ON ST. EVERILDIS, VIRGIN, IN ENGLAND.
From the Altemps Martyrology.
PERHAPS CENTURY VII.
CommentaryEverildis, Virgin, in England (S.)
BHL Number: 2793
J. B. S.
Not without scruple do we place this Saint on this day, known to no English, Scottish, or Irish calendars, on the faith of the Usuardine codex alone, which, from the library whence it was received, we called the Altemps codex, which in the preface to our edition, page LXIII, Taken from the Altemps codex, number 253, we showed to have been augmented in England, whatever church there it once served. The announcement is simple: On the same day, St. Everildis, virgin. Far more fortunate than we must he be who shall anywhere find a distinct account of her. Our Michael Alford once sent to Bollandus a certain brief compendium of her life, which, distributed in a manner into lessons, seems somewhere to have been in use in the ecclesiastical Office; but in what church, no one would easily divine: and that Alford neither knew this, nor approved the compendium sent by himself, thou mayest gather from the fact that in his published Annals the name of Everildis is not found. Under the aforesaid caution, therefore, concerning the Altemps codex, we shall here subjoin and weigh the Alfordian sheet, gathered I know not from what scraps.
[2] I know not what it makes to the purpose, this beginning of the little narrative of the following kind: it is adorned with a brief narrative; In those days, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, St. Birinus the bishop was sent by the supreme Pontiff of the Roman See to the West Angles, that he might preach the word of God, and shine with many miracles of signs. And he converted Kinegils, their King, with all his household, and St. Oswald, King of the Northumbrians, received him from the sacred font. This preface does not depart from historical truth; the apostolate of St. Birinus is most well known in the English Annals, belonging to the year 635 under Pope Honorius I. To the same times exactly agree the conversion of Kinegils, king of the West Saxons, and his reception from the sacred font by St. Oswald, as the praised Alford explains at greater length at the said year. Not so plain are the things which follow, the light of chronology being utterly wanting, since the times of St. Oswald and St. Wilfrid, even the first bishop of York, can most hardly be combined, which nevertheless seem here to be connected. Let us say candidly that all the rest is arranged according to the writer's fancy, with no great faith nor value. Thus he continues:
[3] But in a preceding time there was a certain virgin, distributed into three lessons, Everildis by name, sprung of noble birth, who like the morning star illuminated the whole province with the rays of her light. Recalling therefore with devout praises the yearly festival of this blessed Everildis, let us dwell upon her praises with so much zeal of devotion, as she remained the more devout in the service of Almighty God. When therefore the fame of her goodness grew, and her praise resounded everywhere, she secretly, her parents not knowing, received the sacred veil and the monastic habit, and was made a nun. And so, leaving her parents, she secretly departed from her father's house, committed herself to the hands of Jesus Christ, saying: Direct me, Lord, into thy way by the path of justice, because of my enemies; and, chanting the Canticle of Zechariah, she entered upon her journey. But God, who is everywhere present, had mercy on her; seeing her good intention, He would not have her make her journey alone: so He sent to her two virgins clothed in the nun's habit, of whom one was called Bega and the other Wuldreda. When she saw them coming from afar, on bended knees she prayed the Lord, saying: Blessed be the Lord my God, who consolest us in all our tribulation: grant me companions acceptable to thee, that together we may praise thy holy name, which is blessed unto the ages of ages.
[4] Thus far the first lesson, as indeed it seems; from which thou canst nowhere clearly elicit either the country, or the family, which it would be difficult or the age of the Saint: so that consequently these things could be fitted to any virgin fleeing from her father's house to a monastery. The sentences of the sacred text seem to surpass the grasp of a tender virgin: but those two miraculous companions cannot but offend a reader, even one moderately versed in these matters. Nor does the second lesson please any more: But when the Blessed Everildis had thus prayed, the aforesaid blessed virgins, Bega and Wuldreda, were present, and said: Truly it is true which the Truth says, our Lord Jesus Christ: Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believe, and ye shall receive. Behold, that is present which we asked; behold, we have what we desired. Rejoicing at such a meeting, they praised God, who made their journey prosperous, saying: We praise thee, O God; we confess thee, O Lord. And when the hymn was said, wondrous to tell, they knew, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, her whom they had never before seen, and her name. Let this be the credulity of good men, founded perhaps on some popular tradition; a more known and more distinct authority is needed, that such things may be admitted as historically certain. Hear the third lesson.
[5] But as soon as she came to the place where she was to remain, to recall to the true reckoning of history. God disposing and Archbishop Wilfrid confirming, in a place which before was called the estate of the Bishop, afterward the dwelling of Everildis, but in English Everildisham, she was of such great sanctity that she gave herself to divine contemplation alone. When therefore, by the help of God's grace, by her example and doctrine she had rendered many virginal souls to God (for many daughters of the rich came to her, and received the sacred veil, so that in her convent she sometimes had eighty, sometimes more), the Lord Jesus at length called her, saying: Come, my beloved, receive the crown prepared for thee: and, seized by the force of a slight fever, amid the hands of the virgins she departed to the Lord on the VII of the Ides of July, to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. I had believed that some light would accrue from Everildisham, the dwelling of Everildis; but in vain did I investigate that place: let him who can, help, and find that St. Wilfrid granted such a place to St. Everildis, whereby it shall come to pass that, if not into the knowledge of her deeds, at least into a certain knowledge of her age we may come: it does not please me to proceed further by groping.