St. Osith was a Mercian princess who tried to maintain a chaste life in spite of her marriage to Sighere, king of the East Saxons. She was aided in this by a white stag which raced onto the scene whenever Sighere tried to consummate their marriage. She bore a son (even stags have to sleep sometimes) then secured some land for a nunnery. Eventually pirates killed her because she would not commit idolatry. I don't know why pirates cared about idols, but I guess they must have because they beheaded her. At that moment she revealed herself as a cephalophore (one of my favorite types of saints) by picking up her head and walking three miles to a church where she could be properly buried.
No comments:
Post a Comment