Saints

Nun and foundress. Etheldreda was a seventh century queen, the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia. In her younger days she had two arranged marriages before following her true desire, to be a nun. In 673 she founded the double monastery of Ely. Etheldreda lived an austere life of fasting and prayer. She died in 679, together with several other members of her community, of the plague which ca... Read More

Both saints held high office in England but submitted to martyrdom, rather than accept Henry VIII's claim to be head of the Church. Saint John Fisher was a learned teacher and chancellor at Cambridge university, and a friend of the humanist Erasmus. He became Bishop of Rochester in 1504 at the age of 35. When asked to accept the King as head of the Church he said he could not. "I do not condem... Read More

The story of John the Baptist is recorded in all four Gospels. He is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus. John was the son of Zachariah, a Temple priest and Elizabeth, a quite old cousin of the Virgin Mary. An angel foretold his birth, adding that he would prepare people for the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke Our Lady travelled to the hill country to visit Elizabeth immediately after the... Read More