17
October. 1662 Book
of Common Prayer: Etheldreda
Now, for some hagiography
mixed with some facts.
Etheldreda, Virgin (died
A.D. 679), a famous Saxon Saint ("St. Audray"), daughter of Anna,
King of East Anglia, twice married, and through both marriages resolutely
preserving her vow of perpetual virginity. Separated from her second husband,
Cyfrid, King of Northumbria, she received the veil at the hands of the
celebrated Wilfrid, and was the founder and Abbess of the Monastery of Ely,
which became the great religious centre of the eastern counties. Her life of
great sanctity and severe asceticism is first recorded by Bede, and diffusely
celebrated by Thomas of Ely in the reign of Henry II. Her festival was of such
celebrity, that it seems to have superseded the vigil of St. Luke's Day. --
October 17th.
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