Urith
Saint Urith | |
|---|---|
Roman Catholicism, Anglican Communion, Orthodox Church | |
| Major shrine | Chittlehampton, Devon |
| Feast | 8 July |
Urith (also known in
History
Urith is a fairly obscure figure. John Leland makes no mention of her, nor does Capgrave's Nova Legenda Angliae, and Nicholas Roscarock knew little of her apart from the fact of her existence. A book of her life, containing a record of her miracles, was at one time present in her shrine, and appears to be the basis of a rhyming poem in Latin now held by Trinity College, Cambridge. According to both this and William Camden, her legend was as follows:
Legend
Legend says Saint Urith was born at East Stowford
Veneration
Continuing the tradition, the pilgrimage has now been revived and villagers still celebrate the legend on her feast day, with a procession to the well.[3] The Trinity College hymn is sung by the congregation, the well is opened and water drawn from it and blessed.
Trinity College hymn
"Sing, Chittlehampton, sing!
Let all Devon's meadows ring with Holy Gladness for our Saint's renown,
And thou,
Blest maiden pray,
that we on this our day,
May bear our cross and win our heavenly crown".
Devonshire girls baptised Urith
- Hyeritha Trefusis, a daughter of Robert Edward Trefusis (1843–1930), vicar of Chittlehampton 1867–89[5] and later suffragan Bishop of Crediton. She became known to local parishioners as "Miss Urith".[6]
- Urith Pole, a daughter of Sir John Pole, 3rd Baronet (1649–1708), of Shute, Devon, and wife of Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (1670–1755), of Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. A stained-glass figure of St Urith survives in an early 16th-century window in Nettlecombe Church, with the Latin inscription Sancta Uritha".[7]
- Urith Shapcott (born 1617), wife of Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Baronet (1618–1695). She was the daughter of the lawyer Thomas Shapcott (1587–1670) of Shapcott in the parish of Knowstone, Devon, by his wife Urith Sotherin (d. 1661) of Cheshire.[8]
- Urith Chichester, a daughter of Sir Raleigh in Devon, who in 1591 married John Trevelyan of Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. It may have been in memory of this marriage that the existing stained-glass figure of a female saint (possibly St Sidwell) in a window of Nettlecombe Church was given the inscription Sancta Uritha.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Hoskins, W. G. "Devon", 1954
- ^ a b "Early Saints of the Ancient Kingdom of Dumnonia", Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries
- ^ a b c "About our School", Church of England Primary School, Chittlehampton
- ^ a b Chanter, J. F. "St Urith of Chittlehampon: A Study in an Obscure Devon Saint", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Tavistock, July 1914, p. 290
- ^ Andrews, p. 236.
- ^ Andrews, Rev. J. H. B., Chittlehampton, Transactions of the Devon Association, vol. 94, 1962, pp. 233–238, 241.
- ^ a b Andrews, p. 240.
- ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J. L., (ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 677.
Sources
- Farmer, David Hugh. (1978). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Withycombe, E. G. (1950) The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names; 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 272