5. SAINT AELGIFU, ABBESS OF SHAFTESBURY

Our holy Mother Aelgifu (Elgiva) was married to King Edmund of England (921­946), and was the mother of Kings Edwy and Edgar. She was renowned for her almsgiving, her wise counsel and her gift of prophecy – she correctly interpreted a prophetic dream in which the careers of her grandsons Kings Edward the Martyr and Aethelred the Unready were intimated, together with the pagan invasions that came near the end of the century. She founded the monastery at Shaftesbury, where she died and was buried in 944. «Innumerable miracles» testified to her sanctity.

St. Aelgifu is commemorated on May 18.

Holy Mother of Aelgifu, pray to God for us!

(Sources: Ethelweard, Chronicle; William of Malmesburgy, Gesta Regum Anglorum, 13; Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, II, 86; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 128)