Æbbe the Younger
Saint Æbbe of Coldingham | |
|---|---|
Coldingham Monastery, Scotland | |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | 2 April |
Saint Æbbe of Coldingham (also Ebbe, Aebbe, Abb), also known as Æbbe the Younger, (died 2 April 870) was an Abbess of Coldingham Priory in south-east Scotland.[1]
Like many of her fellow female saints of
Anglo-Saxon England, little is known about her life.[2] She presided over the Benedictine Abbey at Coldingham.[3]
She is best known for an act of self-mutilation to avoid rape by Viking invaders: according to a thirteenth-century chronicle, she took a razor and cut off her nose in front of the nuns, who followed her example.[4] Their appearance so disgusted the invaders that the women were saved from rape but not from death, as the Danes soon returned and set fire to the convent, killing Æbbe and her entire community.[5]
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-959660-7.
- . Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- ^ Barret, OSB, Michael. "Saint Ebba, Virgin and Abbess, and her Companions, Martyrs, A.D. 870". The Calendar of Scottish Saints, 1919
- ISBN 9780801430381. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- JSTOR 3174773.
External links