Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/393

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ST. HERLUKA 379 in France, March 13, 16(32, when they were trayelling in search of information concerning the saints. The bones were all believed to be those of early martyrs, some of whom were put to death in Home, some in Sardinia, but of whom nothing is known with certainty. Ig- natias and Heremita, possibly a hnsband and wife, are mentioned together, both on this day and Feb. 20. AA,SS. Other women in the same list are SS. Laubentia, Speciosa, and Homana. St. Heremnone,HERMioNE, daughter of St. Philip the apostle, is so called in the Oreeco-Slavonian Calendar, St. Herena (l) or Erina, sometimes written for Irene. St Herena (2), Feb. 25 (Erena, HiBENA, HiRENiEUS), M., c. 252 with more than fifty others in Africa. AA.SS, l^aronius, Annalea. SS. Herenia, March 8 (uErenia, /Eremia, Arsenia, Erema, Heronima), with Felicitas and Beata (Baroma, Beka, Beroma, Birona, Borbha), MM. with others in Africa. They are men- tioned in the Boman Mariyrdogy and in some MSS. AA.SS, St. Hereswitha, Sept. 23, Dec. 1 (Eresvytha, HiERBsviD, Hbresuid, Her- wiDE, Hereswyde), c. 615-647 or 650, Princess of North Deira, Queen of East Anglia. She was one of the sainted daughters of Hereric, nephew of St. Edwin, king of Deira. Her mother was Breguswida or Beorswitha. Her sister was St. Hilda. When King Edwin was christened at York, in 627 {see St. Ethblburga, queen of Northumberland), by St. Paulinus, the holy rite was ad- ministered at the same time to a great number of his relations, among whom was probably his nephew Hereric, with his wife and daughters,Hildaand Hereswitha. These young princesses, being at an im- pressionable age, could not fail to be in- fluenced by the beauty and charm of their great-aunt, St. Ethblburga, about ten years their senior, who had brought with her from Kent, and from her semi- Frankish birth and semi-Eoman teaching, a degree of refinement and culture some- what in advance of the rough north- country usages. Most of the later mediaeval writers say that Hereswitha was married twice. Her second husband was St. Anna, king of the East Angles. According to this theory, she was the mother, by her first marriage, of St. Sbdbido or Sjbthrtth, second abbess of Brie; and by her second marriage, with Anna, she had a large family, all of them saints, namely, St. Ethblburga, St. Sbxburga, St. Ethelrbda, St. Withburga, St. Jurmi- nus, who was killed fighting against the heathen Mercians, and therefore honoured as a martyr, and St. Adulf, king of East Anglia. The Kev. Charles Hole, resting on older authorities, describes her as the wife of Ethelhere, brother and successor of Anna, mother of Aldulf and Alfwold, kings of the East Angles, and says it is uncertain whether she was mother of Jurminus. There were already many nunneries in France, but in England the first had only been founded in 633, a few years before the time when Hereswitha desired to take the veil. She had heard much of the holiness of women devoted to the service of God in other countries, whereas in England the system had hardly taken root. Three French houses in particular were much resorted to by English ladies who had the vocation. These were Brie, still under its first abbess, St. Fara ; Chelles and Andelys, founded by St. Clotilda. Hereswitha took the veil at Chelles, near Paris, then a small build- ing and community, but soon after, and probably during the residence there of Hereswitha, magnificently refounded and endowed by St. Bathilde, queen of France. Bede, iv. 23. Watson, English Mart, Bucelinus. Lappenberg, Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, Montalembert. Brougbtou, Monast, Brit. Smith and Wace. St. Herlenda or Herlinda, Hab- LIND. St. Herluka, April 8 (Herluca, Heblue, Herulca), V. + c. 1142. Hepresented in a chapel with a book in her hand and others lying about, a sainted bishop appearing to her. When she was young she would have given her- self up to worldly pleasure, but she fell into bad health, and became more serious. On her recovery, the love of the world