St. Ebba the Younger
Ebba (Ebbe) the Younger
Feast day: April 2
Death: 870/879
Feast day formerly August 23.
Ebba was abbess of the great Benedictine foundation of Coldingham in the Marshes on the Scottish border, which had been founded two centuries earlier by Saint Ebba the Elder. During a Danish invasion Saint Ebba feared for her virginity because of the Viking reputation for rape and massacre. She gathered her nuns in the chapter house and encouraged them to follow her example: with a razor she cut off (or cut open) her nose and upper lip to discourage rape by the invaders. The entire community did likewise. They must have made a frightful spectacle. Their appearance so disgusted the raiders that the women were saved from rape but not from death: The Danes soon returned and set fire to the convent. The entire community perished in the flames.
Although there is no surviving ancient record of Saint Ebba, it may have been among the lost manuscripts at Tynemouth, and no ancient cultus, there was a shrine dedicated to her in the 13th century. In Coldingham, another manuscript refers to a curious feast of the dedication of the altar of Saint Ebba on June 22, which may refer to either the Younger or the Elder
Ebba (Ebbe) the Younger
Feast day: April 2
Death: 870/879
Feast day formerly August 23.
Ebba was abbess of the great Benedictine foundation of Coldingham in the Marshes on the Scottish border, which had been founded two centuries earlier by Saint Ebba the Elder. During a Danish invasion Saint Ebba feared for her virginity because of the Viking reputation for rape and massacre. She gathered her nuns in the chapter house and encouraged them to follow her example: with a razor she cut off (or cut open) her nose and upper lip to discourage rape by the invaders. The entire community did likewise. They must have made a frightful spectacle. Their appearance so disgusted the raiders that the women were saved from rape but not from death: The Danes soon returned and set fire to the convent. The entire community perished in the flames.
Although there is no surviving ancient record of Saint Ebba, it may have been among the lost manuscripts at Tynemouth, and no ancient cultus, there was a shrine dedicated to her in the 13th century. In Coldingham, another manuscript refers to a curious feast of the dedication of the altar of Saint Ebba on June 22, which may refer to either the Younger or the Elder
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