St Elphege at Greenwich |
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Saint Elphege was one of the most popular saints of medieval England, and is closely associated with the diocese of Southwark. The 1000th anniversary of his martyrdom in Greenwich is on Thursday, 19 April. Many services will be taking place throughout the diocese to commemorate him.
Elphege was born in 954, at Little Weston, two miles from Bath in Wiltshire. He entered the Benedictine monastery of Deerhurst in Gloucestershire and became a hermit at Glastonbury. In 976 he was appointed Abbot of Bath by St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
He was made Bishop of Winchester in 984 around the time that the Danes and Norwegians invaded Britain. Elphege was sent to meet with the Norwegian leader King Olaf. After they spoke together the King asked to be confirmed and then promised not to invade again, and returned with his men to Norway. The introduction of Christianity to Norway is largely due to him.
In 1006 Elphege became Archbishop of Canterbury. Five years later the Danes returned and sacked and burned Canterbury. St Elphege was taken captive to Greenwich. His captors demanded a ransom of £3000, but Elphege refused to allow his ravaged people to raise the money. When his captors demanded gold he is reported to have said to them: "The gold I give you is the Word of God."
His captors, drunk with wine and enraged at the ransom being refused, pelted Elphege with bones of oxen and stones, until one of them dispatched him with an axe. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral and 11 years later, on the orders of King Canute, his body was taken for reburial at Canterbury. He was canonised by Pope Gregory Vll in 1078.
Celebrating the Millennium
On Thursday, 19 April 2012, Bishop Patrick Lynch will attend a service at Southwark Anglican Cathedral opening the Millennium celebrations. A later service will be held at St Alfege Anglican Church in Greenwich, at the site of the martyrdom, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will preach.
On Sunday, 22 April 2012, Bishop Paul Hendricks will preside at Mass at St Elphege, Wallington, the only church in the diocese dedicated to the saint. Mass will be offered in the local Anglican church of St Mary's, Beddington, on the actual feast, 19 April.
The Bishops of Winchester owned land and premises at Beddington and it is probable that by the late 9th century a wooden Saxon church existed on the site of St Mary's, so St Elphege will have known the area and offered Mass there. His predecessor as Bishop of Winchester, St Ethelwold, died at Beddington.
Masses to mark the Millennium will also be offered at St Thomas of Canterbury, Canterbury, and in the Greenwich parishes of Our Ladye Star of the Sea and St Joseph.
St Thomas a Becket, when facing his own martyrdom in 1170, is reported to have said: "I commend myself to God, to holy Mary, to blessed Denys, and St Elphege."
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