Ethelburga of Lyminge, OSB Matron Abbess (AC)

Died c. 647. Saint Ethelburga was the daughter of King Saint Ethelbert of Kent, who had been converted to Christianity by his wife Bertha (Tata) and Saint Augustine of Canterbury. Ethelburga married the pagan King Edwin of Northumbria. She and her chaplain Saint Paulinus helped persuade Edwin to become a Christian in 627 and a saint. He encouraged the advancement of Christianity in his kingdom, but on his death, paganism returned, and Ethelburga and Paulinus were forced to return to her native Kent. There she founded an abbey at Lyminge and was its abbess until her death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney).