Saint Etheldreda (c.636-679) Feast Day 17th October.

Saint Etheldreda. or Audrey. was a princess. Her father was Anna, King of East Anglia.

Saint Etheldreda wanted her to become a nun but her father insisted she married Prince Tondbert in 652. The prince was persuaded to allow Saint Etheldeda to respect her vow of perpetual virginity. He died 3 years after they were married.

Saint Etheldreda was then asked to marry Ecgfrith of Northumbria, who was a young teenager,for political reasons, in 660. When Ecgfrith became king in 670 she told her wish to become a nun. One account relates that he initially agreed to letting her remain a virgin but then appealed to Wilfrid, bishop of York, to enforce his marital rights.

The final outcome was that Saint Etheldreda, with 2 nuns, fled to the Isle of Ely.
She arrived at a headland - Colbert’ Head, jutting into the sea. A high tide, which lasted for 7 days persuaded the king to give up the idea of compelling her to come back. He returned home realizing there was a power greater than his at work.

In 673 Saint Ethedreda built a large double monastery. Wilfred never lost sight of her - he made her abbess and gave the veil to her first nuns. She ruled the monastery for 7 years setting a great example of piety and abstinence and other monastic virtues. She lived a life of austerity - wearing only coarse garments - denied herself a hot bath. She had a bath at the four great festivals - using the same bath already served by the other nuns.

She died of quinsy - a throat infection on 23rd of June 679. She is the patron saint for throat sufferers…
wikipedia
The Church’s Year Charles Alexander
EBK: St. Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely