Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/265

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ST, EDILTRUDE 251 Mercians. Consecrated by St. Egwin, in 710. Succeeded Etnebukoa (2) as second abbess of St. Peter's, Gloncester, where she ruled for fifteen or twenty-fiye years. She was succeeded by Weeda. Buried by Bishop Wilfrid of Worcester in 735. Bishop Stubbs, in Smith and Wace, does not call her Saint. Miss Arnold Forster, Dedicaiiona. St. Edburga (5), Dec. 13 or 27 (Eadbukga, Bugoa, Heabubo). + 759. Abbess of Minster, or Menstrey, in Thanet. Daughter of Kentwine, king of Wessex, and Eangyth, who became an abbess. Edburga was a woman of great ability, and zealous in the pursuit of knowledge. She secured seyeral royal charters for her monastery. She was a friend and correspondent of St. Boniface. She is identified with Heaburg, more commonly called Bugga, to whom several interesting letters of St. Boniface are addressed. Unfortunately, hers to him are not preserved. His letters to Ed- burga were written in 718 and 719, before she had become an abbess. Be- tween 718 and 722 her mother wrote to Boniface, and soon after, Edburga her- self wrote to him, sending him an altar- cloth and some money. She went to Rome a good many years later, and there met Boniface, who sent a message through her to Ethelbert, king of Kent, promising to pray for him. Edburga built a new church for her monastery, and removed into it the body of her predecessor, St. Mildred. The Analecta Juris Pontificti, iii. col. 1817, 1829, says she went to Germany to work under Boniface, and thence travelled to Borne. Eckenstein. Smith and Wace. Monta- lembert. Butler. Analecta Juris. St. Edburga (6), or Eadburois, June 15, Dec. 21. + 960. Patron of Winchester. Nun. Youngest of four- teen children of Edward the Elder, king of England (901-925). Sister of Kings Edmund and Edred ; of Edgiva, queen of Aries or Provence ; and of St. Elfleda (3). Plalf-sister of King Athelstane; St. Edith, queen of Northumberland; B. Edith, queen of Germany; Edgiva, queen of France ; Eadhild, countess of Paris; Elgiva, countess of Aquitaine ; and EthelhUd, nun at Wilton. When Edburga was three years old, her father placed before her, on one side, royal ornaments, jewels, and toys, and on the other, a book of the Gospels, a chalice, and a penitential religious habit, bidding her choose. She pushed away the worldly baubles, and joyfully took hold of the religious objects. Her parents placed her in the nunnery of St. ^BTJt at Winchester, begun by her grandparents, Alfred the Great and Alswitha, and finished by King Edward. Here she attained to great holiness, and died of fever in 960. AA.SS.9 from William of Malmesbury, etc. Book of Hyde, Brit, Sancta. Butler, Deo. 21. Leslie Stephen, Die, Nat. Biog.: "Edward the Elder." Guerin, P.B., calls her St. Edburg of Pershore, because relics of her were kept there. St. Edeldrud, Ethbldbeda. St. Edgith, or Edotth, same as Edith. St. Edgfiva, Elgiva (4). St. Edigna, Feb. 26, V. + 1109. Beprosented in a cart drawn by oxen, sometimes with a cock beside her (per- haps to denote her French birth). Of the royal family of France, some- times said to be daughter of Hugh Capet, more generally beliefved to be daughter of Henry I., possibly of his son Philip I. She gave in charity everything she had, took the pilgrim's habit and staff, and being too infirm to travel to distant lands on foot, she had a cart ; two oxen voluntarily placed themselves under the yoke. They took her to the village of Buch, in Bavaria, and then stopped. She resided there in the hollow trunk of a great lime tree, which after her death gave out a healing oil. An attempt was once made to sell the oil to the people, whereupon the supply ceased, and only returned on a promise being made to give it freely as before. Baderus, Bavaria Pia. AA.SS. Guenebault. Miss Eckenstein calls her a pseudo-saint. St. Edilburg, Ethelburoa. St. Edilienta. Venerated at the church of Endellion, Cornwall. Parker. St. Edilthryda, Etheldbeda. St Ediltrude, Etheldreda,