56. SAINT FRIDESWIDE, ABBESS OF OXFORD
St. Frideswide was the daughter of Under-King Didanus of Oxford and his wife Safrida. With her parents» consent she was given into the charge of a Winchester nun, Algiva, who brought her up in the true faith; and when she came of age she was tonsured. However, a certain prince named Algar fell in love with her and wanted to take her, by force if necessary. Frideswide decided to flee from him, and entered Oxford one stormy night with Algar in hot pursuit. But at the prayers of the holy virgin, he was stopped in a miraculous way: at the gates of the city he and his companions were suddenly blinded. On repenting, however, and sending messengers to Frideswide, he was restored to full health. For several centuries thereafter, until the reign of Henry III, English kings carefully avoided Oxford for fear of suffering the same punishment.
According to another source, it was the messengers of Algar who were blinded and then healed. But Algar himself was not deterred by this miracle, attributing it to black magic. So that night, while Frideswide was praying in solitude, an angel appeared to her and assured her that the Lord would help her to preserve her virginity and that Algar would be blinded forever. Then, following the angel's instructions, she went with two nuns to the river Thames, where a youth dressed in white with a splendidly shining face took them in a boat to Bampton (according to another source the journey was along the Isis to Abingdon). They then took refuge in a swineherd's hut in the woods. Meanwhile, Algar was trying by entreaties and bribes to force the inhabitants of Oxford to reveal Frideswidés hiding-place. When they swore that they did not know, he swore to destroy the city. But as he approached the north gate he was suddenly struck blind.
The holy virgin spent about three years in her refuge in the woods, in prayer and great abstinence. Once a girl was healed of blindness by applying some water in which St. Frideswide had washed her hands to her own eyes. At length, in about the year 727, she returned to Oxford and spent the rest of her days in a monastery which she had founded. She also constructed a church at Thornbury where she would go for the sake of solitude. And at Binsey a fountain miraculously sprang up at her prayers.
Once a young man who was cutting wood on Sunday found that he could not remove his fingers from the haft of his axe, and cried out in terrible pain. Frideswide was called and loosed him by her prayers. On another occasion she cast a demon out of a fisherman. Again, she was once returning to Oxford when a horribly deformed leper approached her in the midst of a large crowd and shouted: «O virgin Frideswide, I adjure you by Almighty God that you give me a kiss in the name of Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son». The virgin approached him, made the sign of the Cross over him, and kissed him. Immediately his leprosy fell away and his skin became like that of young child.
St. Frideswide reposed on October 19, 735, an angel having announced to her the day of her death. At the moment of her death she saw Saints Catherine and Cecilia, for whom she had a particular veneration, approaching her. «I ask only for pardon, my Lord, only pardon,» she said, and died. Suddenly a heavenly light lit up the house and a wonderful fragrance filled the whole city.
In 1004 St. Frideswidés monastery was burned to the ground by the Danes. At this time a certain priest was seen taking some ornaments out of the church of St. Frideswide, and was publicly accused of sacrilege. It was decided that he should first attend the Divine Liturgy and then give proof of his innocence. And so he stood fearlessly in front of the tomb of the holy virgin until the reading of the Holy Gospel. But at that point he leapt up and said: «I confess, O lady, I confess,» and immediately fell as if lifeless. At length he recovered consciousness and said to the bystanders: «Did you not see this holy virgin beating me so cruelly with two bundles of sticks that she forced me to confess the theft? I cannot hide it any longer: I confess to sacrilege.» And then he took off his clothes and showed them the marks of his beatings on the chest and stomach and both sides...
St. Frideswide is commemorated on October 19.
Holy Mother Frideswide, pray to God for us!
(Sources: William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, book IV, 178; Nova Legenda Anglie, pp. 457–461; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 161)