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For other uses, see Ælfheah.
Saint Alphege

The painted carving of the martyrdom of Saint Alphege, in Canterbury Cathedral
Bishop and Martyr
Born 954, Weston, Somerset, England
Died April 19, 1012, Greenwich, Kent, England
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion
Canonized 1078, Rome by Pope Gregory VII
Major shrine Canterbury Cathedral
Feast April 19
Attributes Archbishop holding an axe
Patronage Greenwich; Solihull; kidnap victims
Saints Portal
Saint Alphege
Archbishop of Canterbury
Consecration 1006
Enthroned unknown
Ended April 19, 1012
Predecessor Ælfric of Abingdon
Successor Lyfing
Birth name Ælfheah
Born 954
Died April 19, 1012
Buried Canterbury Cathedral

Saint Alphege (also spelt "Alfege") is the commonly used name for Ælfheah (954 – April 19, 1012), an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and subsequent Archbishop of Canterbury. Noble-born, he became an anchorite before being elected abbot of Bath Abbey. His piety and sanctity led to his promotion to the episcopate, and eventually becoming archbishop. Alphege was responsible for furthering the cult of Saint Dunstan and he also encouraged learning. In 1011 St Alphege was captured by Viking raiders, and after refusing to be ransomed, was murdered in 1012. Later Alphege was regarded as a saint, and it was to Saint Alphege that Saint Thomas Becket prayed to just before he was slain.

Contents

Life

St Alphege was born in Weston in Somerset, to a noble family, but in early life became a monk. He first entered the monastery of Deerhurst, but then he moved to Bath, where he became an anchorite. Eventually he was named abbot of Bath Abbey, noted for his piety and austerity.[1] Dunstan's influence probably secured his election in 984 to the Bishopric of Winchester.[2] While bishop of Winchester, he was largely responsible for the building of a large organ that was audible over a mile away from the cathedral and said to require more than twenty-four men to operate. He also built and enlarged the city's churches.[3] After a Viking raid in 994, a peace treaty was arranged with Olaf Tryggvason in which not only danegeld was paid to Olaf, but Olaf was converted to Christianity.[4] In the treaty, Olaf also agreed to not raid or fight the English ever again.[5] There are indications that Alphege had a hand in negotiating the treaty, and it is certain that it was Alphege that confirmed Olaf in his new faith.[6]

In 1006, he succeeded Aelfric as Archbishop of Canterbury.[7][8] While at Canterbury, he furthered the cult of Saint Dunstan, as well as introducing new practices into the liturgy. He also brought Saint Swithun's head to Canterbury with him as a relic.[6] It was Alphege who sent Ælfric of Eynsham to Cerne Abbey to be in charge of the monastic school there.[9] Alphege was present at the council of May 1008 where Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York preached his sermon Sermo Lupi ad Anglos or The Sermon of the Wolf to the English, which castigated the English for their moral failings and blamed those failings for the tribulations that were afflicting the country.[10]

In 1011 the Danes once more raided into England, and from September 8 to September 29 they laid siege to Canterbury. The invaders eventually sacked the city through the treachery of a man named Ælfmaer, who had once been saved by Alphege.[11] During the sack, Alphege was captured and kept in captivity for seven months.[12] Captured along with him were Godwine, Bishop of Rochester, Leofrun, abbess of St Mildrith's, and the king's reeve Ælfweard. Ælfmaer, abbot of St Augustine's Abbey managed to escape.[11] Alphege refused to allow a ransom to be paid, and he was murdered at Greenwich, Kent[12] (now London), reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church there, on April 19, 1012.[7][8]

Death

An account of Alphege's death appears in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

. . . for there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.[13]

St Alphege was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to die violently.[14] Thorkell the Tall is alleged in a contemporary report to have been present and to have tried to bribe the mob with all his belongings and loot, except his ship, to spare Alphege, but the Anglo Saxon Chronicle does not mention his presence.[15] Some sources record the final blow, with the back of an axe, as being dealt by one Thrum as an act of kindness by a Christian convert. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral,[16] but his body was removed by King Canute to Canterbury, with great ceremony in 1023.[17][18] After Alphege's death, Thorkell the Tall was appalled at the brutality of his fellow raiders and switched sides to the English king Ethelred the Unready.[16][19]

Veneration

St Alphege was canonized in the year 1078 by Pope Gregory VII with a feast day of April 19.[20] Along with Augustine of Canterbury, Alphege was the only pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury who Lanfranc kept on the calendar of saints at Canterbury.[21] His shrine, which was neglected by Lanfranc, was rebuilt and expanded under St Anselm of Canterbury in the early part of the twelfth century.[22] After the fire in Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, Alphege's remains were placed, along with Saint Dunstan, around the high altar, where Saint Thomas Becket is said to have commended his life into St Alphege's care just before he was martyred.[6] An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of Canterbury Cathedral marks the place where the medieval shrine is believed to have stood.[20] A Life of St. Alphege in prose—which survives—and verse were written by a Canterbury monk named Osborn at the request of Lanfranc.[6]

A new Catholic church in Bath in 1929 was dedicated to Our Lady and St Alphege, in recognition of the fact that it was the nearest to the saint's birthplace. This "little gem" is by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, in Bath stone, closely following the model of the Roman basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.[23]

See also

  • The Incorruptibles, a list of Catholic saints and recognised holy persons whose bodies are reported to be incorrupt; that is, the bodies did not undergo any major decay after their burial and hence are considered to be under some form of divine protection.

References

  1. ^ Knowles, David; London, Vera C. M.; Brooke, Christopher (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216, Second Edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 28, 241. ISBN 0-521-80452-3. 
  2. ^ Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 223. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  3. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 304-305
  4. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 378
  5. ^ Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 47
  6. ^ a b c d Leyser, Henrietta "Ælfheah (d. 1012)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; Online Edition, October 2006 accessed November 7, 2007
  7. ^ a b Walsh, Michael A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West London: Burns & Oats 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X p. 28
  8. ^ a b Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 214. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  9. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 458
  10. ^ Fletcher, Richard Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0-19-516136-X p. 94
  11. ^ a b Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 106-107
  12. ^ a b Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 301
  13. ^ Anglo Saxon Chronicle for 1012 accessed on November 4, 2007
  14. ^ Fletcher, Richard Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0-19-516136-X p. 78
  15. ^ Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 109-110
  16. ^ a b O'Brien, Harriet Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 75-76
  17. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 309-310
  18. ^ O'Brien, Harriet Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 129-130
  19. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 383
  20. ^ a b Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints Second Edition Doubleday: New York 2003 ISBN 0-385-13594-7 p. 29-30
  21. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 672
  22. ^ Brooke, Rosalind and Christopher Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1000-1300 New York: Barnes & Noble Books (reprint) 1996 ISBN 0-76070-093-1 p. 40
  23. ^ Christopher Martin, A Glimpse of Heaven: Catholic churches of England and Wales, English Heritage, 2006: pp 183-186

External links

"St. Elphege" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia..

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Æthelwold		 Bishop of Winchester
984–1006		 Succeeded by
Cenwulf of Winchester
Preceded by
Ælfric of Abingdon		 Archbishop of Canterbury
1006–1012		 Succeeded by
Lyfing
v • d • e
List of Archbishops of Canterbury
pre-Reformation

Augustine · Laurentius · Mellitus · Justus · Honorius · Deusdedit · Wighard · Theodore · Bertwald · Tatwin · Nothelm · Cuthbert · Bregwin · Jaenbert · Æthelhard · Wulfred · Feologild · Ceolnoth · Ethelred · Plegmund · Athelm · Wulfhelm · Oda · Aelfsige · Birthelm · Dunstan · Æthelgar · Sigeric · Ælfric · Alphege · Lyfing · Aethelnoth · Edsige · Robert of Jumièges · Stigand · Lanfranc · Anselm · Ralph d'Escures · William de Corbeil · Theobald · Thomas Becket · Richard · Baldwin · Reginald Fitz Jocelin · Hubert Walter · John de Gray · Stephen Langton · Walter d'Eynsham · Richard le Grant · Ralph Neville · John of Sittingbourne · John Blund · Edmund Rich · Boniface · William Chillenden · Robert Kilwardby · Robert Burnell · John Peckham · Robert Winchelsey · Thomas Cobham · Walter Reynolds · Simon Mepeham · John de Stratford · John de Ufford · Thomas Bradwardine · Simon Islip · William Edington · Simon Langham · William Whittlesey · Simon Sudbury · William Courtenay · Thomas Arundel · Roger Walden · Thomas Arundel · Henry Chichele · John Stafford · John Kemp · Thomas Bourchier · John Morton · Thomas Langton · Henry Deane · William Warham · Thomas Cranmer · Reginald Pole
post-Reformation (Anglican)
Persondata
NAME Alphege
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ælfheah
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Winchester; Archbishop of Canterbury; Saint
DATE OF BIRTH 954
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1012
PLACE OF DEATH Greenwich, Kent
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