Æthelthryth
Abbess of Ely
Feast: 23 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Etheldreda, daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, was married twice for political reasons but kept her virginity for God. Her second husband, King Egfrid of Northumbria, at last demanded his marital rights; she withdrew to the convent of Coldingham under St Ebba.
In danger of being carried off, she fled south with two women to her own estate at Ely, where she founded Ely Minster. She died there of plague, as she had foretold, on 23 June 679.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A queen who kept herself for God and founded Ely.
Connected on this site
- Jurmin Saint Brother or sister
- Seaxburh of Ely Saint Brother or sister“She was a daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia, and her siblings were Wendreda and Seaxburh of Ely, both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys.” — Wikipedia
- Sæthryth Saint Brother or sister
- Wihtburh Saint Brother or sister
- Æthelburh of Faremoutiers Saint Brother or sister
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Etheldreda
- Wikidata Q261097 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Æthelthryth (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.