Celtic and Old English Saints 26 August =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Pandwina of Ettisley * St. Bregwin of Canterbury =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Pandwina (Pandwyna, Pandonia) of Ettisley ---------------------------------------------- Born in Scotland or Ireland; died c. 904. Pandwina was a nun at Eltisley, located about four miles from Saint Neots in Cambridgeshire, where the church is dedicated to her honour. The hagiographer Leland (in "Itinerary" v. 218) records that she was a daughter of a king of the Scots, who fled from those who would deflower her to a kinswoman who was prioress of Eltisley. She was buried near Saint Pandonia Well in Eltisley and was translated into the church there in 1344. Leland repeats the lessons used at her translation by the parish priest named Richard. The "vita" itself exists no longer, but the date of her death derives from it. Pandwina was included in a litany in a breviary produced in Flanders for English use, which is now at Saint Peter Hungate Museum in Norwich. She may have been a virgin martyr (Benedictines, Farmer). St. Bregwin (Bregowine) of Canterbury, Bishop ---------------------------------------------- Died 765. The 12th archbishop of Canterbury (761-765), Bregwin's "vita" was written by Eadmer. According to this, he was a Continental Saxon who went to England to receive his education at the abbey-school run by Saint Theodore (f.d. September 19). He received the pallium from Pope Saint Paul I (f.d. June 28). As archbishop he tried to recover Cookham Abbey in Berkshire from King Cynewulf of Wessex and he convened a synod. Like his predecessor Saint Cuthbert (f.d. March 20), he was buried in the baptistery of Canterbury cathedral, rather than in the abbey church of Saint Augustine, which had been traditional. When the baptistery was destroyed in 1067 by fire, Bregwin's relics were placed in a vault over the north transept with those of the other archbishops buried there. An attempt was made to translate Bregwin's body c. 1121 by a German monk named Lambert to a monastery he was planning to build. Later Bregwin's relics were moved to the altar of Saint Gregory in the south transept of the cathedral, which was the occasion of the short "vita" by Eadmer. His letters to Saint Lullus (f.d. October 16) at Mainz can still be read. One of them refers to their friendship made during a visit to Rome, indicates regret that war had led to the loss of contact, and refers to a reliquary he was sending as a gift. His death has been cited as August 24 or 26 depending on the calendar used (Benedictines, Farmer). Sources: ======== Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints *****************************************
