St. Ælfthryth of Crowland
Feast 08-02
Patron of
About
Ælfthryth, also known as Alfreda, Alfritha, or Etheldritha, was a princess of Mercia, the daughter of King Offa and his queen Cynethryth. Raised in the splendor of one of the most powerful courts in Anglo-Saxon England, she was sought in marriage by the kings and nobles of neighboring realms.
Yet Ælfthryth renounced all worldly advancement and withdrew to a life of prayer and seclusion. According to tradition she took refuge at the hermitage of Crowland, where she lived as a virgin and recluse, consecrating herself wholly to God apart from the honors and intrigues of the royal house into which she had been born.
She was venerated after her death as a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church, honored as a model of one who forsook the crown of earth for the crown of heaven. Her feast is kept on August 2, and she remains a patron of those who seek God in the silence of the cloister.
Suggested prayer
O God, who called St. Ælfthryth from a royal throne to the silence of a solitary life, grant through her intercession that we may esteem the riches of Your kingdom above all the honors of this world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
