Venerable (Monastic) 7th century

Saint Etheldreda of Ely

c. 636 – 679

Also known as Aethelthryth · Audrey of Ely

An Anglo-Saxon queen of East Anglia who, preserving her virginity through two marriages, at last received the veil and founded the monastery of Ely, ruling it as abbess in holiness.

Feast Day

June 23

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Mother Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely

Life

Etheldreda (Anglo-Saxon Æthelthryth) was a seventh-century princess of East Anglia who, after two royal marriages in which she held to a vow of virginity, withdrew to the monastic life and founded the great double monastery of Ely, over which she ruled as abbess. A daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, she belonged to a notably holy family: her sisters likewise entered religious life and became abbesses.

Her renown rested less on the political prominence of her birth than on her ascetic constancy and on the incorrupt state in which her body was reportedly found at its translation, an event that made Ely one of the foremost centres of veneration in Anglo-Saxon England.

Timeline 7 moments Read Hide

c. 636 Birth in East Anglia Born, by tradition at Exning in Suffolk, a daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia, into a family several of whose members entered the monastic life.
c. 652 First marriage to Tondberct Married to Tondberct, chief of the South Gyrwe, throughout which union she is said to have maintained her vow of perpetual virginity. He gave her the Isle of Ely and died about 655.
c. 660 Second marriage to Ecgfrith of Northumbria Married a second time, to the young Ecgfrith of Northumbria, again preserving her virginity throughout the union according to tradition.
c. 672 Reception of the veil Withdrew from the marriage and received the monastic veil, the accounts associating her profession with the monastery of Coldingham.
673 Foundation of Ely Founded the monastery of Ely as a double community of men and women and governed it as abbess, living a strict ascetic life.
23 June 679 Repose at Ely Died at Ely, by tradition of a tumour of the neck which she regarded as a recompense for youthful vanity in wearing necklaces.
17 October 695 Translation of relics Her body, reported to be found incorrupt, was translated by her sister Seaxburh into a white marble Roman sarcophagus.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

Marriages and the Monastic Life

Etheldreda's life is framed by the tradition that she preserved her virginity through two marriages contracted for dynastic reasons. The first, about 652, was to Tondberct of the South Gyrwe, who granted her the Isle of Ely and who died after a few years. The second, about 660, was to Ecgfrith of Northumbria, then still a youth.

When, according to the accounts, Ecgfrith pressed for the resumption of marital life after his accession, Etheldreda withdrew and received the veil. In 673 she founded Ely as a double monastery and ruled it as abbess, the sources describing a strict and ascetic regime.

Relics and Shrines

At the translation of her relics in 695, undertaken by her sister and successor Seaxburh, her body was reported to be incorrupt and was placed in a white marble Roman sarcophagus said to have been brought from Grantchester. Ely became a major shrine in consequence, and relics associated with her, including a hand, are kept at the church bearing her name at Ely.

Veneration

Her principal feast is kept on 23 June, the day of her repose, while the translation of 695 is commemorated on 17 October. In later Western tradition she came to be invoked particularly against ailments of the throat and neck.

Notes

Pre-schism Western saint.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints