41. SAINT EBBA, ABBESS OF COLDINGHAM
Our holy Mother Ebba was the daughter of King Ethelfrith of Northumbria, sister of the Martyr-King Oswald and half-sister of King Oswy. On her father's death in 616, when the Martyr-King Edwin conquered Northumbria, she fled to Scotland with her brother. King Ednan of the Scots offered to marry her, but she decided instead to be tonsured as a nun by St. Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne. Then her brother King Oswy helped her to found a convent in Durham, on the river Derwent, at a place that is still called Ebchester in her honour. Later she became abbess of a double monastery at Coldingham, Berwickshire, where two distinct communities, one for men and one for women, lived. Her reputation for sanctity spread far and wide, and in 672, when St. Aethelthryth, Ebbás niece, separated from her husband, King Edfrith, she became a nun under Ebba.
St. Ebba was famous for her wisdom. Once King Egfrith visited the monastery with his second wife Ermenburga, who was then seized with a sudden illness. St. Ebba interpreted this as punishment for the imprisonment of St. Wilfrid by the king, his refusal to accept the decision of the Synod of Whitby in 664 concerning the Roman-Byzantine Paschalion, and the theft of St. Wilfrid's relics and reliquaries by Ermenburga. When Egrith released St. Wilfrid, and Ermenburga restored the relics, she soon recovered.
Once the priest Adomnan had a vision concerning the future of St. Ebbás monastery. He prophesied that the time was soon coming when the whole monastery would be consumed by fire. When Ebba heard this, she asked the priest to describe his vision to her. He replied:
«Being busy one night lately in watching and singing psalms, I on a sudden saw a person unknown standing by me, and since I was startled at his presence, he bade me not to fear, and speaking to me a familiar manner,
««You do well,» he said, »in that you spend this night-time of rest, not in giving yourself up to sleep, but in watching and prayer.«
«I answered: »I know I have great need of wholesome watching, and earnest praying to our Lord to pardon my transgressions.«
«»You are right,» he replied, "for you and many more do need to redeem their sins by good works, and when they cease from labouring about temporal affairs, then to labour the more eagerly for the desire of heavenly goods. But this very few do. For I have now visited the whole of this monastery regularly, and have looked into every onés chambers and beds, and found none of them except yourself busy about the car of his soul, but all of them, both men and women, either indulge themselves in slothful sleep, or are awake in order to commit sin; for even the cells that were built for praying or reading are now converted into places of feasting, drinking, talking and other delights. The very virgins dedicated to God, laying aside the respect due to their profession, whenever they are at leisure, apply themselves to weaving fine garments, either to use in adorning themselves like brides, to the danger of their condition, or to gain the friendship of strange men. For this reason a heavy judgement from heaven is deservedly about to fall on this place and its inhabitants by devouring fire."»
The abbess said: «Why did you not sooner acquaint me with what you knew?»
He answered: «I was afraid to do it, out of respect for you, lest you should be too afflicted. Yet you may have this comfort, that the calamity will not happen in your lifetime.»
When this vision was made known, the nuns corrected themselves out of fear for a few days. Moreover, at the abbess's request, the famous St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, visited the monastery for a few days and «confirmed, by his life and conversation, the way of truth which he taught». However, after the abbess's death on August 25, 683, the nuns returned to their former evil ways; and three years later, the monastery was burned to the ground.
Miracles were wrought through St. Ebbás intercession, and it is recorded that she appeared to Christians after her death.
St. Ebba is commemorated on August 25.
Holy Mother Ebba, pray to God for us!
(Sources: The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, IV, 19, 25; Life of St. Cuthbert, 10; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Clarendon Press, 1978, pp. 116–117; J.H. Newman, The Lives of the English Saints, London, 1901, volume 4, pp. 271–285)