Saint Mildgyth (or Mildgytha) ( ang, Mildgȳð) (died 676) was the youngest daughter of
Merewalh Merewalh (sometimes given as Merwal or Merewald was a sub-king of the Magonsæte, a western cadet kingdom of Mercia thought to have been located in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Merewalh is thought to have lived in the mid to late 7th century, havin ...
, king of Mercia and Saint
Eormenburh
Domne Eafe (; floruit late 7th century), also ''Domneva'', ''Domne Éue'', ''Æbbe'', ''Ebba'', was, according to the Kentish royal legend, a granddaughter of King Eadbald of Kent and the foundress of the double monastery of Minster in Thanet P ...
. She was the youngest sister of
Saint Mildburh of Wenlock and
Saint Mildrith. The three sisters have been likened to the three theological virtues: Mildburh to faith, Mildgyth to hope, and Mildrith to charity.
[O.S.B., "St. Mildred and Her Kinsfolk", ''Virgin Saints of the Benedictine Order'']
/ref>
She was a Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
and later abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...
of a Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
n convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...
. All that is known of St Mildgytha was that she was a nun and that “miraculous powers were often exhibited” at her tomb in Northumbria."St. Milburga", Diocese of Shrewsbury
/ref> She seems to have died long before her sisters, while still quite young, which may account for so little mention of her.[
Her feast day is 17 January.
]
References
External links
*
676 deaths
Mercian saints
Anglo-Saxon nuns
Benedictine nuns
Anglo-Saxon abbesses
7th-century Christian saints
Year of birth unknown
Female saints of medieval England
7th-century English nuns
House of Icel
{{England-saint-stub