Hilda
of Whitby (c. 614–680) is the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which
was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby. An important figure in the
conversion of Anglo-Saxon England to Christianity, she was abbess at several
monasteries and recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice.
Etheldreda
lived from about 636 – 679) is the name
for the Anglo-Saxon saint known, particularly in a religious context, as
Etheldreda or Audrey. She was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland and Northumbrian
queen and Abbess of Ely. Her name was
attached to a section in London called St. Audrey’s, known for selling
inexpensive trinkets, and is where we get our word “tawdry.”
Mildred,
was an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, in
Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and later her remains were
moved to Canterbury.
We
know little of these women, and yet their names come to us as great witnesses
to the Faith, and as foundresses of influential religious houses. There is little left of the work they did in
this world, and yet the Gospel which they believed and which they passed on to
generations after them continues is work in the world, as a testament to women
such as these, as well as innumerable saints – known to us and unknown – who
were born and baptized, who were faithful in kneeling before the altar just as
we do, and who were sustained by the Bread of Life, the Body and Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, just as we all are.
It
is an inspiration to glimpse at lives such as these, reminding us that the
anonymous and the little known in previous generations were essential in
handing on the Gospel to us. And most of
us, when centuries have passed, will be anonymous and little known to future
generations, but we will have done our part in believing the Gospel and handing
the Faith on to others. What we do here day after day is of essential
importance, not just for our own salvation, but for the salvation of unborn
generations to come.
O God, by whose grace thy holy Nuns, blessed Hilda, Etheldreda, and Mildred, enkindled with the fire of thy love, became burning and shining lights in thy Church: grant, by their merits and prayers; that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and may ever walk before thee as children of light; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
