ON ST. EANSWIDA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS,
IN THE MONASTERY OF FOLKESTONE IN KENT,
In the year DCXL.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The place; her public veneration; her manner of life; the time of her death.
Eanswida, virgin and abbess, in Kent, a region of England (St.)
J. P.
Kent, commonly Kent, formerly a kingdom, but now a region in England well enough known, Notice of the place: had from the most ancient times the monastery which this holy and royal Virgin founded and made illustrious by her virtues. Camden, in his Britannia, printed in the year 1607, page 246, writes thus of this place: From Dover the cliffs of chalk, cohering as it were in a series, have a continuous ridge for V miles as far as Folkestone, which the Roman coins daily found there persuade us once flourished; but under what name is uncertain. It is probable that it was one of those towers which the Romans, to keep off the Saxons (in the reign of Theodosius the younger), placed at intervals (as Gildas says) on the shore along the southern coast of Britain. Among the Anglo-Saxons it was famous under the name of religion, from the monastery which Eanswida, daughter of Eadbald king of Kent, consecrated to virgins; but now it is a little village, and the ocean has worn away the greatest part of it. Yet it was a barony of the family of de Abrincis, from whom it passed to Hamo de Crevequer, and through his daughter to John de Sandwich, whose granddaughter Juliana, by his son John, brought the same as a dowry to John de Segrave.
[2] But the public and ancient cult of St. Eanswida is established from her Life, her cult: which we shall give. Rightly, therefore, have the more recent hagiologists reported her in the sacred calendars. Molanus, in the additions to his edition of Usuard, printed in the year 1573, records her thus: In the same place (namely in England), the deposition of St. Eanswinda, virgin and abbess. The monastic writers Wion, Dorgan, Menard, and Bucelinus also announce her; to whom add Ferrarius in the general Catalogue, Arthur in the Gynaeceum, and Wilson in the English Martyrology of the first edition, who nevertheless in the second places the Saint on the XII of September — for what cause, I do not know. The same Ferrarius also repeats the same Saint then. Mention is made of her also among the Auctaria to our Usuard. There is preserved among us a manuscript entitled: Collects and antiphons of various Saints (and they are English Saints, as is noted in the margin), in which, at the name of St. Canswida — which, unless I am mistaken, crept in there faultily for Eanswida — is this: Let the virginal college, the church of the faithful, be called together into joy. Alleluia. Let the people sound in harmony with the angels: the flower Canswida has won the Lamb as her spouse: with whom she lives. Alleluia. Hail, our own; hail, holy, sweet, worthy consolation: pray to the Lord for thy servants. Alleluia. ℣. Grace is poured forth, etc. O God, who hast shown blessed Canswida the virgin honorable to thy Church, and hast rendered her precious to the citizens above; grant by her merits and prayers that we may so please thee in this life that we may deserve to have a portion in the life to come. Through.
[3] The martyrologists everywhere give her the title of abbess; the monastic hagiologists cited above seem tacitly to indicate whether a Benedictine abbess: that she professed the rule of the Benedictine Order. This perhaps Mabillon did not hold sufficiently ascertained, in volume 2 of the Benedictine Acts, where at page LIX he places her in the index of Saints passed over, yet with the title of abbess. Alford, in the Annals of the Anglo-Saxon Church, at the year 640, number 6, attributes the same title to her: That this royal virgin, he says, was veiled as a nun and abbess either by Honorius of Canterbury, or at least by Roman monks, there is no doubt, and that she was instructed by them in the monastic rule: which although I find asserted by no one, yet, since that monastery is called of black nuns, it must be believed that it received that color and appellation from Eanswida and from those who consecrated her. Thus Alford: whose opinion seems to me probable, even though among the Auctaria to our Usuard she is noted only as a virgin, from the Rosweyde and the Altemps codices.
[4] This Saint flourished in the seventh century. Mabillon, cited above, assigns her time to about the year DCXXX. the time of her death. Mayhew on this day in his Trophies says: She was renowned in the year of Christ DCXXX. Alford fixes her death at the year 640: whom I too have followed above in the opening of this Commentary, while I have nothing more ascertained from elsewhere from which I might more surely determine her death. She is praised by Harpsfield in the seventh century, chapter 10, and by Mayhew cited above; add Arthur in the Gynaeceum.
LIFE
by an anonymous author
From the text published in Capgrave from folio XCVII.
Eanswida, virgin and abbess, in Kent, a region of England (St.)
BHL Number: 2555
BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.
The Saint's royal stock; her profession of life, Ethelbert, king of Kent a, converted to the faith by the holy bishop Augustine, begot Eadbald and Ethelburga the virgin b, whom her father Ethelbert gave to Edwin king of the Northumbrians to wife, as appears more clearly below in the Life of that same holy king. But Eadbald c begot of Emma, daughter of the king of the Franks d, Ermenred and Earconbert e, and a daughter Eanswida. She, from her infancy renouncing worldly pomps, strove to serve God; she trampled upon all the precious things of the world, and, embracing the holy doctrine with all her strength, sighed with unceasing desire for the life of the heavenly kingdom, and resolved to submit to the rule of the monastic life. For the convenience of observing it she chose a suitable place remote from the resort of the common people, named Folkestone, where her father Eadbald also built a church in honor of blessed Peter the apostle f.
[2] her death: There, therefore, on the side toward the sea, which is said by the country folk themselves to be the more remote, she founded a church suitable for such a purpose, with the outbuildings necessary for herself and her companions and for her profession, distant from what was then the full flood of the sea by the breadth of seven acres, that is, twenty-eight perches. Which today nowhere appears: for the land, being little by little consumed by the sea, after a long age fell in, and the shore of the sea swallowed up the cemetery. In which, leading a virginal chastity under the regular habit, the Handmaid of God, given day and night to thee *, deserved to come to a blessed end on the day before the Kalends of September. Whose relics, when the ruin of that church was imminent, were translated into the neighboring church of blessed Peter g.
[3] her father attempts For when the blessed virgin Eanswida had come to the years of marriage, her father with unceasing admonition and frequent entreaties invited the Virgin to marriage. To whom the blessed Virgin, inspired by the Holy Spirit, with unshaken devotion of mind answered in these words: Dearest father, if you can bring to my virginity a constancy of love that shall never end, a perpetual fruit of marriage, an immortal spouse, an unending gladness of offspring, I will gladly acquiesce in your counsel. But if you are eager to set before me a friendship mingled with hatreds, a barren marriage, a fruit therein that passes away, a mortal husband, the mournful destruction of children, and in all things the corruption of virginity, then even a father's counsel will teach that one must cleave to the better, unless he would cease to be a father.
[4] a marriage For Mary chose the best part, which shall not be taken from her. Since, therefore, among human things the laws of death possess all, I thirst for the embraces of a heavenly and immortal Spouse: for him I keep the flower of my virginity; whom when I have loved, I am chaste; when I have touched, I am clean; when I have received, I am a virgin. For the service of such a Spouse I ask that an oratory be built for me, father. Moved therefore by the Virgin's prayers, her father Eadbald began to build for her a place of prayer. And while it was being built, the king of the Northumbrians h, noble by lineage, chose the blessed Virgin for his wife. And the Maiden's father approached his daughter with blandishments, and extolled the companionship of so illustrious a husband i.
[5] It happened then that among the rest a beam was brought for the work of the oratory, to persuade her; but in vain: a miracle shorter than the others by the length of three feet, which by its shortness was held useless for the work. And when the king of the Northumbrians had been brought thither with many attendants, she addresses her father in these words: The nobility of this king sighs for me, the handmaid of Christ, as his companion, and seeks me * as his wife. O how foolish an exchange, how detestable a folly, how intolerable a loss, if in place of heavenly things I should take earthly, in place of eternal things transitory! Yet this husband, transitory though he be, earthly though he be, I will accept, if by the power of his god he can by prayer lengthen this timber as much as the work requires. But if not, let him leave me untouched. And the king, rejoicing in the condition, hoped easily to accomplish this by the power of his god, but by no means could any of his gods k do it, though much invoked. For he came forward, and, the head of the timber being lifted, poured out prayers at length before his gods in vain, and, all beholding, withdrew in shame.
[6] The holy Virgin therefore, rejoicing in mind, cried out that by a heavenly manifestation she had been freed from an unlawful marriage. wrought on this occasion: another And approaching the timber, when she had made her prayer, the opposite part of it, lifting itself upward, was drawn out so far that it seemed equal to the others or greater in length; and what before could by no means be fitted to the rest, was then held the fitter for the work. Now her oratory, hanging upon the rocks and overlooking the sea, lacked the support of fresh water. And when water was brought from afar by the labor of the servants, taking pity on the labors of those who served and on the scarcity of the liquid, she went to a spring, at the distance of one mile or more, in a village named Swecton.
[7] Her staff going before, she led its course, as though by the command of a living voice, from the lowest places to the highest, through crags and the windings of the rocks, to her oratory, wondrous things and ceased not to give abundantly a plentiful draught both to men and to beasts; and thus by the prayers of the holy Virgin the water ascended against its own nature, and — what is the more to be marveled at — the stream passing through alien water is seen to continue altogether as though untouched and unmingled. A wondrous thing: at the prayers of the Virgin, the water which the Creator had commanded from the beginning of the world to descend follows the Handmaid even against nature, forgetting her Lord even in nature; the Handmaid of the Lord commanded that it should follow, and it heard and followed her who commanded.
[8] For it happened that her fields and their fruits were being devoured by many kinds of birds, about the Saint and thus the labors
of men were stripped bare. And among the other birds, those which are called gantae l presumed to do the greatest harm to the fields. But the Virgin of Christ ordered the birds to be gathered together and, in the name of the Lord, to be shut up in a certain house. And behold, the birds, which by nature could fly, at the Virgin's command follow the hands of men as though tame. But under the watch of that night three of the servants did not fear to prepare for themselves, rejoicing in the eating of new flesh. But in the morning the Handmaid of Christ, moved in the bowels of her compassion, went forth to the place where they were shut up, and gave them all liberty to fly away. And these, coming forth at once from their prison, uttered an unheard-of lamentation, flying about the house; they beat their wings, they redouble their complaints, and, careless of departing, they haunt the place * after the manner of those who mourn, as though they had lost something. The Handmaid of God marvels at the complaint, marvels also at the delay. She inquires the cause of the servants, and all with one accord excuse themselves; at last, at the holy Virgin's command, they confess the deed, though unwillingly. She therefore orders the bones to be collected, and when collected to be brought into her presence. And so, the bones being brought, when she had poured out devout prayers to the Lord, as many birds as they had gathered bones of, so many suddenly came forth, so that the number of those lacking felt no loss at all m. The birds being restored in this manner, she added to them this prohibition, that they should never settle in her territory. And so it was done. For this holy Virgin by her merits gave light to a woman struck with blindness, restored a demoniac to his senses, and made many others rejoice, having received health from divers diseases.
[9] are recorded by the biographer For there were four brothers, abounding in the goods of the world, who held tithes in contempt and were unwilling to give them. When many years had slipped away in such error, three of the brothers said to the fourth: Brother, if we have long gone astray in doing injury to God, it is time to come to our senses, that what a wicked presumption has transgressed, penitence may bewail and satisfaction correct. Let us go to the body of St. Eanswida, and offer the tithes of our crops to God and to the holy Virgin. And when he would not consent, behold, the enemy entering into him made him rave, and run to and fro, and tear himself. And he, being bound with chains by his brothers, is brought before the altar of the holy Virgin, and, having received health, thereafter did not presume to withhold tithes from God and the holy Virgin.
[10] to which is added an appendix of a wonderful matter There was a certain man oppressed with continual pains of the flesh and wasting away, and yet no traces of injury appeared in the flesh or on the surface of the flesh: to him there stood a woman exceedingly beautiful, saying: Good man, why do you afflict your soul with such great pains? why do you heap pains upon pains? Go to Folkestone, to the church of the virgin Eanswida, by whose prayers know that you shall be restored to your former health. And when this was done, a certain venerable Virgin appearing to him first washed the places of his pain, then wiped them with a linen cloth, and cleansed his flesh entirely of pain.
A Narrative n. About the year of the Lord six hundred and seventy-eight, when a grievous battle was joined between the kings of the Mercians and of the Northumbrians, Ethelred and Egfrid o, a certain soldier by the name of Imma, lying among the corpses of the slain like a dead man, recovered his breath and revived, and bound up his wounds as best he could. But being found by the enemy and taken, he is brought to a certain thegn of King Ethelred, and, being asked who he was, declares himself a peasant and a poor man. For as often as he was bound with iron fetters, so often were the fetters found loosed. For he had a brother by blood whose name was Tunna, abbot of a monastery in a town which from his name was until now called Tunnacaster , who, believing him dead, frequently celebrated Masses for him. And by the celebration of these it came about that no one could bind him without his being at once loosed. Being asked by the thegn why he could not be bound, he said: I have a brother in my province, and I know that he, thinking me slain, offers frequent Masses for me; and if I were now in the other life, my soul would there be loosed from its punishments by his intercessions.
[11] concerning the sacrifice of the Mass. Being questioned more urgently by the thegn as to whence he was, the thegn promised that he would do him no harm if he would frankly disclose who he had been: and when he did this, revealing that he had been a soldier of the king, he answered. And I, said the thegn, knew from your several answers that you were no peasant, and now you are worthy of death, since all my brothers and kinsmen were slain in that battle; yet I will not slay you, lest I break the faith of my promise. He sold him, therefore, at London to a certain Frisian; but neither by him, nor while he was being led thither, could he in any way be bound, though the enemy laid upon him one kind of fetter after another. But at the third hour, when Masses were wont to be said, his bonds were loosed. At last, paying the price of his ransom, he returned to his brother, and told him all that had befallen him. For many hearing this were kindled in faith and in the devotion of piety to pray, or to give alms, or to offer to God the victims of the holy Oblation for the deliverance of their own who had departed from this world.
ANNOTATIONS.
\ Perhaps suis*.
\ Perhaps quærit*.
\ Perhaps invisitant for inquirunt*.
\ Elsewhere, Tunnacestir*.
\ Read vincire*.