Tuesday, June 9, 2009

St. Edmund, Martyr II



The holy king had reigned fifteen years when the Danes infested his dominions. Hinguar and Hubba, two brothers, the most barbarous of all the Danish plunderers landing in England, wintered among the East-Angles; then, having made a truce with that nation, they in summer sailed to the north, and landing at the mouth of the Tweed, plundered with fire and sword Northumberland, and afterwards Mercia, directing their march through Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Cambridgeshire. Out of a lust of rage and cruelty, and the most implacable aversion to the Christian name, they everywhere destroyed the churches and monasteries; and, as it were in barbarous sport, massacred all priests and religious persons whom they met with. In the great monastery of Coldingham, beyond Berwick, the nuns, fearing not death but insults which might be offered to their chastity, at the instigation of St. Ebba, the holy abbess, cut off their noses and upper lips, that appearing to the barbarians frightful spectacles of horror, they might preserve their virtue from danger; the infidels accordingly were disconcerted at such a sight, and spared their virtue, but put them all to the sword. In their march, amongst other monasteries, those of Bardney, Crowland, Peterborough, Ely, and Huntingdon were levelled with the ground, and the religious inhabitants murdered. In the Cathedral of Peterborough is shown a monument (removed thither from a place without the building) called Monks'-Stone, on which are the effigies of an abbot and several monks. It stood over the pit in which fourscore monks of this house were interred, whom Hinguar and Hubba massacred in 870. The barbarians, reeking with blood, poured down upon St. Edmund's dominions, burning Thetford, the first town they met with, and laying waste all before them.

Taken from Vol. III of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" by the Rev. Alban Butler
St. Edmund, Martyr - Ora Pro Nobis!

1 comment:

Ted Loiseau said...

Very good post. Please forgive me for being "off-topic." But this must be passed along to others and I'm hoping that you will think so to. I just posted this comment at La Salette Journey:

Mr. Melanson, your post last year warning that many view Obama as a sort of "secular messiah" was right on the money. Now Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas has just said, "In a way Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He’s sort of GOD. He’s going to bring all different sides together."

Once again, your posts have proven to be prophetic.

This comment, made by the editor of a major news-magazine with a rather large subscription, may be verified through a google search.

It is VERY alarming.

I noticed your blog listed at the sidebar over at La Salette Journey and thought this might interest you. I'm not an alarmist by any means but this is really strange. Chris Matthews essentially agreed with Evans and he graduated from Holy Cross College in Worcester.