrim. His relics were so popular that, when the
abbey church required a major rebuilding in 1077, they were taken on a highly
successful fund-raising tour of southern England, initiating miraculous cures
at Dover, Oxford, Winchester and elsewhere. He is represented in art as a
Bishop holding a fish with a key in its mouth.
Edited
from S. Baring-Gould's "The Lives of the Saints" (1877).
December
30
Our holy father
Egwin was born of royal stock in the region of Worcester. When he came of age,
he left the world and embraced the monastic life, wherein he soon achieved a
high standard of excellence. He was ordained through all the degrees of the
priesthood; and in 693, on the repose of the bishop of Worcester, he was
elected to the Episcopal see by all the clergy and the people, and with the
assent of King Ethelred of Mercia and the archbishop of Canterbury. In this
exalted position he showed himself to be a pattern of all virtue: a father of
orphans, a protector of widows, a righteous judge of the oppressed and comforter
of the afflicted. And by his powerful preaching many were converted from
paganism or from an evil way of life.
The righteous, however, must
expect tribulation in this world, and malicious tongues began to war against
the saint. He decided to travel to Rome and put his case before the highest
tribunal in the West. But before leaving, and although he was innocent of the
charges brought against him, he imposed a severe penance upon himself both for
his own sins and for the sins of his people. He locked his feet in iron fetters
and threw the key into the river Avon. Thus bound, he set off on the arduous
journey to Rome.
As he and his companions were
passing through an arid region of the Alps, they began to thirst. Those among
his companions who did not acknowledge the bishop's sanctity asked him
mockingly to pray for water as Moses once did in the desert. But others, who
did believe in him, rebuked the unbelievers and asked him in a different tone,
with true faith and hope. The Saint prostrated himself in prayer to the Lord
with his companions. On arising, they saw a pure stream of water gush forth out
of the rock; whereupon everybody, believers and unbelievers alike, gave
heartfelt thanks to God Who is wondrous in His saints.
When they arrived in Rome and
had prayed in the church of St. Peter, the Saint told his companions to go down
to the river Tiber and see if they could catch a fish. They did as he said, and
to their delight caught a medium-sized salmon which they brought to the holy
father. When he saw it he gave thanks and ordered them to slit it open. Great
was their astonishment when they found .inside the fish the key which the Saint
had cast into the river Avon. News of the miracle spread throughout Rome, and
from all sides the faithful came to seek the holy man's blessing.
Pope Constantine, who had
heard of Egwin's arrival, the great labors of his journey and the miracle of
the key, did not allow the Saint to prostrate before him, but himself asked his
blessing. And for the rest of his stay in Rome he treated him with great
respect, celebrating_ the Divine Liturgy with him and having many private talks
together. The case against the Saint was examined and annulled, and he returned
to England laden with honors. The people greeted him with joy, and by the
decree of the archbishop he was restored to the see from which he had been
dismissed. King Ethelred, too, received him with love, ready to fulfill
whatever the Saint might petition°
One of the Saint's first
requests was to be granted the pastureland beside the Avon where he had thrown
the key into the river. One of the king's shepherds had once had a vision at
this same spot, in which a Virgin of extraordinary splendor appeared holding a
hook in her hands and chanting psalms in the company of two other virgins, when
the shepherd told this to the Saint, he turned it over in his mind for a long
time, praying to God with vigils and fasting. Then, early one morning, after
the Saint and three companions had spent the whole night in prayer, they set
out barefoot to the spot, chanting, psalms and hymns. Parting company with the
others, St. Egwin fell to the earth with tears and groans. On arising from his
prayer, he saw three virgins, of whom the middle one was most wondrous to
behold, shining in light and surrounded by an ineffable fragrance. In her hands
she held a book, and a cross which shone with a golden radiance. When Egwin
realized that this was the Most Holy Mother of God, she, as if approving his
thought, blessed him with the cross and disappeared.
This vision gave the Saint to
understand that it vas God's will that this place, later called Evesham, should
be dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary. And he determined
to build a church there in accordance with a vow he had made during a period of
especially fierce temptation. So he bought the land and carried out the task to
completion, endowing the foundation with many gifts solicited from the kings of
England. At his request, the Pope granted his undertaking independent status
which was confirmed by a council of the English Church held at Alcester in 709.
In 711 the Saint retired from
his see and devoted himself exclusively to the government of his monastery at
Evesham. With fastings and vigils, with tears and groans, he poured out his
prayer to the Lord, and was accounted worthy of many visitations of the angels
and the saints. He was particularly devoted to the Mother of God, whose praises
were always on his lips.
Already rich in years and
Divine Grace, he fell ill in the monastery which he had founded, and, feeling
the approach of death, he called together the brethren and said: "Most
reverend and beloved sons, I beseech you, be zealous in observing the
commandments of God, and keep the vows which you made to Him. For it is
written: 'Make your vows and pay them to the Lord.' And as the Apostle says:
'Follow peace and holiness, without which none will see the Lord.'" Then,
having commended them to the Father and having partaken of the Body and Blood
of the Lord, he departed this life on December 30, 717. Great was the sorrow of
the brethren and all the people.
But during the burial of the
Saint, sorrow at his departure was mixed with joy at his triumph. After his
burial many miracles proved that St. Egwin had obtained great favor with the
Lord. On praying to him, the blind were given their sight, the deaf their
hearing, the sick in body and soul were healed. And so his fame spread
throughout the country, and many came to his tomb to seek his intercession.
Once a penitent, grieving over
a serious crime he had committed, bound himself with a number of iron fetters.
He vowed that he would not loose himself from them until God had shown him that
he was loosed from the fetters of his sins. He dragged himself to several
shrines of the saints, and after diligent prayer and fasting all but one of the
fetters broke loose. The ninth fetter was fastened more tightly than the
others, so that the flesh around began to swell. In hope of being released also
from this one, the unfortunate man travelled to Rome, to the tombs of the holy
Apostles. There, after heartfelt prayer, he was told in his sleep: "Go to
England and seek the place of the blessed bishop Egwin, and when you have given
him due veneration, you will obtain mercy," Joyfully, the penitent set off
on his journey, and, arriving at the church of St. Egwin, spent several days
there in prayer and fasting. One day, after the brethren had chanted the third
hour and celebrated the Divine Liturgy, the ninth fetter snapped with such
force that all the brethren heard it, and the penitent himself was thrown some
distance as if by the hand of a man. When the brethren ascertained the truth of
the miracle, they rejoiced and gave glory to God.
On the death of King Harold in
1040, the abbot of Evesham, Bishop Aelfward, took part in an embassy to bring
Cnut's other son Hardicnut, to the English throne. As they were crossing the
Channel to Flanders, a fierce tempest arose such that even the sailors were
close to despair. Bishop Aelfvard turned in prayer to St. Egwin, begging him to
free them from their peril, and promising that if God showed them mercy through
his prayers, he would make a new reliquary for the Saint and cause his feast
day to be celebrated with even greater honor. No sooner had he made this
petition than the sea suddenly became calm, and they shortly reached their
portal destination. The bishop was true to his promise. A splendid reliquary of
gold and silver was prepared, and the translation of St. Egwin's relics was
effected on Sept. 10.
Vladimir
Moss
SOURCE : http://www.roca.org/OA/55/55f.htm
Autore: Gian Domenico Gordini
Sant' Egvino Vescovo
m. 717
Martirologio
Romano: Ad Evesham in
Inghilterra, sant’Egvino, vescovo, che fondò il monastero di questo luogo.
Tardive biografie,
risalenti ai secc. XI-XIII, non consentono di stabilire con sicurezza i
particolari della vita di Egwino, giacché queste compilazioni contengono
notizie leggendarie, o si soffermano su aspetti miracolosi e prodigiosi.
Egwino (Eduino, Eguino) sarebbe nato nella seconda metà del sec. VII da una
nobile famiglia della Mercia. Si fece monaco e poi uscì dal monastero per
divenire il consigliere del re della Mercia, Etelredo (675-704). Verso il 693
fu nominato vescovo di Worcester, ma incontrò una notevole ostilità,
soprattutto per aver tentato di attuare una riforma religiosa. I suoi nemici
lo denunziarono a papa Sergio I, per cui egli decise di recarsi a Roma per
difendersi e giustificarsi. Sul viaggio a Roma ha ricamato la leggenda : egli
si sarebbe legato i piedi con catene chiuse con una chiave che fu gettata in
mare, ma a Roma fu prodigiosamente trovata nello stomaco di un pesce pescato
nel Tevere. Riconosciuta dal papa la sua innocenza, Egwino rientrò in
Inghilterra, ove riprese il suo seggio episcopale. L'amico re della Mercia,
Etelredo, gli donò poi un terreno sul quale costruì il monastero di Evesham,
che il successore del re, Kenredo, ulteriormente beneficò. In questo periodo
Egwino si interessò per una degna sepoltura di s. Adelmo nella chiesa del
monastero di Malmesbury. Nel 709 compì un nuovo viaggio a Roma per accompagnare
Kenredo ed Offa, re dell'Essex, desiderosi di prendere l'abito monastico
nell'Urbe. Dal papa Costantino I, Egwino ottenne esenzioni per il proprio
monastero. Rientrato in patria, morì il 30 dic. 717. Il 10 sett. 1039 e l'11
genn. 1183
furono compiute ad Evesham solenni traslazioni, per cui negli Uffici era
commemorato anche in queste date.
Autore: Gian Domenico Gordini
