The church-history of Brittany from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman conquest under Roman governours, Brittish kings, the English-Saxon heptarchy, the English-Saxon (and Danish) monarchy ... : from all which is evidently demonstrated that the present Roman Catholick religion hath from the beginning, without interruption or change been professed in this our island, &c. / by R.F., S. Cressy of the Holy Order of S. Benedict.

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Title
The church-history of Brittany from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman conquest under Roman governours, Brittish kings, the English-Saxon heptarchy, the English-Saxon (and Danish) monarchy ... : from all which is evidently demonstrated that the present Roman Catholick religion hath from the beginning, without interruption or change been professed in this our island, &c. / by R.F., S. Cressy of the Holy Order of S. Benedict.
Author
Cressy, Serenus, 1605-1674.
Publication
[Rouen :: For the author],
1668.
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Subject terms
Great Britain -- Church history -- 449-1066.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A34964.0001.001
Cite this Item
"The church-history of Brittany from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman conquest under Roman governours, Brittish kings, the English-Saxon heptarchy, the English-Saxon (and Danish) monarchy ... : from all which is evidently demonstrated that the present Roman Catholick religion hath from the beginning, without interruption or change been professed in this our island, &c. / by R.F., S. Cressy of the Holy Order of S. Benedict." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A34964.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 12, 2025.

Pages

XVIII. CHAP.* 1.1

1. The death of Saint Trumwin Bishop of the Picts.

2. Also of S. Baru a Hermite.

3. &c. And of S. Hildelida Abbesse.

1. IN the year of Grace seaven hundred is recorded the death of S. Trumwin B. of the Picts:* 1.2 who in the revolt of that Nation from the Northumbers was driven from thēce & retired to the Monastery of Religious Virgins at Streneshalck, where he lived fifteen years with some few companions in Monasticall rigour, both to the good of his own soule, and the benefit of many other, and was with due honour buried there in the Church of S. Peter. Many centuries of years after, his Sacred Body was found and translated to a more honourable place, together with the Bodies of severall other Saints reposing there Concerning which William of Malmsbury thus writes,* 1.3 At Streneshalck, now called Whitby, in the Qure of the Church belonging t Religious Virgins, which is famous for the Monu∣ments of Holy Bishops and glorious Kings, the in∣dustry of certain devout men hath, as it were, re∣stored to life the slumbring ashes of severall per∣sons: For not long since there were found and trans∣lated to a more eminent place the Bodies of many Saints, particularly of S. Trumwin Bishop of the Picts,* 1.4 &c. His name is commemorated a∣mong Saints in our Martyrologe on the tenth of February.

2. The same year likewise is assigned to the death of S. Baruck a Hermite, whose memory is celebrated in the Province of the Silures and region of Glamorgan. He lyes buried in the Isle of Barry, which took its name from him: Concerning which we read this testimony in Camden,* 1.5 The most outward Isle there is called Barry, from Baruck a Holy man there buried: Who as he gave his Name to the Island, so did the Island give a Sirname to the Lords of it: For the Noble family of the Viscounts of Barry in Ireland received their originall from thence. In our Martyrologe this Holy Heremit Baruck is said to have sprung from the Noble Blood of the Brittains, and that en∣tring into a solitary strict course of life, he at this time attained to a life immortall.

3. We will conclude this year, which con∣cludes the seaventh Century of our History, with celebrating the Memory of S. Hildeli∣da, who in the Monastery of Berking built by S. Erconwald for his Sister Edilburga,* 1.6 as Saint Beda testifies, succeeded her in the Office of Ab∣besse, and for the space of twenty four years gover∣ned the same in a constant observance of Regular Disciplin, withall carefully providing all things necessary for the subsistence of the Religious Vir∣gins.

Page 515

She by reason of the streitnes of the place in which the Monastery was built,* 1.7 thought fitt to take up the Bodies of severall Holy persons of both Sexes there buried, and to translate them all to one place in the Church dedicated to our Blessed Lady: At which time Almighty God gave testi∣mony to their Sanctity by a glorious light from heaven shining on them, by a wonderful de∣lightful odour, and many other miraculous signs, as may be read in the Book relating the same, out of which wee have excerpted these particulars.

* 1.84. The Authour of her Life in Capgrave affirms that this Holy Abbesse S. Hildelida was replenished with Divine Charity, insomuch as both by instructions and actions she became a pat∣tern and Teacher of all vertues in watchings, ab∣stinence, benignity, clemency, and every other ver∣tue becoming her profession: She was carefull that her Religious Subiects should want nothing ne∣cessary for their soules or bodies, so shewing her∣self unblameable both before God and men.

* 1.95. And as in her life she was a singular Example of Piety to others, so after her Death, which is consigned to the two and twentieth of December in this year, She de∣served veneration and praise from all po∣sterity: For thus testifies the same Authour, The Blessed Virgin Hildelitha is glorified by many glorious Saints:* 1.10 For her Memory is celebrated not only by S. Dunstan, S. Ethelwold and S. Elphe∣gus, but her Sanctity is also renouned by many Ancient Saints before them. To her did Saint Aldelm as yet an Abbot dedicate his Book inscribed Of Virginity, in the preface of which he highly exalts her vertues and piety.

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