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Also known as: Audrey
Profile
Sister of Saint Jurmin. Relative of King Anna of East Anglia, England.
Princess. Widowed after three years marriage; rumor had it that the
marriage was never consummated, Etheldrda having taken a vow of perpetual
virginity. She married again for reasons of state. Her new husband knew of
her vow, but tired of living as brother and sister, and began to make
advances on her; she refused him. He tried to bribe the local bishop,
Saint Wilfrid of York, to release her from her vow. Wilfrid refused, and
helped Audrey escape to a promontory called Colbert's Head. A seven day
high tide, considered divine intervention, separated the two; the young
man gave up. The marriage was annulled, and Audrey took the veil. She
spent a year with her niece, Saint Ebbe the Elder. Founded the great abbey
of Ely, where she lived an austere life.
She died of an enormous and unsightly tumor on her neck. She gratefully
accepted this as Divine retribution for all the necklaces she had worn in
her early years.
In the Middle Ages, a festival called Saint Audrey's Fair, was held at Ely
on her feast day. The exceptional shoddiness of the merchandise,
especially the neckerchiefs, contributed to the English language the word
tawdry, a corruption of Saint Audrey.
Born: c.640
Died: 679
Patronage
Cambridge University, neck ailments, throat ailments, widows
Representation
woman with a crown holding a staff which is budding
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