The Hidden Bones of St Eanswythe

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Kent Online: Mark Hourahane Image

The Catholic Herald (UK) has the following story.


Bones discovered in the late 19th century are likely those of a seventh-century English saint, scientists have announced.

Carbon dating confirmed that human remains discovered hidden in a church wall in 1885 are from the seventh century, and are almost certainly the bones of St Eanswythe, one of the first English saints.

[...]

St Eanswythe was the granddaughter of King Ethelbert, the first Christian king in England, and the daughter of King Eadbald of Kent. She was born in approximately 614 AD.

Around the year 630, she founded a Benedictine Priory in the town of Folkestone, in southeastern Kent. She is believed to have been the abbess of this community and died of unknown causes between the ages of 17 and 22. Popular devotion to her grew up quickly in the surrounding area and her life was recorded by the monk and hagiographer Goscelin of Canterbury.

Following her death, the convent continued for some time before closing – according to some sources after being sacked by Viking raiders – and the site collapsed into the sea. In 1138, her remains were transferred to the newly-built priory in Folkestone that was named in her honor.

On November 15, 1535, the priory church was seized, and all relics found there were destroyed as part of the Dissolution of Monasteries during the Reformation.

St Eanswythe’s remains were hidden by monks during the Reformation period of Catholic persecution in England. The bones were discovered, hidden in a lead box that was concealed in a church wall, in June of 1885.

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