Faremoutiers Abbey, France
The tenth of January is the feast-day in the Orthodox Church of the sadly least-attested daughter of Anna King of the East Angles. Saint Sǽþrýð was one of two of his daughters to be sent abroad to l’Abbaye de Notre-Dame et Saint-Pierre in Faremoutiers for their education, the other being Saint Æþelburg. She was also sister to the celebrated English monastic mothers Seaxburg of Ely, Æþelþrýð of Ely and Wihtburg of Dereham.
Again, very little is known of the saint’s life. Sǽþrýð [also Sethrida or Sedrid] was the eldest daughter of Anna King by his first wife, and that she was sent to study under Holy Abbess Fara the Burgundian after being converted, presumably along with her father and half-sisters, by another Burgundian, Saint Felix. The abbey was run according to the strict ascetic rule laid down by Saint Columbán of Luxeuil, and thus Sǽþrýð is – along with the other early northern English saints, including her sister, and Saint Helier of Jersey – a vital link between the Roman and Celtic forms of Christianity in the West. Her presence at Faremoutiers was likely itself a diplomatic gesture meant to strengthen the ties between Francia and East Anglia.
It may be safely presumed that Sǽþrýð, upon taking holy orders at Faremoutiers, quickly distinguished herself to Abbess Fara as devoted and trustworthy. She was made prioress and, after Abbess Fara’s repose in the Lord, herself made Abbess of Faremoutiers. She held that office for some period of time before passing the office on to her own sister Æþelburg at her own blessed repose, which occurred on the tenth of January in an unknown year, probably around or shortly after 660. Holy abbess Sǽþrýð, worthy successor to your teacher and holy mother Fara, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
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