ST. OR VEN. WILBURGA 80t ohnrcb. In the ninth oentnry daring the ravages of the Danes, the venerable body was removed for greater safety to the chnroh of SS. Peter and Paul at Chester. One of her most famons miracles oc- enrred at Weedon. The lands aronnd the monastery were infested by wild geese which devonred the crops and caused great damage. One day when they were committing their nsnal depre- dations Werebnrga drove them into a stable and left them shut np there all night. In the morning when the door was opened they came running to her as if asHng leave to go away. She allowed them to depart in safety but charged them never again to come marauding about Weedon. They flew off but when they had gone a short way, they returned and kept (damouring and fluttering about, until they made her understand Uiat one of their number was nefariously detained. She found that one of her vassals had stolen and eaten the missing goose. She restored it alive and in full plumage to its companions, and the whole flock took their departure and no wild goose has ever dared to molest the agriculturists of Weedon since that day. Once Wereburga saw one of the overseers cruelly beating a man. She punished him by making his head turn right round on his shoulders. On his ' repentance she prayed for him, and his head returned to its proper position. AA,8S, Bishop Stubbs, in Smith and Wace. Montalembert. Miss Arnold- Forster. St. Wereburga (2), Feb. 3, abbess, + 783. Wife of Ceolred, king of Mercia, son of Ethelred. Ceolred had none of the Christian piety of his predecessors : his life was riotous and dissolute and he lost the respect and affection of his sub- jects. One act of devotion is, however, recorded of him, namely, that he pro- vided a beautiful shrine for the bones of his cousin St. Wbrebuboa (1). In 716 he was seized with madness and excru- ciating pains as he sat at a feast; he died shortly afterwards, blaspheming Christ and also the heathen gods. After his death Wereburga (2) became a nun and departed not from the temple of the Lord day or night for sixty-five years. She was abbess, probably of Bardney. She died in the odour of sanctity. The day of her death is not known. She is commemorated on the day of her more famous namesake and ^nswoman Wereburga ( 1 ). Hoveden. Strutt. Britannia Sancta. British Mart, Florence of Worcester. Stanton, English Menology. Montalembert. Stubbs. St. Wetberg, a recluse, sister of St. Boniface, the apostle of Grermany. Chambard, Saints d*Anjou, St. White, Whttk, or Wtte, V., and her companion St. Reyne or Rayne, V. " St. Wyte must have a chese once in a yeare, and that of the greatest sorte," says Tyndale, in 1538. Mr. Eerslake (St, Bichard the King of Englishmen) says this St. Wyte means Witta, a follower of St. Boniface and first abbot of Buraberg, and that Bayn or Reginfred was one of Boniface's first bishops. Like BonifjEice, they came from the south-west of England, where their names survive in some place-names and dedications. St. Viborada, Vibobada. St. Wibrand or Willibband, June 1 G, servant of St. Cunegund ( 1 ). AA.SS. B. Wihtburg, Withbubga. St. Wilbeth. {See Einbetta). St. Wilburga (l), 7th or 8th cen- tury. Daughter of Penda, king of Mercia. Sister of St. Kymebubga (1). Wilburga married Prince Frithewald, and was mother of St. Osith. Lives of Women Saints, etc.,' which, however, gives Osith the date 880. St. Wilburga (2), Milbubga. St. or Ven. Wilburga (3) or Wil- bibgis, Dec. 11, V., 1230-1289. Daugh- ter of one of the richest and most respected vassals of the monastery of St. Florian, in Austria; and bom in the adjoining village. She was twice be- trothed but each time the bridegroom died before the wedding. She then resolved on a religious life and cut off her hair. About this time, her father died on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and her mother very soon died also ; she had nothing to leave to her daughter, except her wedding ring. Wilburga worked for her daily bread and gave away all her earnings. She went with a
