Here is an article I wrote some time ago about the hand of St Etheldreda.
Cardinal Newman wrote, “to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” If you live in England, as we do, it is almost impossible not to be deep in history. So, for instance, when I go to the bank in our local town I walk past a building with a plaque on the outside wall. The plaque tells me that King Alfred the Great had a hunting lodge stood on that site. Across the road stands a Tudor town hall and a medieval parish church. The evidence of ecclesiastical history is abundant and vivid here. When you look at local maps you find the countryside is dotted with the ruins of old convents and monasteries. Everywhere “the bare ruined choirs” stand as a stark testimony to the ravages of the Reformation. Read the rest here…
Just had to mention – my eccentric, staunch Anglican, English teacher named her daughter Etheldreda. The poor girl insisted on being called Jane!
Every now and then EWTN repeats a wonderful English programme about St Ethelreda’s Church and the story of St Ethelreda is featured.For Susan C. The name to be dreaded in our family is Aiglia, which doesn’t go down too well in Australia; ‘ugly’ is the usual result. lol It is usually changed to Litsa
I posted a comment previously about how sad and angry I was when I toured Britain some years ago and saw all the ruins of once great Catholic Churches and monasteries.I was particularly upset at Glastonbury to see this once thriving pilgrimage site in ruins.What Henry did was despicable. He claimed to be Catholic in faith yet destroyed the monasteries to give money to his aristocratic supporters. It is a crime, the full extent of which is only now becoming apparrent, due to the Protestant hold on the writing of English history until recently.Henry had his close, personal friends St John Fisher and St Thomas More murdered (executed) simply because they would not say he was head of the Church.Henry was a vile man and the effects of the English Reformation are being felt now in what has become one of the most secular countries in Europe.