Died 879; feast day formerly August 23. Ebba was abbess of the great
monastic foundation of Coldingham in the Marshes on the Scottish border,
which had been founded two centuries earlier by
Saint Ebba the Elder (f.d. August 25).
During a Danish invasion Saint Ebba feared for her
virginity because of the Viking reputation for rape and massacre. She
gathered her nuns in the chapter house and encouraged them to follow her
example: with a razor she cut off (or cut open) her nose and upper lip
to discourage rape by the invaders. The entire community did likewise.
They must have made a frightful spectacle. Their appearance so
disgusted the raiders that the women were saved from rape but not from
death: The Danes soon returned and set fire to the convent. The entire
community perished in the flames.
Although there is no surviving ancient record of Saint Ebba, it may have
been among the lost manuscripts at Tynemouth, there was a shrine
dedicated to her in the 13th century. In Coldingham, another manuscript
refers to a curious feast of the edication of the altar of Saint Ebba
on June 22, which may refer to either the Younger or the Elder
(
Benedictines,
Encyclopaedia,
Farmer,
Husenbeth).