Lord, Save Me
Great virtue is needed to struggle with happiness. We must learn to tread
upon the world and remember to trust Christ.
And if you begin to sin, say: "Lord, I am perishing; save me," so that you
may not perish. For
only he can deliver you from the death of the body, he who died in the
body
for you.
-Sermon 26, 9 Augustine
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February 20th - St. Mildred of Thanet, Abbess of Minster, England
Commemorated also July 13. The Minster in the Isle of Thanet about six
miles
from Sandwich was founded by St. Ermenburga the granddaughter of St.
Ethelbert, the first Christian King of Kent. She had been married to a
King
of the Mercians, Merewald and by him had three daughters, Mildred,
Milburga
and Mildgyth. When Ermenburga was widowed she returned to Kent, where her
nephew Egbert was King, leaving Milburga at Wenlock, where she was
established in the abbey built by her father and of which she later became
abbess. On arrival with her two other daughters at her old home, she found
that her younger brothers, Ethelred and Ethelbright, had been murdered by
Thunor, one of Egbert's men, and she obtained land in compensation for
their
deaths, what was called "wergild", on which to build a monastery.
The extent of the land ceded by Egbert was decided by the area round which
Ermenburga's pet hind could run and amounted to about a thousand acres of
fertile ground which would maintain those who joined the community. The
present parish stands on the site of the first minster which was dedicated
by St. Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury about 670. He also gave the
veil to Ermenburga and installed her as the first abbess in the monastery,
where she was known as Domna Eva. In the meantime Mildred had been sent to
Chelles to be trained in the religious life and she must have been glad to
receive the summons to return, once the abbey was built. While on the
continent she had been pestered by one of the local princes, who tried to
persuade her to renounce her vocation to be a nun, but her resolve
remained
unshaken and she was professed as soon as she got back to Kent.
It was not long before her mother resigned the charge of the abbey to
Mildred, who became one of the most famous and well loved of the Anglo
Saxon
saints. Although the government of the abbey was firm, she always
preserved
an easy temper and showed humility in dealing with those who came to her,
particularly to the widows and orphans, the poor and the afflicted. Her
sister Mildgylt also embraced the religious life and for a time was a nun
at
Eastry but probably joined St. Mildred later in the flourishing community
at
Minster and may have succeeded her as abbess on her death. Eventually the
community grew to such a size that it became necessary to build a larger
complex and this was sited a few hundred yards from the old one.
Like most Christian churches on the coast Minster suffered from pillaging
by
raiders from the sea, and in 1035 King Canute agreed that St. Mildred's
body
should be moved to Canterbury where it was enshrined in the abbey of SS
Peter and Paul. There is however another tradition that relics were taken
to
the abbey at Lyminge and from there translated by Archbishop Lanfranc to
the
Collegiate church of St Gregory which he built by the Northgate at
Canterbury.
At the dread time of the Dissolution the abbey buildings at Minster passed
into secular hands and the conventual church was demolished. In 1937 a
small
group of Benedictine nuns from St. Walburga's Abbey at Eichstadt occupied
the remains of the old abbey and a relic of St. Mildred from Derenter is
preserved in the altar of the small chapel they have built. There were ten
ancient dedications to St. Mildred, two in the City of London and six in
Kent (Bowen).
Troparion, in Tone IV
Through constant prayer and frequent fasting, by ceaseless hymnody and
great
humility, the glorious Mildred forsook the allurements of her royal rank,
trampling underfoot all worldly pride and presumption. Wherefore, let us
imitate her virtues, that, free from all earthly attachments, we may join
her at the wedding feast of Christ our Saviour.
Service to Our Venerable Mother Mildred, Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet,
Wonderworker of Kent
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servmild.htm
Icon of Saint Mildred
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/mildred.htm
Saint Quote:
"Inventors of unlawful heresies who indeed refer to the Scriptures,
but do not hold such opinions as the saints have handed down, and
receiving them as the traditions of men, err, because they do not
rightly know them, nor their power. Therefore Paul justly praises the
Corinthians, (1st Cor. 11:2) because their opinions were in accordance
with his traditions."
-St Athanasius the Apostolic. 298-373 AD.
Bible Quote:
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and
to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
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The Wound in the Shoulder:
It is related in the annals of Clairvaux that St. Bernard asked Our Lord
which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and that Our Lord answered, "I
had on my shoulder while I bore My cross on the Way of Sorrows a grievous
wound which was more painful than the others which is not recorded by men.
Honor this wound with devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost
ask through its virtue and merit, and in return to all who venerate this
wound I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer
remember their mortal sins.
O most loving Jesus, meek lamb of God, I a miserable sinner, salute and
worship the most sacred wound of Thy shoulder. Alone thou didst bear Thy
heavy cross which so tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy bones as to inflict
on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound on Thy Blessed Body.
I adore Thee, O Jesus, Most Sorrowful, I praise and glorify Thee and give
Thee thanks for this most secret painful wound, beseeching Thee by the
merit and pain of Thy heavy cross to be merciful to me a sinner and to
forgive me my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards heaven
along
the Way of the Cross. Amen.
Pray three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys
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