Holy and Righteous Martyr-Princess Ósg‎ýð of Chich

Saint Ósg‎ýð of Chich

Today in the Orthodox Church we venerate Saint Ósg‎ýð [Osgyth, or Osyth], a noblewoman of Mercia (and granddaughter of the infamous Penda) who married Sighere King of the East Saxons and founded a cloister at Chich – a village which nowadays takes her name.

Ósg‎ýð was born perhaps in the year 675, to a Mercian ealdorman named Friþwald of Chertsey, and his wife Wilburg (who is said to have been the daughter of the aforementioned Penda King). She was raised among nuns from an early age at the abbey of Saint Modwen in Burton, and having been exposed to the life of a bride of Christ desired it for herself. However, her kinfolk had other plans in mind for her. Wulfhere King of Mercia (husband of Saint Eormenhild), who had been at odds with the heathen Sighere of Essex, bade Friþwald marry his daughter to him in order to secure a peace in southeast England. Ósg‎ýð was none too happy with this arrangement, but went along with it.

Here the hagiographies diverge somewhat. Some hagiographical sources state that she and Sighere never consummated their marriage – but this appears rather unlikely, as historians and certain other hagiographers seem to agree that Saint Ósg‎ýð was the mother of Sighere’s son Saint Offa. In any event, the marriage of Sighere and Ósg‎ýð was short-lived. Sighere, who was fond of hunting game, set out with his whole war-band after a rare white stag one autumn, leaving Ósg‎ýð alone at home. The young woman sought counsel with two bishops, Acca of Dunwich and Bedwine of Elmham, who in her husband’s absence approved her request to become a nun. When Sighere returned, he reluctantly parted ways from his wife, and even granted to her a small plot of land at Chich on which to found a church and a cloister.

Some time afterward, a band of Danish raiders attacked the cloister and found Saint Ósgýð therein. The leader of the band, a heathen, attempted to get Ósgýð to renounce her faith with threats and with vain promises, but she refused to forsake Christ. In frustration, the Dane drew his sword and decapitated the abbess. At the spot where her head fell, a fountain of fresh water sprang forth, which was able to wondrously cure a vast range of illnesses. The hagiographic tradition has it that Ósgýð’s headless body rose and retrieved her own head, bearing it calmly to the door of the church and laying her blood-stained hands on the threshold. Her kinfolk came to claim her body, but by visions she assured them that she wished to rest with her relics in the monastery that her erstwhile husband had given to her. Holy Mother Ósgýð, righteous martyr and venerable abbess, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Clad in the splendid vesture of virginity,
Which thou didst embroider with thy manifold virtues,
Thou lookest down from the heights of heaven,
Regarding with pity the faithful
Who fervently have recourse to thee, O venerable mother Ósgýð,
For Christ, the Bestower of crowns,
Hath granted thee the grace of healing and intercession.