Saint Ethelbert

Memorial
20 May
Profile
Son of Ethelred, King of the East Angles, and Leofrana. A pious youth, he would have preferred religious life, but was in line for the throne. King of East Anglia for 44 years. He would have preferred to remain celibate, but agreed to seek the hand of Altrida (Alfrida) daughter of Offa, King of the Mercians in order to continue a stable line to the crown. There were a number of supernatural indications that it was a bad choice, but Ethelbert went anyway. Due to court intrigues, Ethelbert was murdered by a man named Grimbert. Often listed as a martyr.

His body was buried like trash, but a heavenly light identified it, and it was eventually relocated to the Hereford Cathedral. During one of the moves the head fell off the body, fell of the cart it was being carried in, touched a pedestrian who had been blind for eleven years, and cured him. Miracles reported at his tomb.
Died
murdered in 793 at Villa Australis, Mercia, England
buried at Maurdine of Marden near the Lugg River in Mercia
remains relocated to Stratus-way
remains relocated to Fernley (modern Hereford)
remains relocated to Hereford Cathedral
head enshrined at Westminster Abbey
Canonized
Pre-Congregation
Patronage
Hereford, England
Hereford Cathedral
Additional Information
Britannia Biographies
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Patrick Ryan
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Google Directory
New Catholic Dictionary
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
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