ON SAINT MILDWIDA, OR MILDGITHA, VIRGIN IN ENGLAND.
CommentaryMilwida, Virgin in England (Saint)
From Various Sources.
[1] Penda, the impious and cruel King of the Mercians in England, received from his wife Kineswitha many children who bore nothing of their father except an outstanding greatness of spirit, The illustrious uncles and aunts of Saint Mildwida, which they used not, as he did, for slaughters and crimes, but for establishing the religion of Christ in their dominions. The first, Weda, or Peada, was a vassal of his father-in-law Oswiu, King of Northumbria: for Oswiu, having been unjustly provoked to war by Penda, had routed his most powerful forces by divine aid rather than human strength; yet he conceded a part of the kingdom to his son, to whom he had previously given his daughter in marriage. After Weda's death, the Mercians soon threw off the yoke and transferred the scepter to his brother Wulfhere. To him was married Saint Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and of the holy Sexburga, and she bore Saint Werburgh and the most religious King Kenred. When Wulfhere departed this life, his brother Saint Ethelred took the kingdom, and having administered it excellently for thirty years, he yielded it to Kenred, the son of Wulfhere; and having embraced the monastic life, he merited to be enrolled among the Saints. Their sisters were Saint Kinesburga, wife of Alfrith, King of Northumbria, and Saint Kineswida, a virgin.
[2] Another son of Penda, Merwaldus, or Merwala, reigned in the western part of Mercia, as the Westminster chronicler writes at the year 676. Her father, He had three daughters: Milburga, Mildreda, and Milwida, sisters; and a son Mereuinus; all enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints. Saint Ermenilda is venerated on February 13; Saint Sexburga on July 6; Saint Werburgh on February 3; Saint Ethelred on May 4; Saint Kinesburga on September 15; Saint Kineswida on March 6; Saint Milburga on February 23; Saint Mildreda on February 20; Saint Mildwida on January 17. And such was the splendor of her paternal lineage.
[3] The glory of her maternal stock was even considerably more illustrious. Saint Ethelbert, the first Christian King of Kent, was her great-great-great-grandfather. From him and his wife Bertha were born Eadbald, heir to the kingdom, maternal ancestry: Saint Edburga the virgin, and Saint Ethelburga, wife of Saint Edwin, the first Christian King of Northumbria: from Eadbald came Ercombert, Ermenredus, and Saint Eanswitha. Ercombert, from Saint Sexburga, sister of Saints Etheldreda and Ethelburga, fathered Saint Ercongotha and the holy Ermenilda, married to Wulfhere as we said. From Ermenredus (whom Ranulphus of Chester, book 4, chapter 18, also calls King of Kent), or Eormredus as he is called in the Life of Saint Werburgh, and his noble wife Oslava, were born Ethelredus and Ethelbrichtus, who, having been innocently slaughtered, were revealed as Martyrs of Christ by a splendid column of light from heaven. uncles, He also had four saintly daughters: Domneua, aunts, Aermenberga, Aermenburga, and Aermengida, who shone forth like the four-fold streams of a Paradise-fountain.
[4] One of these daughters of Ermenredus was married to King Merwaldus: but which one, the authorities do not sufficiently agree. William of Malmesbury, book 1 on the Kings of England, chapter 4, says it was Ermenburga. The Westminster chronicler writes the same at the year 676, as do Florence of Worcester, Polydore Vergil book 4 of his English History, Hugh Menardus book 2 of the Observations at February 14, and Harpsfield, century 7, chapter 10. mother. But the same Harpsfield, in chapter 23, makes Domneua the mother of Saint Milburga, as does John Capgrave in the Life of Saint Milburga; and expressly so does the most ancient cited Life of Saint Werburgh: "But the blessed and royal Domneua, married to Merwala, the brother of Wulfhere, by the grace of the most holy Trinity, brought forth a threefold laurel of virginity, namely the most holy sisters Milburga, Mildreda, and Mildgyda, who illuminate their homeland with the distinct stones of their monasteries."
[5] From these ancestors, therefore, Milwida, or Mildwida, was born, called by others Mildgitha. The Saints of her maternal lineage Holy kinsmen. whom we have commemorated are celebrated in the Martyrologies: Saint Ethelbert on February 24; Saint Edburga on December 13; Saint Ethelburga on September 8; her husband Saint Edwin on October 4; Saint Eanswitha on September 12; Saint Sexburga on July 6; Saint Etheldreda on June 23; Saints Ethelburga and Ercongotha on February 23; Saints Ethelredus and Ethelbrittus on October 17; Saint Ermenburga on November 19: we have not found the feast day of any of her three sisters.
[6] Concerning Saint Milwida, the English Martyrology has on this day: "At Canterbury, the commemoration of Saint Milwida the Virgin, daughter of Merwaldus, King of Mercia, and sister of Saints Milburga and Mildreda, virgins, Feast of Saint Mildwida. who, having spurned worldly pleasures and delights, embraced the religious life in the monastery which the holy King Ethelbert had built not far from Canterbury, the metropolis of Kent: where she distinguished herself by the extraordinary holiness of her life, charity toward God, and the examples of her pious conduct, and rendered her soul to her heavenly Spouse around the year of salvation 676." She also had a brother named Meresinus, a man of great holiness and charity, who lived at the same time; and mention of him is often made in the English historians. On the same day, Ferrarius in the general catalogue of Saints: "At Canterbury in England, Saint Milwida."
[7] But Hugo Menardus on February 26: "In England, Saint Milgitha the Virgin." The same, in book 2 of the Observations, writes that it seems more probable to others that she was a nun with her sisters, either at Wenlock with Saint Milburga, or on the island of Thanet with Saint Mildreda. Who these "others" are who so judge, he does not specify. From the cited Life of Saint Werburgh it seems to be established that she did not live in the same monastery as her sisters, since it says they "illuminated their homeland with the distinct stones of their monasteries."
[8] The one whom the English Martyrology calls Meresinus, called by others Merefinus and Mereuinus; he was clearly a youth in age, as is evident from other sources. The Life of Saint Werburgh: The holiness of Mereuinus. "There was also born to him (Merwala) a son Mereuin, who was snatched away as a small child at baptism to the Holy Innocents." He does not seem, however, to have died in infancy; for the Church does not venerate such persons (even though it is certain they entered upon the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom) unless perhaps the laurel of martyrdom has been added. Concerning him, Harpsfield mentions, century 7, chapter 10: "Ermenburga was the mother of Milburga, Mildreda, Milgita, and the holy boy Merefinus." The Westminster chronicler at the year 676: "She (Ermenburga) also bore to him (Merwaldus) a son named Merefinus, a boy of outstanding holiness." Florence of Worcester has the same at the year 675, and Ranulphus of Chester, book 5, chapter 18, who calls him Meresyn. In the index of Saints celebrated in the English Martyrology, Meresinus is listed as a Confessor on January 17.