- Hilda of Whitby
Infobox Saint
name=Saint Hilda of Whitby
birth_date=c. 614
death_date=death date|680|11|17|df=y
feast_day=November 17
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church ;Anglican Communion ;Eastern Orthodox Church
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prayer_attrib=Hilda of Whitby (c. 614–680) is a Christian
saint . The source of information about Hilda is "The Ecclesiastical History of the English" by the Venerable Bede in 731, who was born c. eight years before her death.Early life
According to Bede, Hilda (or Hild, the Old English form of her name) was born in 614, the second daughter of
Hereric , nephew ofEdwin of Northumbria , and his wifeBreguswith . Her elder sister,Hereswith , married Æthelric, brother of kingAnna of East Anglia . When Hilda was still an infant her father was murdered by poisoning while in exile at the court of the British King ofElmet (in what is nowWest Yorkshire ). It is generally assumed that she was brought up at King Edwin's court inNorthumbria . In 627 King Edwin was baptised onEaster Day, 12 April, along with his court, which included Hilda, in a small wooden church hastily constructed for the occasion, near the site of the presentYork Minster .The ceremony was performed by the monk-bishop Paulinus, who had come from
Rome with Augustine. He accompaniedÆthelburg of Kent , a Christian princess, when she came North fromKent to marry King Edwin. As Queen, she continued to practice her Christianity and, no doubt, influenced her husband's thinking.From her baptism to 647 nothing is known about Hilda. It seems likely that when King Edwin was killed in battle in 633 she went to live with her sister at the
East Anglian court. Bede resumes her story at a point where she is about to join her widowed sister atChelles Abbey inGaul . She decided instead to answer the call ofSt. Aidan , Bishop ofLindisfarne to return toNorthumbria and live as anun .As a nun
Hilda's original convent is not known, except that it was on the north bank of the
River Wear . Here, with a few companions, she learned the traditions of Celticmonasticism which Aidan brought fromIona . After a year Aidan appointed Hilda secondAbbess ofHartlepool Abbey . No trace remains of this abbey but the monastic cemetery has been found near the presentSt Hilda's Church .In 657 Hilda became the founding abbess of a new monastery at
Whitby (then known asStreonshalh ); she remained there until her death. Archaeological evidence shows that her monastery was in the Celtic style with its members living in small houses for two or three people. The tradition in double monasteries, such as Hartlepool and Whitby, was that men and women lived separately but worshipped together in church. The exact location and size of the monastery's church is unknown. Bede states that the original ideals of monasticism were strictly maintained in Hilda's abbey. All property and goods were held in common; Christian virtues were exercised, especiallypeace and charity; everyone had to study theBible and do good works.Five men from this monastery became bishops and two are revered as saints -
Saint John of Beverley , Bishop of Hexham, andSt. Wilfrid , Bishop of York, rendering untold service to the Anglo-Saxon Church at this critical period of the struggle with paganism.Her character
Bede describes Hilda as a woman of great energy who was a skilled administrator and teacher. She gained such a reputation for wisdom that even kings and princes sought her advice, but she also had a concern for ordinary folk like
Cædmon . He was a herder at the monastery, who was inspired in a dream to sing verses in praise of God. Hilda recognized his gift and encouraged him to develop it. Although Hilda must have had a strong character she inspired affection. As Bede writes, "All who knew her called her mother because of her outstanding devotion and grace".The Synod of Whitby
King Oswiu chose Hilda's monastery as the venue for the
Synod of Whitby , the firstsynod of the Church in his kingdom. He invited churchmen from as far away asWessex to attend. Most of those present, including Hilda, accepted the King's decision to adopt the method of calculatingEaster currently used inRome , but the monks fromLindisfarne , who could not accept this, withdrew toIona and later toIreland .Illness and death
Hilda suffered from fever for the last six years of her life but she continued to work until her death on 17 November, 680, at what was then the advanced age of sixty-six. In her last year she set up another monastery, fourteen miles from Whitby, at
Hackness . She died after receivingviaticum , and her legend holds that at the moment of her passing the bells of the monastery of Hackness tolled. A nun namedBegu also claimed to have witnessed Hilda's soul being borne to heaven by angels.Legacy
Hilda was succeeded as abbess by
Eanflæd , widow of King Oswiu, and her daughter, Ælfflæd. From then onwards we know nothing about the abbey at Whitby until it was destroyed by the Danish invaders in 867. After theNorman conquest of England , monks from Evesham re-founded the abbey as aBenedictine house for men. Thus it continued until theDissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII in 1539.A local legend says that when sea birds fly over the abbey they dip their wings in honour of the saint. Another legend tells of a plague of
snake s which Hilda turned to stone - supposedly explaining the presence ofammonite fossils on the shore. In fact, the ammonite genus "Hildoceras " takes its name from St. Hilda. It was not unknown for local “artisans” to carve snakes' heads onto ammonites, and sell these “relics” as proof of the miracle. The coat of arms of nearby Whitby actually include three such 'snakestones'.From the late 19th century until the present day there has been a revival of interest in and devotion to St Hilda. With the development of education for women she has become the patron of many schools and colleges all over the world.
College of St Hild and St Bede , Durham,St Hilda's College, Oxford andSt Hilda's College (University of Melbourne) are named after Saint Hilda. Hilda is considered one of thepatron saint s of learning and culture (including, due to her patronage of Cædmon, of poetry.)Two churches in Whitby (
Roman Catholic andAnglican ) have been dedicated under her patronage.There is an Anglican church named after St. Hilda in the Cross Green area of Leeds. It was opened in September 1882. There is a statue of St. Hilda in the nave, depicting her as the Mother of her Abbey at Whitby. She also appears in a stained glass window at the east end of the church. The church is still active and a sung mass is held there every Sunday. Several small streets in the immediate area are named after the church - St. Hilda's Mount, St. Hilda's Road, etc.
Since 1915 at St Hilda's Priory, [http://www.sneatoncastle.co.uk/ Sneaton Castle] , on the western edge of
Whitby town, there has been a community ofAnglican sisters - the [http://www.ohpwhitby.org/ Order of the Holy Paraclete] - which draws inspiration from the monastic and educational ideals of St Hilda. More recently, the Community of St Aidan and St Hilda has been founded onLindisfarne .In the Roman Catholic church, St. Hilda's feast day is
November 17 . In theChurch of England , it is19 November . In the calendar approved for theAnglican Use in the Roman Catholic Church, St. Hilda's feast day is celebrated on 23 June, together with St. Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, d. 679, and St. Mildred, Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, d.c.700.On the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City is [http://www.sthildas.org St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School] . St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s School is an independent Episcopal day school that opened its doors in 1950. The school is coeducational and includes toddlers through grade 8.
[http://www.hildas.unimelb.edu.au/ St.Hilda's College at the University of Melbourne] was founded in 1964 as the women's college associated with the (then) exclusively male colleges Ormond (Presbyterian) and Queens (Methodist), becoming co-educational in 1973.
St. Hilda's College, University of Toronto is the women's college ofUniversity of Trinity College . Though the schools have long been merged and the formerly women-only residence recently made co-ed, the saint is honoured as co-patron (withOur Lady ) of the Lady Chapel in which daily services are held by Trinity's Faculty of Divinity.St. Hilda is also the patron saint of the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington D.C
St. Hilda is also famous in Singapore, as in St' Hilda's Primary and Secondary schools
Further reading
* Bede; (1996). "The Ecclesiastical History of the English Church and People", Oxford University Press, World classics series.
* Bradley, Ian; (1999). "Celtic Christianity", Edinburgh University Press.
* Cavill, Paul; (1999). "Anglo-Saxon Christianity: exploring the earliest roots of Christian spirituality in England", Fount paperback.
* Hume, Basil (1996). "Footprints of the Northern Saints", Darton, Longman & Todd.
* Warin, Anne (1989). "Hilda", Lamp Press.
* Thurston, H. (1910). "St. Hilda."References
* Sister Hilary OHP; (2003). "St Hilda of Whitby", Order of the Holy Paraclete, St Hilda's Priory, Sneaton Castle, Whitby YO21 3QN.
External links
* [http://www.wilfrid.com/saints/hilda.htm St. Hilda Page at St. Wilfrid's]
* [http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/radio4/inourtime/inourtime_20070329-0900_40_st.mp3 St. Hilda] onMelvyn Bragg 's "In Our Time",5 April 2007 (BBC Radio 4 )
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