St. Alphege Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr
(Elphege)
28 December
Born 954; died 1012; also called Godwine, martyred Archbishop of
Canterbury, left his widowed mother and patrimony for the monastery of
Deerhurst (Gloucestershire). After some years as an anchorite at Bath,
he there became abbot, and (19 Oct., 984) was made Bishop of Winchester.
In 994 Elphege administered confirmation to Olaf of Norway at Andover,
and it is suggested that his patriotic spirit inspired the decrees of
the Council of Enham. In 1006, on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, he
went to Rome for the pallium. At this period England was much harassed
by the Danes, who, towards the end of September, 1011, having sacked and
burned Canterbury, made Elphege a prisoner. On 19 April, 1012, at
Greenwich, his captors, drunk with wine, and enraged at ransom being
refused, pelted Elphege with bones of oxen and stones, till one Thurm
dispatched him with an axe. Elphege's body, after resting eleven years
in St. Paul's (London), was translated by King Canute to Canterbury. His
principal feast is kept on the 19th of April
[
see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/1141 ];
that of his translation on the 8th of June. He is sometimes represented
with an axe cleaving his skull.
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content © 2008, Ambrose Mooney
layout © 2008, Kathleen Hanrahan and Mo! Langdon
Page last updated: 21 December 2008
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