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There
was once a princess call Mildred who lived just over 300 years ago in
Shropshire with her father King Merewald and her mother Queen
Erinenburga. One day her cousin, Egbert, let his friend, Theinor, kill
the Queen's two little brothers so they wouldn't be kings when they grew
up, and he might be. Afterwards Egbert was sorry and confessed to the
Archbishop of Canterbury , who said that he must do whatever Queen
Erinenburga said.
The Queen, and Mildred,
visited him, and told him to build an abbey on land in his kingdom, on the
Isle of ThaIlet, where the nuns could pray for his soul, and Mildred would
be the Abbess. She was sent to be educated at a convent at Chelles near
Paris while the building work was done, and eventually she made the journey
home with her friend Dorothy. They sailed across the Channel from Belgium to
Ebbsfleet (where St.Augustine is said to have landed in 597) where her
mother, the Queen, came to meet her. Mildred was so excited that she
couldn't wait for the boat to land, and jumped off onto the rocks and ran to
her mother. The rock that she jumped on is still called St. Mildred's rock!
Mildred became Abbess at
Minster-in- Thanet and was well known for her calm nature and her generosity
to the poor , especially to widows and children. Once she went to a meeting
of Bishops, Abbots and Abbesses at Bapchild near Sittingbourne to discuss
the state of Christianity in Kent, and on her way home by boat, along the
north coast of Kent the strong wind kept her from landing where she wanted
to. Eventually she managed to steer the boat towards a bay near Westgate,
but the wind blew her boat onto the rocks, and she was tipped into the sea.
Mildred swam to the shore and was safe, and ever since the place has been
called St. Mildred's Bay. Perhaps you have been there. If you look on a map
of the Isle of
Thanet, you will
see marked at Minster, “Abbey, rems (remains) of”, this is where St. Mildred
lived, worked and prayed.
After her death, many
people made a pilgrimage to her tomb. Her name means 'mild power' and her
special Feast Day is on July 13th.
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