64. SAINT IWI, HIERODEACON OF LINDISFARNE

Our holy Father Iwi was a deacon-monk, a disciple of the great St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne. Wishing to become an exile for Christ, he embarked on a ship with some sailors, trusting in the Providence of God to lead him wherever He willed. The ship landed in Brittany, and so the holy Iwi settled in that land, living the austere life of a hermit. He performed many miracles of healing, and died on October 6, towards the end of the seventh century.

About 250 years later, a group of clerics fleeing from Brittany arrived at the women's monastery of Wilton in Southern England, carrying the relics of St. Iwi. They left the relics on the altar during their stay. However, when they came to leave it proved impossible to move the relics. So with great sorrow they were forced to leave them there. The abbess gave them 2000 solidi in recompense for their loss.

St. Iwi is commemorated on October 8.

Holy Father Iwi, pray to God for us!

(Sources: Capgrave, Nova Legenda Anglie, ii, 91–2; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 207)