Born in East Anglia; died at Barking, April 30, c. 686-693; second feast
day on May 13. Erconwald is reputed to have been of royal blood, son of
Annas or Offa. In 675, Saint Theodore of Canterbury appointed Erconwald
bishop of the East Saxons with his see in London and extending over
Essex and Middlesex. His episcopate was the most important in that
diocese between that of Saint Mellitus and Saint Dunstan. His shrine in
Saint Paul's Cathedral was a much visited pilgrimage site during the
Middle Ages, where miracles were reported until the 16th century, but
little is known of his life except that he
founded a monastery at Chertsey in Surrey, which he governed, and a
convent at Barking in Essex to which he appointed as abbess his sister,
Ethelburga. Erconwald took some part in the reconciliation of Saint
Theodore with Saint Wilfrid. In Saint Bede's time, miracles were
recorded as a result of touching the couch used by Erconwald in his
later years. At his death,
Erconwald's relics were claimed by Barking, Chertsey, and London; he was
finally buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, which he had
enlarged. The relics escaped the fire of 1087 and were placed in the
crypt. November 14, 1148, they were translated to a new shrine behind
the high altar, from where they were again moved on February 1, 1326
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Encyclopaedia,
Farmer).
Erconwald is portrayed in art as a bishop in a small 'chariot' (the
Saxon equivalent of a bath chair) in which he travelled because of his
gout. Sometimes there is a woman touching it or he may be shown with
Saint Ethelburga of Barking
(
Roeder).
Erconwald is invoked against gout
(
Roeder).
Another Life:
Believed to be an early convert of the mission led by S. Mellitus,
Erconwald founded two religious houses on either side of the Thames, on
the pattern that was later adopted by S. Benedict Biscop, when he built
the twin monasteries of St. Peter, Monk Wearmouth and St. Paul, Jarrow.
The abbey Erconwald built at Chertsey he presided over, as Abbot, but
the other, at Barking, he gave to his sister St. Ethelburga, recalling
St. Hildelid from France to train her in the religious life and to guide
her in the governance of this double monastery of monks and nuns. His
sister remained very close to him and later, when he was Bishop of
London, used to accompany him on his journeys. Latterly, he was
incapacitated by gout and had to be helped into a wheeled litter, the
fore-runner of the Bath-chair, and the remains of this was preserved in
Old St Paul's and shown as a relic.
On the death of St. Cedd, in the plague of 664, Erconwald, who was
descended from the house of Uffa, the royal family of the East Angles,
was recommended by King Sebbi, to Archbishop Theodore, as the new Bishop
of London. His ministry for the next eleven years was to be one of
reconciliation. His diocese still contained some Britons who had
remained, when the land was overrun by the Saxons, but the invaders were
the predominant population. They had received the Christian Faith first
of all through the Roman clergy sent by St. Gregory, but it had been
established by the monks from Lindisfarne under St. Cedd, who were of
the Celtic Church, so the see had a mixed tradition. Moreover, there was
a certain amount of resistance to the reforms being introduced by St.
Theodore, and Erconwald had a share in healing the divisions in the
English Church as a whole, for the quarrel between Wilfrid and Theodore
was finally settled in Erconwald's house just before the Archbishop's
death.
St. Erconwald's sanctity and peacemaking earned him an enduring place in
the hearts of Londoners, and there are also many stories of miracles. A
curious tale has been preserved of how, during the rebuilding of St
Paul's, a coffin was discovered containing the body of a man wearing a
crown and with a sceptre in his hand. There was no indication to whom
this well preserved body belonged and, on the following day, St.
Erconwald said mass for him and then asked who he was. The corpse
immediately replied that he had been a judge of the New Troy, the
legendary name for London, and because he was so renowned for his
exemplary judgements he had earned the name of King of the Judges. The
bishop asked him where he was now, and the judge answered that, because
he had died without baptism, he was denied entrance into the Eternal
City. St. Erconwald was so distressed by this that he began to weep
saying how much he wished that he could have baptised him in the Name of
the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Some of the tears fell
upon the face of the righteous judge, and with a great cry of joy, he
thanked the saint for releasing him from his earthly state by the
washing with tears in the Name of the Trinity, and straight away his
body disintegrated into dust.
St. Erconwald died at his sister's abbey at Barking, and there was
contention between the priests of St Paul's and the monks of Barking as
to where he was to be buried. A great storm broke out, and there was
flooding of the river, but then the sun broke through the clouds,
seeming to point a golden path to the Cathedral. His body was interred
in the crypt, but when the church was rebuilt in 1148 it was translated
to a shrine behind the High Altar. It was a favourite place of
pilgrimage until the sixteenth century and his feast day was kept on
April 30th, the day of his death, with great splendour. November 14th
was observed as the feast of the translation
(
Baring-Gould1882,
Bowen,
Stanton,
Shortt).
Icon of Saint Erkenwald
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/erkenwal.htm