Thecla of Kitzingen | |
---|---|
Born | southern Britain |
Died | ~AD 790 Germany |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Feast | 15 October |
Saint Thecla of Kitzingen (Tecla of England, Heilga) (died ca. AD 790) was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine, nun, abbess, and missionary. She was one of a number of figures associated with Saint Boniface and the Anglo-Saxon mission.
Sometime after the death of Aldfrith of Northumbria around the year 705, his widow, Cuthburh, the sister of King Ine of Wessex, established a double-monastery in her brother's kingdom at Wimborne in Dorset. St. Richard of Wessex was one of the underkings of the West Saxons and married Winna, the sister of St. Boniface. Before starting on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his two sons, Richard entrusted his eleven-year-old daughter Walpurga to the abbess of Wimborne. [1] The nuns of Wimborne Abbey educated Walpurga, and she later became a member of the community. [2] Boniface, kept up a frequent correspondence with the community of Wimborne. [3]
Born in southern Britain, Thecla was a relative of Saint Lioba. Thecla and Lioba were educated at Wimborne Abbey and later joined the Benedictine community of nuns there. When Boniface wrote the Abbess Tetta, requesting helpers with his missionary work In Germany, Thecla and Lioba were among those sent. [4] Boniface seems to have had a threefold purpose in summoning these Anglo-Saxon nuns as his auxiliaries: to propagate the full observance of the Benedictine Rule by new foundations, to introduce it into already founded monasteries, and to restore its observance in others, and finally, to bring their gentle influence to bear on the local people, both by example and by the education imparted to their children. [3] [5]
In 748, they arrived in Bischofsheim ("bishop's place"), where Boniface founded a convent, and Lioba was made abbess. Later, Thecla became abbess of Ochsenfurt. [4] Sometime after 750, Upon the death of Hadelonga, foundress and first Abbess of Kitzingen on the Main, she was called to supervise that abbey as well. [6]
Her feast day is 15 October, but alternative feast days of 27 or 28 September also appear in liturgical books. [4] Thecla’s relics were enshrined during the Middle Ages at Kitzingen but were later dispersed during the German Peasants' War. [4] She is also venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve and Walpurgisnacht, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. This feast commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870.
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eichstätt.
Walpurga or Walburga was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May c. 870 by Pope Adrian II. Saint Walpurgis Night is the name for the eve of her feast day in the Medieval period, which coincided with May Day; her feast is no longer celebrated on that day, but the name is still used for May Eve.
Wigbert, (Wihtberht) born in Wessex around 675, was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk and a missionary and disciple of Boniface who travelled with the latter in Frisia and northern and central Germany to convert the local tribes to Christianity. His feast day is August 13 in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
September 27 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - September 29
Leoba, was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine nun and is recognized as a saint. In 746 she and others left Wimborne Minster in Dorset to join her kinsman Boniface in his mission to the German people. She was a learned woman and was involved in the foundation of nunneries in Kitzingen and Ochsenfurt. She had a leading role in evangelizing the area. Leoba was acclaimed for many miracles: saving a village from fire; saving a town from a terrible storm; protecting the reputation of the nuns in her convent; and saving the life of a fellow nun who was gravely ill – all accomplished through prayer. Her first letter to Boniface contains the first poetry known to have been written by an English woman. |
Saint Cuthburh or Cuthburg, Cuthburga was the first Abbess of Wimborne Minster. She was the sister of Ine, King of Wessex and was married to the Northumbrian king Aldfrith.
Anglo-Saxon missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish missionaries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity across the Frankish Empire as well as in Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England itself during the 6th century. Both Ecgberht of Ripon and Ecgbert of York were instrumental in the Anglo-Saxon mission. The first organized the early missionary efforts of Wihtberht, Willibrord, and others; while many of the later missioners made their early studies at York.
Saint Eormenhild is a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon saint venerated in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
Willibald was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred,, was a 7th- and 8th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and, in 1030, her remains were moved to Canterbury.
Saint Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet was a princess of Wessex, and abbess of Minster-in-Thanet. She is regarded as a saint.
Winibald was abbot of the Benedictine double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm. Traditionally, he is called the brother of Willibald and Walpurga.
October 14 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - October 16
Osbert of Clare was a monk, elected prior of Westminster Abbey and briefly abbot. He was a prolific writer of letters, and hagiographer.
Richard the Pilgrim or Richard of Wessex was an English nobleman and Christian saint. He was the husband of Wuna of Wessex and the father of the West Saxon saints Willibald, Winnibald, and Walpurga. He led his family on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land but died en route in Lucca, where he was buried in the church of Saint Fridianus.
Minster Abbey is the name of two abbeys in Minster-in-Thanet, Kent, England. The first was a 7th-century foundation which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Beside its ruins is St Mildred's Priory, a Benedictine community of women founded in 1937.
Cwenburh of Wimborne was an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon saint, a sister of King Ine of Wessex and of Saint Cuthburh. Her sister Cuthburh was married to King Aldfrith of Northumbria and then became the first abbess of Wimborne monastery.
Hildelith of Barking, also known as Hildilid or Hildelitha, was an 8th-century Christian saint, from Anglo-Saxon England but was of foreign origin.
St. Adeloga of Kitzingen, also known as Hadeloga and Adela, is a German saint. Her father was Charles Martel, a Frankish statesman and military leader. She was a princess and "of singular beauty". She was sought after for marriage, but she refused, wanting to devote herself to God instead. Her father treated her with "studied brutality and public insult"; she went to his chaplain, who was also her spiritual director, for support and advice, so Martel expelled them both from his palace. They journeyed to Kitzingen, in modern Bavaria, a "wild and desert place", where they built a convent. She was made the convent's first abbess; the convent attracted virgins and was directed to follow the rules of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. Martel later reconciled with and visited Adeloga, and donated lands for her convent.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Thecla". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.