Written by Fr. Dennis O'Neill
A beautiful chased silver reliquary arrived here from the chapel of the Orsini-Pignatelli family in Gravina, Italy. It contains a bone of St. Ebba, who was the sister of Sts. Oswald and Oswy, kings of Northumbria and bones of three of her nieces. She founded the great Benedictine nunnery of Coldingham on the Scottish border and was a very holy and widely renowned abbess. She died in 683. For a brief period, she took her niece, Etheldreda, into her convent. Etheldreda (Audrey, Ethelreda) and her sisters, Sexburga, Ethelburga and Witburga, were all daughters of king Anna of East Anglia. Etheldreda was a strong and strong-minded woman of great faith. She agreed to two marriages to strengthen political alliances; but, since she had previously promised herself to Christ, she demanded that both marriages be celibate. Her first marriage to Tondbereth ended with his death in 655. From him, she inherited her property in Ely. Her second marriage was to King Egfrith of Northumbria. After several years of chaste marriage, when he tried to push that the marriage be consummated, she divorced him, fled to her aunt, and eventually founded her own convent at Ely. She became a great and renowned abbess, died of throat cancer in 679 and was buried at Ely. On this site, Ely Cathedral would eventually be built. Her tomb became one of the great pilgrimage goals for nearly a thousand years. She and St. Hilda of Whitby became the two most widely honored British women saints until the Reformation. Her sister Sexburg, who a succeeded her as abbess of Ely, had Etheldreda’s incorrupt remains exhumed and translated to a nobler shrine in the cathedral. She herself was buried there in 699, Ethelburga became abbess of Faremoutiers and died in 664. Withburga (Vitburga) founded the convent of Dereham in Norfolk and died there in 743. She too was buried at Ely. The relics of Ebba, Etheldreda, Ethelburga, and Withburga are all contained in our reliquary. Accompanying them is a document signed and sealed by Bishop Agostino Zampini, the first vicar general of Vatican City, on September 8. 1936. In the document, he points out that it had previously been certified by Bishop Thomas Griffiths, Vicar Apostolic of the London District, on October 15, 1839. The Archdiocese of Westminster would later be established on September 29, 1850. The feast of St. Etheldreda is on the day of her death, June 23. For centuries, there was a great fair held in Ely in her honor during the week surrounding her feast. Items of all kinds and quality were sold there – including inexpensive pilgrim badges and bits of lace, which people touched to her grave and brought home as souvenirs. Some of the souvenirs were so cheap that they gave birth to the adjective “tawdry” (from St. Audrey). King Henry VIII’s assault on the shrines of the saints put an end to the fair and left a lot of damage in its wake at Ely.
A beautiful chased silver reliquary arrived here from the chapel of the Orsini-Pignatelli family in Gravina, Italy. It contains a bone of St. Ebba, who was the sister of Sts. Oswald and Oswy, kings of Northumbria and bones of three of her nieces. She founded the great Benedictine nunnery of Coldingham on the Scottish border and was a very holy and widely renowned abbess. She died in 683. For a brief period, she took her niece, Etheldreda, into her convent. Etheldreda (Audrey, Ethelreda) and her sisters, Sexburga, Ethelburga and Witburga, were all daughters of king Anna of East Anglia. Etheldreda was a strong and strong-minded woman of great faith. She agreed to two marriages to strengthen political alliances; but, since she had previously promised herself to Christ, she demanded that both marriages be celibate. Her first marriage to Tondbereth ended with his death in 655. From him, she inherited her property in Ely. Her second marriage was to King Egfrith of Northumbria. After several years of chaste marriage, when he tried to push that the marriage be consummated, she divorced him, fled to her aunt, and eventually founded her own convent at Ely. She became a great and renowned abbess, died of throat cancer in 679 and was buried at Ely. On this site, Ely Cathedral would eventually be built. Her tomb became one of the great pilgrimage goals for nearly a thousand years. She and St. Hilda of Whitby became the two most widely honored British women saints until the Reformation. Her sister Sexburg, who a succeeded her as abbess of Ely, had Etheldreda’s incorrupt remains exhumed and translated to a nobler shrine in the cathedral. She herself was buried there in 699, Ethelburga became abbess of Faremoutiers and died in 664. Withburga (Vitburga) founded the convent of Dereham in Norfolk and died there in 743. She too was buried at Ely. The relics of Ebba, Etheldreda, Ethelburga, and Withburga are all contained in our reliquary. Accompanying them is a document signed and sealed by Bishop Agostino Zampini, the first vicar general of Vatican City, on September 8. 1936. In the document, he points out that it had previously been certified by Bishop Thomas Griffiths, Vicar Apostolic of the London District, on October 15, 1839. The Archdiocese of Westminster would later be established on September 29, 1850. The feast of St. Etheldreda is on the day of her death, June 23. For centuries, there was a great fair held in Ely in her honor during the week surrounding her feast. Items of all kinds and quality were sold there – including inexpensive pilgrim badges and bits of lace, which people touched to her grave and brought home as souvenirs. Some of the souvenirs were so cheap that they gave birth to the adjective “tawdry” (from St. Audrey). King Henry VIII’s assault on the shrines of the saints put an end to the fair and left a lot of damage in its wake at Ely.
Recently, a Fr. Dwight Longnecker led a group of his parishioners on a pilgrimage to Ely. This is what he wrote about the experience. “The Abbey is now an Anglican cathedral, and when we visited there on our recent pilgrimage tour we observed the empty place in the chancel where her shrine once stood. The pilgrims observed that the Anglicans don’t seem at all ashamed or non-plussed by the fact that they now occupy the site where Henry VIII’s troops stomped in, grabbed all the treasures, closed down the monastery and left in in ruins, destroyed St. Ethelreda’s shrine, chopped up her relics and threw them on the bonfires. Furthermore, when you visit the great Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral, you see how the Protestants vandalized the exquisite stone carvings that surrounded the walls of the Lady Chapel. (I, Fr. Dennis, saw this many years ago and confess that I was equally shocked at the wanton damage.) The Anglican guide stated in a matter of fact way, “the carvings were destroyed in the sixteenth century” or some equally bland fact stated in a blasé way. Meanwhile our pilgrims were seething that the wholesale iconoclasm, looting, and destruction were whitewashed like the colorful paintings of the chapel itself were whitewashed. One of the pilgrims then notice one of the Anglican information boards, which said something to the effect. “Then in the sixteenth century the charismatic and energetic King Henry VIII brought renewal and modernity to the dying church of the Dark Ages.”
Anyway, the left hand of St. Etheldreda was somehow preserved from the destruction and hidden by Catholics. In 1811, it was recovered in a hidden “priest hole” in Sussex in a farm house on the property of the Catholic Arundel family. It was given to the Catholic Duke of Norfolk, who passed it into the care of the Dominican sisters in their convent at Stone. In 1876, it was reported to be still intact. The church of St. Etheldreda on Ely Place in London was originally the London chapel for the bishops of Ely. It had been allowed to fall into ruin, but was the first property purchased back by the Catholic Church. When the refurbished chapel was ready for rededication in 1950, the Dominicans gave a small bone from St. Etheldreda’s hand for a reliquary honored there. The rest of her hand they gave to the Catholic Church of St. Etheldreda in Ely in June of 1953, where it can be seen to this day. Our own relic of St. Etheldreda is a hand bone and was probably obtained by Bishop Griffith from the Dominican sisters in 1839.
We conclude with an anecdote mentioned in Father Longenecker’s pilgrim journal: “I’ve told the story before, but it’s worth telling again, that when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth visited Ely on one of her tours, she met members of an ecumenical group in the town. So she shook the hand of the Methodist minister and the Baptist pastor, and then she met the cranky old Irish priest. Knowing about the mummified relic of the former queen and saint, the present queen said to the priest, “Don’t you think it would be a nice gesture to give the hand of St. Etheldreda back to the cathedral?” He responded,” and don’t you think it would be a nice gesture to give the cathedral back to the Catholic Church?”
Anyway, the left hand of St. Etheldreda was somehow preserved from the destruction and hidden by Catholics. In 1811, it was recovered in a hidden “priest hole” in Sussex in a farm house on the property of the Catholic Arundel family. It was given to the Catholic Duke of Norfolk, who passed it into the care of the Dominican sisters in their convent at Stone. In 1876, it was reported to be still intact. The church of St. Etheldreda on Ely Place in London was originally the London chapel for the bishops of Ely. It had been allowed to fall into ruin, but was the first property purchased back by the Catholic Church. When the refurbished chapel was ready for rededication in 1950, the Dominicans gave a small bone from St. Etheldreda’s hand for a reliquary honored there. The rest of her hand they gave to the Catholic Church of St. Etheldreda in Ely in June of 1953, where it can be seen to this day. Our own relic of St. Etheldreda is a hand bone and was probably obtained by Bishop Griffith from the Dominican sisters in 1839.
We conclude with an anecdote mentioned in Father Longenecker’s pilgrim journal: “I’ve told the story before, but it’s worth telling again, that when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth visited Ely on one of her tours, she met members of an ecumenical group in the town. So she shook the hand of the Methodist minister and the Baptist pastor, and then she met the cranky old Irish priest. Knowing about the mummified relic of the former queen and saint, the present queen said to the priest, “Don’t you think it would be a nice gesture to give the hand of St. Etheldreda back to the cathedral?” He responded,” and don’t you think it would be a nice gesture to give the cathedral back to the Catholic Church?”
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