Difference between revisions of "Saint Aelfheah" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
(New page: {{started}} {{Infobox Archbishop of Canterbury| | Full name = Alphege| | image = center|220px| | caption = Alphege in ''The Little Lives of the Saints'', illustrated...)
 
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{started}}
 
{{started}}
−
 
+
{{Infobox Saint
−
{{Infobox Archbishop of Canterbury|
+
| name = Alphage (Born: Ælfheah)
−
| Full name = Alphege|
+
| image = Alphege.jpg
−
| image = [[Image:Alphege.jpg|center|220px|]]
+
| imagesize = 200px
 
| caption = Alphege in ''The Little Lives of the Saints'', illustrated by Charles Robinson in 1904.
 
| caption = Alphege in ''The Little Lives of the Saints'', illustrated by Charles Robinson in 1904.
−
| birth_name = Ælfheah
+
| titles = Martyr
−
| began = 1006
 
−
| term_end = April 19, 1012
 
−
| predecessor = [[Ælfric of Abingdon]]
 
−
| successor =  [[Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury|Lyfing]]
 
−
| birth_date = 954|birth place=[[Weston, Somerset]]
 
−
| death_date = April 19, 1012|death place=[[Greenwich]], [[Kent]]
 
−
| tomb = Canterbury}}
 
−
{{Infobox Saint Archbishop of Canterbury
 
 
|feast_day=19 April
 
|feast_day=19 April
 
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholicism]]; [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]
 
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholicism]]; [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]
−
|titles=
+
|birth_date=954
 +
|death_date= April 19, 1012 (martyred)
 
|beatified_date=
 
|beatified_date=
 
|beatified_place=
 
|beatified_place=
 
|beatified_by=
 
|beatified_by=
−
|canonized_date=[[1078]]
+
|canonized_date=1078
 
|canonized_place=
 
|canonized_place=
 
|canonized_by=[[Pope Gregory VII]]
 
|canonized_by=[[Pope Gregory VII]]
Line 30: Line 23:
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{otheruses3| Ælfheah}}
+
'''Saint Alphege''' is the Latinate name of '''Ælfheah''' (954–19 April, 1012), the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and, later, [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].  
−
 
 
−
'''Saint Alphege''' is the commonly used name for '''Ælfheah''' ([[954]] – [[19 April]] [[1012]]), the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] [[Bishop of Winchester]] and, later, [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].
 
  
 
==Life==
 
==Life==
−
Alphege was born in [[Weston, Somerset|Weston]] in [[Somerset]], of a noble family, but in early life gave up everything to devote himself to his faith. Having assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of [[Deerhurst]], he passed thence to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], where he became an anchorite and ultimately [[abbot]] of the [[Bath Abbey|abbey]] there, distinguishing himself by his piety and the austerity of his life.<ref name=Knowles>Knowles ''Heads of Religious Houses'' p. 28</ref> In [[984]], he was appointed, through [[Dunstan]]'s influence, to the [[Bishop of Winchester|Bishopric of Winchester]]<ref name=Powicke257>Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 257</ref> and, in [[1006]], he succeeded [[Aelfric]] as Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=Powicke210>Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 210</ref><ref name=Saints>Walsh ''A New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 28</ref>
+
Alphege was born in Weston in [[Somerset]], of a noble family, but in early life gave up everything to devote himself to his faith. Having assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of Deerhurst, he passed thence to Bath, where he became an [[anchorite]] and ultimately [[abbot]] of the abbey there, distinguishing himself by his piety and the austerity of his life.<ref name=Knowles>Knowles, ''Heads of Religious Houses'', 28.</ref> In 984, he was appointed, through [[Dunstan]]'s influence, to the [[Bishop of Winchester|Bishopric of Winchester]]<ref name=Powicke257>Powicke, ''Handbook of British Chronology'', 257.</ref> and, in 1006, he succeeded [[Aelfric]] as Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=Powicke210>Powicke, ''Handbook of British Chronology'', 210.</ref><ref name=Saints>Walsh, ''A New Dictionary of Saints'', 28.</ref>
  
−
At the sack of Canterbury by the [[Viking|Danes]] in [[1011]], Alphege was captured and kept in prison for seven months. Refusing to allow a ransom to be paid, he was murdered at [[Greenwich]], [[Kent]] (now [[London]]), reputedly on the site of [[St Alfege's Church, Greenwich|St Alfege's Church]] there, on 19 April 1012.<ref name=Saints/><ref name=Powicke210/>
+
At the sack of Canterbury by the [[Viking|Danes]] in 1011, Alphege was captured and kept in prison for seven months. Refusing to allow a ransom to be paid, he was murdered at [[Greenwich]], [[Kent]] (now [[London]]), reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church there, on April 19th, 1012.<ref name=Saints/><ref name=Powicke210/>
  
−
==Death==
 
 
[[Image:Painted carving of St Alphege in Canterbury Cathedral.jpg|The painted carving of the martyrdom of Saint Alphege, in [[Canterbury Cathedral]].|thumb|left]]
 
[[Image:Painted carving of St Alphege in Canterbury Cathedral.jpg|The painted carving of the martyrdom of Saint Alphege, in [[Canterbury Cathedral]].|thumb|left]]
−
An account of his death appears in The [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]: <blockquote>. . . for there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.</blockquote>  
+
An account of his death appears in The [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]:  
 +
:For there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.</blockquote>  
 +
 
 +
Some sources record the final blow, with the back of an axe, being dealt by one ''Thrum'' as an act of kindness by a Christian convert.
 +
 
 +
==Death and Veneration==
 +
He was buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], whence his body was removed by [[Canute the Great|King Canute]] to [[Canterbury]], with all the ceremony of a great act of state, in 1023.
  
−
Some sources record the final blow, with the back of an axe, being dealt by one ''Thrum'' as an act of kindness by a Christian convert. He was buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], whence his body was removed by [[Canute the Great|King Canute]] to [[Canterbury]], with all the ceremony of a great act of state, in [[1023]].  
+
Alphege was canonised in 1078. An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] marks the place where the medieval [[shrine]] is believed to have stood.  
  
−
==Veneration==
+
His feast day is 19 April.
−
Alphege was canonised in [[1078]]. An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] marks the place where the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[shrine]] is believed to have stood. His feast day is 19 April.
 
  
−
Church dedications include: St Alphege the Martyr in Canterbury (now used as an urban studies centre), St Alfege's Church, Greenwich, the twin churches of St Alphege Whitstable and St Alphege Seasalter (chancel only surviving) and St Alphege in [[Solihull]], the main town of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Solihull]].  There is also an unexpectedly charming 1930s Catholic church of St Alphege, closely modelled on a Roman basilica, at Oldfield Park, Bath.
+
Church dedications include: St Alphege the Martyr in Canterbury (now used as an urban studies centre), St Alfege's Church, Greenwich, the twin churches of St Alphege Whitstable and St Alphege Seasalter (chancel only surviving) and St Alphege in Solihull, the main town of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull.  There is also an unexpectedly charming 1930s Catholic church of St Alphege, closely modelled on a Roman basilica, at Oldfield Park, Bath.
  
 
There is also an altar dedicated to St Alphege in [[Bath Abbey]] with a fine modern frontal designed by [[Jane Lemon]]
 
There is also an altar dedicated to St Alphege in [[Bath Abbey]] with a fine modern frontal designed by [[Jane Lemon]]
  
−
==Records==
+
==Biographical Records==
−
''Lives of St. Alphege'' in prose&mdash;which survives&mdash;and in verse were written by command of [[Lanfranc]] by the Canterbury monk, [[Osborn]] (d. c. [[1090]]), who says that his account of the solemn translation to Canterbury in 1023 was received from the dean, Godric, one of Alphege's own scholars.  
+
''Lives of St. Alphege'' in prose&mdash;which survives&mdash;and in verse were written by command of [[Lanfranc]] by the Canterbury monk, [[Osborn]] (died ca. 1090), who says that his account of the solemn translation to Canterbury in 1023 was received from the dean, Godric, one of Alphege's own scholars.  
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
 
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
−
 
−
==See also==
 
−
 
−
[[List of Archbishops of Canterbury]]
 
−
 
−
[[List of bishops of Winchester]]
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
Line 68: Line 57:
 
* [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/aelfheah.html Early British Kingdoms: St. Aelfheah of Canterbury]
 
* [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/aelfheah.html Early British Kingdoms: St. Aelfheah of Canterbury]
 
* [http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/OEA/pdf/aelfheah.pdf The Martyrdom of Ælfheah, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]
 
* [http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/OEA/pdf/aelfheah.pdf The Martyrdom of Ælfheah, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]
−
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05394a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: St Alphege]
+
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume3.htm#Alphage Saint Alphage in ''The Golden Legend'']
 
* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=11603 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Ælfheah]
 
* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=11603 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Ælfheah]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
 
 
* {{1911|article=Alphege, St.|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Alphege}}
 
* {{1911|article=Alphege, St.|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Alphege}}
−
* [[David Knowles|Knowles, David]]; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. ''The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940-1216'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1972 ISBN 0-521-08367-2
+
* Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine). ''The Lives of the Saints''. With introduction and additional Lives of English martyrs, Cornish, Scottish, and Welsh saints, and a full index to the entire work. Volume I. Edinburgh : J. Grant, 1914.
−
* [[Maurice Powicke|Powicke, F. Maurice]] and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
+
* Butler, Alban. ''Lives of the Saints''. Edited, revised, and supplemented by Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater. Palm Publishers, 1956. The original version is accessible online at: [http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/SEBASTN.htm the Global Catholic Network].
−
* Walsh, Michael ''A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West'' London: Burns & Oats 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X
+
* Farmer, David Hugh. ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints''. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0192800582.
 +
* Knowles, David; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. ''The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales (940-1216)''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-521-08367-2.
 +
* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' (2nd edition). London: Royal Historical Society, 1961.
 +
* Ryan, Patrick. "Saint Elphege" in [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05394a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia]. 1909.
 +
* Walsh, Michael. ''A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West''. London: Burns & Oats, 2007. ISBN 0-8601-2438-X.
 +
<br>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
<br>
  
 
{{start box}}
 
{{start box}}

Revision as of 22:59, 15 September 2007

Alphage (Born: Ælfheah)
Alphege.jpg

Alphege in The Little Lives of the Saints, illustrated by Charles Robinson in 1904.
Martyr
Born 954
Died April 19, 1012 (martyred)
Venerated in Roman Catholicism; Anglican Communion
Canonized 1078

by Pope Gregory VII

Feast 19 April
Attributes Archbishop holding an axe
Patronage Greenwich; Solihull; kidnap victims

Saint Alphege is the Latinate name of Ælfheah (954–19 April, 1012), the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and, later, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Life

Alphege was born in Weston in Somerset, of a noble family, but in early life gave up everything to devote himself to his faith. Having assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of Deerhurst, he passed thence to Bath, where he became an anchorite and ultimately abbot of the abbey there, distinguishing himself by his piety and the austerity of his life.[1] In 984, he was appointed, through Dunstan's influence, to the Bishopric of Winchester[2] and, in 1006, he succeeded Aelfric as Archbishop of Canterbury.[3][4]

At the sack of Canterbury by the Danes in 1011, Alphege was captured and kept in prison for seven months. Refusing to allow a ransom to be paid, he was murdered at Greenwich, Kent (now London), reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church there, on April 19th, 1012.[4][3]

The painted carving of the martyrdom of Saint Alphege, in Canterbury Cathedral.

An account of his death appears in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

For there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.

Some sources record the final blow, with the back of an axe, being dealt by one Thrum as an act of kindness by a Christian convert.

Death and Veneration

He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, whence his body was removed by King Canute to Canterbury, with all the ceremony of a great act of state, in 1023.

Alphege was canonised in 1078. An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of Canterbury Cathedral marks the place where the medieval shrine is believed to have stood.

His feast day is 19 April.

Church dedications include: St Alphege the Martyr in Canterbury (now used as an urban studies centre), St Alfege's Church, Greenwich, the twin churches of St Alphege Whitstable and St Alphege Seasalter (chancel only surviving) and St Alphege in Solihull, the main town of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. There is also an unexpectedly charming 1930s Catholic church of St Alphege, closely modelled on a Roman basilica, at Oldfield Park, Bath.

There is also an altar dedicated to St Alphege in Bath Abbey with a fine modern frontal designed by Jane Lemon

Biographical Records

Lives of St. Alphege in prose—which survives—and in verse were written by command of Lanfranc by the Canterbury monk, Osborn (died ca. 1090), who says that his account of the solemn translation to Canterbury in 1023 was received from the dean, Godric, one of Alphege's own scholars.

Notes

  1. ↑ Knowles, Heads of Religious Houses, 28.
  2. ↑ Powicke, Handbook of British Chronology, 257.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Powicke, Handbook of British Chronology, 210.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Walsh, A New Dictionary of Saints, 28.

External links

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine). The Lives of the Saints. With introduction and additional Lives of English martyrs, Cornish, Scottish, and Welsh saints, and a full index to the entire work. Volume I. Edinburgh : J. Grant, 1914.
  • Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints. Edited, revised, and supplemented by Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater. Palm Publishers, 1956. The original version is accessible online at: the Global Catholic Network.
  • Farmer, David Hugh. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0192800582.
  • Knowles, David; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales (940-1216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-521-08367-2.
  • Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde. Handbook of British Chronology (2nd edition). London: Royal Historical Society, 1961.
  • Ryan, Patrick. "Saint Elphege" in The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1909.
  • Walsh, Michael. A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oats, 2007. ISBN 0-8601-2438-X.


 

Religious titles
Preceded by:
Æthelwold 		Bishop of Winchester
984–1006 		Succeeded by:
Cenwulf of Winchester
Preceded by:
Ælfric of Abingdon 		Archbishop of Canterbury
1006–1012 		Succeeded by:
Lyfing


Persondata
NAME Alphege
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ælfheah
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Winchester, Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint
DATE OF BIRTH 954
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1012
PLACE OF DEATH Greenwitch, Kent

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Saint_Aelfheah&oldid=458986

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki