Saint Wendreda

Wendreda, also known as Wendreth, was an Anglo-Saxon nun, healer, and saint, perhaps of the 7th century. She was uncertainly reported as a daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, a Christian king, which would make her a sister of Etheldreda, abbess of Ely, Sexburgha, abbess of Minster-in-Sheppey, and Ethelburga, abbess of Faremoutiers, who are all better-known saints, and a half-sister of Sæthryth, also an abbess of Faremoutiers. Wendreda is associated with March, in the Isle of Ely, and Exning, Suffolk. Perhaps a daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, Wendreda may have grown up at Exning near Newmarket. Three of the daughters of Anna married kings, but, instead of marrying, Wendreda became a nun and a herbalist, expert in the arts of healing sick people and animals. She established herself in the wetlands of the Fens and according to one source founded a Benedictine nunnery at March, where she spent the rest of her life. She became famous as a healer, and eventually miraculous powers were attributed to her. Frances Egerton Arnold-Forster wrote in 1899 that Wendreda may have been an abbess, "for a little piece of ground opposite the church still retains its old name of 'the Nunnery'." She adds that an old coffin-lid was discovered there and moved to the churchyard and quotes the Rev. Charles E. Walker, Rector of March in 1890, as saying "It is evident that there was a small conventual establishment there, in all probability connected with S. Wendreda, but no trace of foundations or document can I discover." Agnes Dunbar said of Wendreda a few years later /* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */ .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}} /* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */ According to Joseph Strutt, "The body of St.