St. Audrey (Etheldreda) (P 003) Tile

St. Audrey (or Etheldreda; c. 636-679) is one of the most popular mediaeval English saints in Britain. She was born an East Anglian princess, became Queen of Northumbria, and died a nun. Widowed once and married twice for reasons of State, nevertheless, she remained a virgin. When her second husband began to press for his marital rights, she sought the counsel of St. Wilfred, Archbishop of York, who advised her to become a nun and abetted her vocation. She made her vows at Coldingham in 672. In the ensuing years, she founded a great double monastery for both men and women at Ely, Cambridgeshire, over which she presided as abbess. In little more than four centuries, in 1109, the site of her abbey at Ely would be constituted a Cathedral. She died of a painful throat ailment in 679. + Here, St. Audrey (Etheldreda) is depicted as abbess, having laid aside her royal robe with its ermine lining, sceptre, and secular crown which appear on the floor at her feet (not visible in this detail). She now wears a rayed crown tipped with stylised flowers. In her right hand, she holds a book; in her left, her abbess’s crosier with its sudarium or ‘sweat cloth’ used to prevent discoloration of the staff’s metal shaft by a sweaty palm. Ordinarily, she holds a model of Ely Cathedral and a budding rod or lily of purity. + On a side note… Our word ‘tawdry’ which means ‘gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance’ is a corruption of the name ‘St. Audrey’. Tawdries or cheap ribbons and ladies’ neckties in silk or lace were once sold at the annual fair held in her honour at Ely. St. Audrey’s connection with neckwear arose from the unsightly neck tumour from which she died. She viewed the ailment as just punishment for her love of fine jewellery in her youth. + Feast: June 23 + Image Credit (P 003): Detail of an antique image of S[t].Etheldreda.A[bbess].V[irgin]. from a late 19th-century devotional print in chromoxylography, originally published by Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg, New York, and Cincinnati. From the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.