ON ST. EARCONGOTA, ROYAL VIRGIN OF ENGLAND, AT EBORIACUM OR FAREMOUTIERS IN GAUL.
NEAR THE END OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Earcongota, Royal Virgin of England, at Eboriacum or Faremoutiers in Gaul (St.)
By G. H.
[1] Among the more illustrious monasteries of women built in Gaul more than a thousand years ago must be counted that which still exists in the diocese of Meaux, formerly built in the forest of Brie and on an estate of his own domain by Count Agneric, father of Saints Walbert and Faro, Bishops of Meaux, for his daughter St. Fara. In the monastery of St. Fara That place was then called Eboriacum, later Faremoutiers from the memory of this holy Abbess. To this monastery the collation of various benefices still pertains, even outside the territory of Meaux, in the dioceses of Senlis, Paris, and Beauvais. St. Fara is venerated, as is evident from the Breviary of Meaux and the Gallican Martyrology, on December 7, although in the Roman Martyrology she is also entered under the name of Burgundofara on April 3. Such was the fame of her holiness that by its splendor she drew to her discipline from Gaul, England, St. Edelburga, Abbess, lived there and Ireland the most noble maidens and daughters of kings and princes. Among these, St. Edelburga shone, daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, who, having succeeded St. Fara in the government of the monastery, completed her life in holiness on July 7, on which day public veneration is paid to her. and St. Earcongota Her niece through a sister was St. Earcongota, whom we have undertaken to treat of here, born of King Earconbert of the Kentish people and St. Sexburga, daughter of King Anna; she was the sister of St. Ermenilda, married to King Wulfhere of the Mercians. We illustrated the Life of the latter on February 13 and traced the most noble and equally most holy lineage from page 686 to page 692.
[2] Abbot Trithemius, in book 3 On Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 55, embraces the Life of St. Fara the Abbess in a concise epitome, and in the following chapter, the former is venerated on July 7 passing over St. Edelburga the aunt, treats of St. Earcongota, whom he calls Eracongota; and he erroneously transfers to St. Earcongota the feast day which Bede in book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History of the English writes was accustomed to be celebrated with great glory for St. Edelburga, namely the day of the Nones of July. The writers of the Benedictine Martyrology -- Wion, Menard, Dorgani, Bucelin, Maihew -- soon swore by the words of Trithemius; Ferrari in his general Catalogue also followed, as did Saussay in the supplement to the Gallican Martyrology. Led by their authority, we too noted elsewhere that her Acts should be deferred to that July 7. But since we have learned from the Breviary of Meaux that in that diocese her commemoration is made on February 23, together with the Vigil of St. Matthias, St. Earcongota on February 23 and that no other mention of her exists elsewhere, we have decided to present here what is found chiefly in Bede, chapter 8 of book 3.
[3] "In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 640," he says, "Eadbald, King of the Kentish people, departing from this life, left the reins of government to his son Earconbert. daughter of the most pious King Earconbert of the Kentish people He held them, once received, for twenty-four years and some months, most nobly. He was the first of the Kings of the English who, by royal authority, commanded that idols be abandoned and destroyed throughout his entire kingdom, and likewise that the fast of forty days be observed. He proposed fitting and appropriate punishments for transgressors, so that these commands could not easily be contemned by anyone. His daughter Earcongota, as a worthy offspring of such a father, was a virgin of great virtues, always serving God in the monastery that was built in the land of the Franks by a most noble Abbess named Fara, in a place called 'in Brige.' and of St. Sexburga For at that time, since not many monasteries had yet been built in the land of the English, many from Britain (kings and the wealthy, as is added in the Saxon translation) were accustomed to travel to the monasteries of the Franks or of Gaul for the sake of the monastic life; they also sent their daughters to the same, to be educated and joined to the heavenly Spouse, especially to Brie and to Chelles and to the monastery of Andelys. Among these was Saethryth, stepdaughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and the natural daughter of the same King, Aethelberg, each of whom, though a foreigner, was appointed Abbess of the same monastery of Brie by the merit of her virtues. The elder daughter of this King, Sexburga, wife of King Earconbert of the Kentish people, had a daughter Earcongota, of whom we are about to speak."
[4] Many works of virtue and signs of miracles wrought by this Virgin dedicated to God are indeed accustomed to be related to this day by the inhabitants of that place. she is illustrious for miracles: But let it suffice for us to say something briefly only about her passing, by which she sought the heavenly kingdom. she commends herself to the prayers of others, When the day of her calling was imminent, she began to go around the cells of the sick handmaids of Christ in the monastery, and especially those who were more distinguished either by advanced age or by probity of character, humbly commending herself to the prayers of them all, and not concealing that her death, which she had learned by revelation, was soon to come. taught by revelation that death was near: She declared that this revelation was of the following kind: she had seen a company of men robed in white entering the same monastery, and when she asked them what they sought or what they wanted, they answered that they had been sent thither to take with them that golden coin which had come there from Kent.
[5] On that very night, in the last part of which -- that is, at the first light of dawn -- she passed from the darkness of the present world and migrated to the light above; she dies while Angels sing psalms: many of the brethren of the same monastery who were in other buildings reported that they had clearly heard the harmonies of Angels singing psalms and a sound as of a very great multitude entering the monastery. Whereupon, going out at once to discover what it was, they saw that a most great light had been sent from heaven, she is led to heaven in a great light: which was leading that holy soul, released from the bonds of the flesh, to the eternal joys of the heavenly homeland. They add also other miracles that were divinely manifested that same night in the monastery. But as we hasten on to other matters, we leave these for the inhabitants to relate. The venerable body of the Virgin and Spouse of Christ was buried in the church of the Blessed Protomartyr Stephen. she is buried in the church of St. Stephen, It pleased them after the third day to remove the stone covering the tomb and to reposition it more deeply in the same place; and while this was being done, such sweetness of fragrance welled up from below that to all the Brothers and Sisters standing by, it seemed as though cellars of balsam had been opened. But her aunt also, of whom we have spoken, Aethelberg ... became more illustrious after death for the virtue she possessed ... whose body they translated into the church of the Blessed Martyr Stephen: into which the body of St. Edelburga was translated. whose birthday is indeed accustomed to be celebrated there in great glory on the day of the Nones of July.
[6] Thus far Bede, whose last words Trithemius transferred from St. Edelburga the Abbess (whom he calls Aethelberg) to St. Earcongota, as indicated above, and after him Harpsfield in his Ecclesiastical History of England, century 7, chapter 5. Wion added another error by calling her Abbess of Brie. St. Earcongota was not an Abbess: Dorgani, Bucelin, Ferrari, Saussay, and Wilson in the first edition of the English Martyrology followed, at the same July 7; in the later edition, however, she was omitted. Again at Brie, says Saussay, in the territory of Meaux, St. Earcongota, Queen and Abbess, who succeeded the aforesaid Abbess St. Edelburga, her aunt, in the sacred governance, no less distinguished for the gifts of grace than for the office of government: as the Venerable Bede testifies in a truthful encomium. We have given Bede's words, in which no office or governance is attributed to St. Earcongota. The Abbesses named are Saethryth, daughter of the wife of King Anna, and Aethelberg, that is Edelburga, the natural daughter of the same King. In the Gallia Christiana of Claude Robert, but, as he prefaces, in an uncertain sequence of dates, these first Abbesses of St. Fara's monastery are listed: St. Fara, St. Edelburga daughter of the King of the East Saxons (rather, St. Edelburga daughter of the King of the East Angles), Giburga, Helvidis, Rothildis, Matildis, Emma, Havidis, etc. -- with no mention made of St. Earcongota, nor indeed even of Saethryth, who at least succeeded St. Edelburga.
[7] Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, in a manuscript treatise On the Saints of England has a distinguished encomium, but excerpted from Bede, of Saints Earcongota and her aunt Ethelburga (for so he calls both of them), and says that the latter is celebrated on the Nones of July; she is praised by other writers: of the former's feast day he is silent, as is Bede. The Worcester chronicler, treating of King Earconbert at the year 640, adds only this: "Whose daughter Earcongota, whom the holy Queen Sexburga bore to him, was a Virgin of great virtues." From Bede, the Westminster chronicler adds more at the year 641. John Bromton, in his account of the Kingdom of Kent, page 740, calls her Earcongota, who, he says, "out of love for the sacred religious life, sought monasteries across the sea, where, resting as a Virgin, she showed by illustrious miracles received from Christ that she was accepted." William of Malmesbury relates these things thus: "Whose daughter Earcongota, offspring not unworthy of so great a father, and matching her father with rival lineaments of virtue, clothed the monastery of Chelles in Gaul with the light of her sanctity." That monastery was built in a royal estate called Chelles by the holy Queen Bathild of the Franks, she did not live in the monastery of Chelles: when she herself, a widow after the death of Clovis II, who died in the year 662, governed the kingdom of the Franks with her young son King Clothar III, as we said from the Acts of St. Bertilia, the first Abbess, on January 26, in the Life of St. Bathild the Queen, page 734, number 12 -- while St. Earcongota had long since dwelt in St. Fara's monastery, and indeed her aunt St. Edelburga had already succeeded the deceased St. Fara: who, by the same error (perhaps derived from Malmesbury), is called Abbess of Chelles in the second edition of the English Martyrology at July 7.
[8] In what year St. Earcongota died, however, is not established. The Worcester chronicler treats of her at the year 640, when Earconbert her father received the kingdom of Kent. He is said to have died in the Saxon Chronology in the year 664. Trithemius writes that Earcongota flourished in the monastery of Brie in the year 660. Bucelin says the year 680, others otherwise. at what time did she die? We have said that her sister St. Ermenilda lived to about the year 700, in our treatment of her Life. We judge that St. Earcongota died toward the end of the seventh century.