Knowledge and love
Rather than engaging in futile disputation let us seek to have the love of
Christ burning within us. ... an old woman can be more expert in the love
of
God, and less worldly
as well, than a theologian whose studies are useless because they are
undertaken out of vanity
in order to win a reputation and obtain stipends and positions of honor.
Such a one should be
reckoned not a doctor but a fool.
-Richard Rolle
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February 3rd - St. Werburga of Chester, OSB V (AC)
(also known as Werburg, Werebrurge, Werbyrgh)
Born at Stone, Stafford****re, England; died at Threckingham, England, c.
690-700; feast of her translation at Chester, June 21.
The patroness of Chester, England, Saint Werburga, was born of a line of
kings, being a daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia. From her mother, the
saintly Ermingilde (Ermenilda), she learned as a child the Christian
faith.
By temperament she was pious and virtuous, and her beauty attracted many
admirers, among them a prince of the West Saxons, who offered her rich
gifts
and made flattering proposals, and also Werbode, a powerful knight of her
father's court. But refusing all her suitors, she secured, after much
persuasion, her father's permission to enter a convent (or she did so
after
her father's death).
When the time came, he and his courtiers escorted her in great state to
the
abbey of Ely, where they were greeted at the gates by her aunt, the royal
abbess, Ethelreda, and her nuns. Werburga fell upon her knees and asked
that
she might be received as a novice, and to the chanting of the Te Deum they
entered the cloister, where she was stripped of her costly apparel,
exchanged her coronet for a veil, and in a rough habit began her new life.
She made good progress, and after many years, at the request of her uncle,
King Ethelred, was chosen to superintend all the convents of his kingdom.
This opened to her a large and fruitful sphere of duty, and the religious
houses under her care became models of monastic discipline. Through the
wealth and influence of her family she also founded new convents at
Trentham
in Stafford****re, Hanbury near Tutbury, and Weedon in Northampton****re,
and
secured the interest of Ethelred in establi****ng the collegiate Church of
Saint John the Baptist in Chester, and in giving land to Egwin for the
great
abbey of Evesham.
Werburga won many from dissipation and vice, and God crowned her life with
many blessings. Her work was deeply rooted in prayer and discipline. She
took but one meal daily and that only of the coarsest food; she set before
her the example of the desert fathers; and she recited the whole of the
Psalter daily upon her knees.
She lived to a ripe age, and before her death she journeyed to all her
convents, paying to each a farewell visit; she then retired to Trentham
(Threckingham in Lincoln****re), where she died. She was buried in the
monastery of Hanbury in Stafford****re. Later, her remains were transferred
with great ceremony in the presence of King Coolred and many bishops to a
costly shrine in Leicester, which attracted many pilgrims.
In 875, for fear of the Danes, her relics were removed to Chester. In
1095,
they were translated within Chester, where in the course of time a great
church, now the cathedral, was built over it, and where the remains of it
may still be seen, carved with the figures of her ancestors, the ancient
kings of Mercia. On its four sides the deep niches remain, where the
pilgrims knelt, seeking healing, afterwards receiving a metal token to
show
that they had visited her shrine. This final translation was the occasion
for Goselin to write her vita. The shrine was destroyed under King Henry
VIII, although part of its stone base survives. Twelve ancient English
churches were dedicated to her, including Hanbury and Chester (Attwater,
Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill).
In art Saint Werburga holds the abbey, while her crown lays at her feet.
Sometimes there are wild geese near her (Roeder), because, according to
Goselin she restored one to life (see below); however, the writer borrowed
the story from his own vita of the Flemish Saint Amelburga (Farmer). She
is,
of course, the patroness of Chester (Roeder).
Like a cheerful gossip, William of Malmesbury writes this tale of a local
miracle wrought by Saint Werburga:
"It was in the city of Chester that the girl Werburga, daughter of
Wulfhere,
King of Mercia, and Ermenilda . . . took her vows, and her goodness shone
for many years. The story of one miracle done by her I now shall tell,
which
made a great stir and was long told about the countryside.
"She had a farm outside the walls, where the wild geese would come and
destroy the standing corn in the fields. The steward in charge of the farm
took all ****fts to drive them off, but with small success. And so, when he
came to wait upon his lady, he added his complaint of them to the other
tales he would tell her of the day.
"'Go,' said she, 'and shut them all into a house.' The countryman,
dumbfounded at the oddness of the command, thought that his lady was
jesting: but finding her serious and insistent, went back to the field
where
he had first spied the miscreants, and bade them, speaking loud and clear,
to do their lady's bidding and come after him. Whereupon with one accord
they gathered themselves into a flock, and walking with down-bent necks
after their enemy, were shut up under a roof. On one of them, however, the
rustic, with no thought of any to accuse him, made bold to dine.
"At dawn came the maid, and after scolding the birds for pillaging other
people's property, bade them take their flight. But the winged creatures
knew that one of their company was missing; nor did they lack wit to go
circling round their lady's feet, refusing to budge further, and
complaining
as best they could, to excite her compassion. She, through God's
revealing,
and convinced that all this clamor was not without cause, turned her gaze
upon the steward, and divined the theft.
"She bade him gather up the bones and bring them to her. And straightway,
at
a healing sign from the girl's hand, skin and flesh began to come upon the
bones, and feathers to fledge upon the skin, till the living bird, at
first
with eager hop and soon upon the wing, launched itself into the air. Nor
were the others slow to follow it, their numbers now complete, though
first
they made obeisance to their lady and deliverer.
"And so the merits of this maid are told at Chester, and her miracles
extolled. Yet though she be generous and swift to answer all men's
prayers,
yet most gracious is her footfall among the women and boys, who pray as it
might be to a neighbor and a woman of their own countryside" (Malmesbury).
Saint Quote:
Let us faithfully transmit to posterity the example of virtue which we
have
received from our forefathers.
--Saint Peter Damian
Bible Quote:
Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see. And ask for the old
paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it, and you shall find
refreshment for your souls. ( Jeremias 6:16)
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Jesus, Prince of all Heavenly truths,
Your Words are carved for eternity!
You have commanded the virtue of honesty,
It is the power against all deceptions.
Direct Your Spirit of honesty upon me,
That by soul may always remain stainless.
Guide my daily thoughts, words and actions,
To join those living by the Spirit of truth.
For honesty yields harmony and loyalty,
Enriching all human relation****ps.
By the power of Your Spirit that flourishes,
Honesty will prevail in this world!
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