The holy Royal Martyr Edward, King of England.
Saint Edward was the son of Edgar, King of England, by his first wife Ethelfleda, and was baptized by Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, and counselled by him in his youth. Ethelfleda died not long after bearing Edward, and Edgar married Elfrida and had a second son by her, Ethelred, known to history as Ethelred the Unready, though “the Ill-advised” would be a better translation of his ancient Anglo-Saxon nickname. Edgar also had a daughter out of wedlock who like her half-brother Edward is among the Saints, Edith of Wilton.
When Edgar died on July 8, 972, Edward succeeded to his throne while still a young man, though not without being opposed by Queen Elfrida and her party who wished Ethelred to be made king instead; their opposition was overcome by Saint Dunstan who anointed Edward king.
At the time of Edward’s accession many nobleman and other powerful men of the world were robbing the monasteries of their properties; Saint Edward stood firm defending the cause of the Church against them, because of which they desired to replace him with Ethelred.
Nor did his stepmother Elfrida cease to favor her own son Ethelred. In the third year of his reign, Edward visited her at Corfe Castle, her residence, without his attendants, wishing to see his little brother Ethelred, whom he loved. Elfrida welcomed him as if she were delighted to see him, and as he was drinking from a cup she had bidden be brought to him, she had one of her servants stab him. He remounted his horse to return to his men, but soon fell dead from loss of blood, on March 18, 979.
Elfrida had his body dragged into the hut of a poor woman blind from birth whose livelihood the queen provided, to bury it there and conceal the crime, but a great light filled the hut and the blind woman received her sight. The church later built on this site, dedicated to Saint Edward, still stands.
On the morrow, when the queen learned of this miracle, she had the holy body taken and buried in a marsh some miles away, but in time God Himself made it known with a pillar of light. Saint Edward’s holy body was buried in the church of Wareham, but afterwards was translated to the convent in Shaftesbury to honor it more worthily. This translation of his holy relics to Shaftesbury was led by Saint Dunstan, and his half-sister Saint Edith was in attendance. His relics were found to be completely incorrupt.
The fame of his miracles brought his stepmother Elfrida to such deep remorse that she founded the convent of Wherwell and there ended her days in repentance. The convent of Shaftesbury was originally dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, but because of the many miracles worked through the centuries by Saint Edward at the resting-place of his holy remains, it later came to be popularly known also as Saint Edward’s.
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