Celtic Saints for August 2

[Celtic Daily]

St. Etheldritha of Croyland, St. Plegmund of Canterbury, St. Alban,
Finding of his Relics, St.
Wulvella
St. Etheldritha of Croyland, Nun & Virgin (also known as Ælfryth,
Alfrida, Alfreda, Althryda, Ethelfreda)
------------------------------------------ Died 834. Saint Etheldritha
was daughter of King Offa of the Mercians and his queen, Quindreda. She
was betrothed to King Ethelbert of the East Angles, who was killed by
her father's treachery. Because she had wanted to consecrate her life
entirely to the service of God, she left the court and established
herself about 793 in a small cell on Croyland Island in the desolate
marshes of Lincolnshire. There she lived as a recluse for forty years
devoting herself to assiduous prayer and the practice of Christian
virtue. Several miracles attested to her eminent sanctity, however, she
was best known for her prophesies. Her tomb was among those arranged
around that of Saint Guthlac, but her relics were lost during the
ravages of the Danes when they destroyed Croyland Abbey in 870
(Benedictines, Farmer, Encyclopaedia, Husenbeth). St. Plegmund, Bishop
of Canterbury ------------------------------------ Born in Mercia,
England; died at Canterbury, England, on August 2, 914. Saint Plegmund
was a hermit on an island near Chester, called Plegmundham after him and
later Plemstall, who was noted for his holiness and scholarship. He was
called to the court of Alfred the Great to be his tutor. He helped
Alfred write the Old English version of Pope Saint Gregory the Great's
"On Pastoral Care" (Liber regulae pastoralis) and may have been
responsible for the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. At that
monarch's request, in 890, he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury
by Pope Formosus in Rome. He crowned Edward the Elder at Kingston in
901, and consecrated the Newminster at Winchester in 908. Plegmund
travelled to Rome again in 908, probably to secure approval of his
bishopric by Pope Sergius III, because the consecrations of Formosus
were condemned in 897 and 905. He returned from Rome with some of the
relics of Saint Blaise. Archbishop Plegmund divided the Wessex dioceses
of Winchester and Sherbourne into Winchester, Ramsbury, Sherbourne,
Wells, and Crediton (which was later called Exeter) and consecrated
bishops for each of them (plus two others) on the same day. His
episcopacy was noted for promoting learning and developing Canterbury's
metropolitan jurisdiction. (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer). Finding
of the Relics of Alban, Protomartyr of Britain St. Wulvella (6th c.),
Sister of St Sidwell

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