284 ST. ETHELVIVA Among tho kindred princesses who were attracted by Ethelreda's good qualities and the fame of her holiness, was her sister, St. Sexburga, queen of Kent, who, leaving her own foundation of Sheppey, came and put herself under the rule of Ethelreda, and at her death, in 679, succeeded her as abbess. Ethelreda died of a quinsy, which she regarded as a punishment for her former love of dress, and, in particular, for having worn jewels on her neck. An incision was made in her throat by a surgeon, who afterwards swore to the healing of the wound after death. Ethelreda is one of the most popular of English saints, and there are more dedications in her name in England than in that of any female saint of the early Anglo-Saxon Church. Her day is June 23, the anniversary of her death. In 696, St. Sexburga had her body taken from its tomb, where it was found, not only undestroyed, but with a youthful freshness which had long departed from the face of the living Ethelreda. Many miracles were wrought at her tomb, and at those of her successors, who were princesses of the same family, and the abbey of Ely was for many years very famous and very rich. It was consti- tuted a cathedral in 1109, tho abbot and bishop being thenceforth one person. Tho life and merits of Ethelreda were the favourite study of mediadval writers, and many notices of her are still extant. Il,M.y June 23. Bede, Eccletiiasiical History of England. AA.SS, Mabillon, AA,S8, O.S.B. Thomas of Ely, Liber Eliensis, Gapgrave, JVova Le/fendn AngUse, Montalembert, Moines d' Occident, In an Anglo-Saxon missal, now in the public library at Eouen, the names of i^TiiiL- DRYTHE and Gertrude are in the prayer, "Nobis quoque peccatoribus," after the consecration. Lingard's An^ tiquities of the Ang,-Sax, Church, St. Ethelviva, Adklviva. St. Ethembria, Ethemaria, Cecta- MARiA, Cetuubbres, Cethubris, Or Cetumbria. Said to be tho first nun veiled by St. Patrick in Ireland, at her monastery near Clogher. When ho gavo the veil to Cinna, he placed her under the care of Ethembria in 480, at Drum- dubhain, co. Tyrone. Some say she is the same as Cinna. Colgan, Irish Saintf^ St. Ethildrita, or Ediltrude. Sister of St. Ermenburoa. St Ethle, April 4 (Adelais, Alice, Elisabeth). Mother of St. Bernard. P.B. SS. Ethnea and Fedelmia, or SoDELBiA, Jan. 2, 11, 15, March 29; Stadler gives Sodelbia, Nov. 10 (Ethna and Fedelm, Hethna and Fedella, Athna and Feidelmai ; in French, Athene or ^then^ la Blanche and Fethl^ la Rose). Daughters of King Laoighaire, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages and monarch of Ireland for thirty years (428-458). He succeeded Dathi, who was killed by lightning among the Alps. When St. Patrick preached at the court of Laoighaire at Tara, about 433 A.D., Ethnea £e Fair and Fedelmia the Rosy were not in their father^s house, but were "at fosterage" with a pro- vincial potentate in a distant part of Ireland. The brothers MsbI and Gaplit, who were magi, educated them in the religion of the Druids. On the approach of St. Patrick, tho magi produced an Egyptian darkness for three days and nights over tho whole plain of Hai (probably Roscommon), where they lived. The prayers of Patrick dispelled the darkness, which was succeeded by a wondrous fair white light. The prin- cesses were going at daybreak to bathe at the fountain of Cliabach, near Eath- croghan (where they seem to have been at tho court of the King of Connaught), and to their surprise they saw a number of venerable-looking men, dressed in white, sitting round the fountain. These were St. Patrick and his clergy ; but the princesses took them for fairies, or spec- tral gods, sidhe (beings still believed in by the ignorant peasants of Ireland as living in the ground under pleasant hills, etc.). So they asked St. Patrick where he came from. Ho told them they should believe in God instead of asking idle questions, showing that they believed in fairies and the like. The elder princess then began to inquire about Gk)d with great eagerness, con- cerning His age, His possessions. His
