Saint Hybald ( fl. c. 664 – c. 690), also known as Higbald, Hibald or Hygbald, was a 7th-century

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

. His feastdays are 18 September and 14 December (Orthodox).

Life and legacy

The

Venerable Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, in his ''Ecclesiastical History'', describes St Hybald as a "most holy and continent man who was an abbot in Lindsey". It is conjectured, in the ''Dictionary of Christian Biography'' (1877–87), that this is the

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 ...

abbey at

Bardney Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...

, then in the old

Kingdom of Lindsey The Kingdom of Lindsey or Linnuis ( ang, Lindesege) was a lesser Anglo-Saxon kingdom, which was absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century. The name Lindsey derives from the Old English toponym , meaning "Isle of Lind". was the Roman name of th ...

, now

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. In 679,

Osthryth Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia. Osthryth was ...

, queen of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

, sought to move the remains of her uncle, St Oswald, to

, Catholic Encyclopedia: St Oswald but the monks refused to accept the body because Oswald, as king of Northumbria, had once conquered Lindsey. The remains were locked outside the abbey but the appearance of a mysterious beam of light, that night, led the monks to reconsider. (as ) Hybald was also a friend of

Saint Chad Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Catholic monk who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised ...

, and, had a prophetic vision of his death. He later, followed Chad's example and became an

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

. Hybald died around 690, and was buried in the village of

Hibaldstow Hibaldstow is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,433. It is situated on the B1206 road, south from Brigg and the M180. The site of the deserted medieval villag ...

, whose name means ''place where St Hygbald is buried''. Following his

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

, a shrine was built near his grave to hold his relics, and became a place of pilgrimage. This continued until the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

when the shrine was destroyed. Hybald's body remained undisturbed until it was rediscovered in 1864, when the, then, dilapidated church was rebuilt. In addition to Hibaldstow, three Lincolnshire churches are dedicated to Hybald at

Ashby de la Launde Ashby de la Launde is a small village, part of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Ashby de la Launde and Bloxholm, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated just west of Digby, Lincolnshire, D ...

, Manton and

Scawby Scawby is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-west from Brigg, and just east from the A15 road, and south from the M180 motorway. According to the 2001 Census, Scawby population (including Sturton) ...

Notes

References

External links

*
List of celtic saints:Hybald of BardneyPlan and details of St Hybald's Church in HibaldstowThe Parish Church of St Hybald, HibaldstowThe Parish Church of St Hybald, Scawby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hybald Mercian saints English abbots People from Lincolnshire 7th-century Christian saints