Alphege was born about 954 of noble Saxon parents, during the second
major period of Viking raids against England, and though he would have
inherited considerable lands, chose to enter the monastery of Deerhurst
in Gloucestershire. His biographer, the monk Osbern, says that he
endeared himself to all by his humility, but the life in the monastery
was not ascetic enough for him, so he withdrew to the monastery at Bath,
founded by King Edgar, of which he eventually became Abbot.
When he was thirty years old, St. Dunstan, who was then Archbishop of
Canterbury, called him to become bishop of Winchester in succession to
St. Ethelwold, which he did, but he continued to lead a very disciplined
life as befitted a religious. It is said that his austerities made his
physique so attenuated that, when he raised his hands at the altar, the
sunlight passed through them.
When Alphege had been at Winchester for ten years, King Ethelred chose
him to be his ambassador to King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, who was
wintering with his fleet at Southampton. At Andover, he confirmed Olaf,
who was already baptised, and Ethelred adopted him as his godson. The
treaty that was concluded between the two Kings made a peace that lasted
until Olaf's death. In 1006 Alphege was chosen to be Archbishop of
Canterbury after Elfric. When he returned from Rome having received the
pallium from Pope John XVIII, St. Alphege joined Wulfstan of York in
persuading Ethelred to hold a Council at Evesham, which drew up decrees
forbidding the selling of Christians to heathen masters as slaves, and
made recommendations against the marriage of clergy.
In the year 1009, a Danish fleet under Earl Thurkill landed at Sandwich,
and for the next three years, the country suffered the ravages of the
Danish army: the whole of East Anglia was overrun and Oxford and Bedford
sacked before it returned to Kent to besiege Canterbury in 1012. St.
Alphege refused to leave the city, daily offering the Holy Sacrifice and
giving Communion to the defenders, before they took their places on the
ramparts. After twenty days, between the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
and Michaelmas, the city fell to the Danes, betrayed by the Abbot
Aelmar, whose life St. Alphege had saved. The Cathedral was burned, the
City plundered and the Archbishop taken prisoner.
The Danish pirates took the Archbishop back to their ships, hoping to
receive a substantial ransom, but St. Alphege would not allow his people
to be further robbed. Seven months later he was still held in chains at
Greenwich, where the Danes had drawn up their long boats and made camp
for the Winter. On the Saturday in Easter Week, they were feasting on
the oxen and wine they had taken in their raids on the south coast, and,
having drunk deeply, they called for St. Alphege to be brought into the
hall. They began to demand yet again a ransom, and enfuriated by his
refusal, they pelted him with the bones and horns of the oxen they had
been eating. The Archbishop fell to the ground grievously injured, and
one of the Danes called Thrum, whom St. Alphege had converted, had pity
on him and ended his sufferings by striking the back of his head with an
axe.
On the following day the martyr's body was taken to St. Paul's by the
Bishops of London and Dorchester and buried in the Cathedral. Eleven
years later King Canute caused it to be translated, with great pomp,
down the Thames to Canterbury. There is a small church at Whitstable,
dedicated to St. Alphege, where the body was landed, and at Greenwich,
the magnificent church, rebuilt by Nicholas Hawksmoor, marks the spot
where he was murdered. His relics were enshrined by the High Altar at
Canterbury, and although Lanfranc contended that his death was not
strictly a martyrdom, Anselm maintained that he was a true martyr,
having shed his blood for Christian righteousness and charity.
Service to the Holy Hieromartyr Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury
http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/servaelp.htm
Icon of Saint Alphege
http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/alphege.htm
(
Baring-Gould1882,
Bowen,
Clarke,
Stanton,
Shortt).