Tag: christian

Happy St Edmund’s Day!

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‘Saint Who?’
‘Saint Edmund, the true patron saint of England!’
‘But isn’t St George…?’
‘Yes, I know, you’re getting confused with that foreign usurper, supposed slayer of a dragon, chosen by King Edward III (1312- 1377) to be England’s Patron Saint and protector of Life for those of the Christian faith. But, 500 years before that in the Kingdom of East Anglia…’

Young Edmund of Saxony was nominated by the dying King Offa of Anglia as the heir to his throne and was crowned King on Christmas Day 855. But it wasn’t a peaceful reign as the Anglo-Saxon Christian region was frequently attacked by invading pagans from Denmark, doing what Vikings do bringing mayhem to the region. Whilst King Edmund did his best to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict, the Danes weren’t interested and were intent on violence. In 869 in a final battle during which Edmund’s troops were defeated, he was captured and was told to renounce his Christian faith. Refusing to do so, he was tied to a tree and shot full of arrows, and still he resisted. The Danes brought an end to his stubbornness by decapitating him and throwing his head into the woods, believing that once a head is severed from a body that person can then not proceed to an afterlife.

Here the legends surrounding Edmund’s life and death begin. His followers, looking for his head, heard his voice calling ‘here, here’ and found it under the protection of a wolf. And so, his body parts were re-united and the miracles started as subsequent examination of his corpse found that his head had re-attached itself to his body with only a thin red-line as evidence of his decapitation. History is rather vague as to exactly what happened to his body although several miracles are associated with it leading to his canonisation as a Saint on its journey to London and even possibly to France. However, the preferred location for its final resting place was in the Abbey of Beodricsworthe in Suffolk, subsequently known as Bury St Edmunds. That is my very simplified retelling of the tale of St Edmund who was then recognised as the Patron Saint of England, his Saint’s Day being 20 November, the date of his death in the year 869. A much more detailed and academic account can be found in learned historian Francis Young’s book ‘Edmund. In Search of England’s Lost King’.

I agree with Young’s statement that ‘many people who do not see themselves as religious…identify strongly with regional and national patron saints’ especially ‘Edmund, the quintessentially English saint’. During my teenage years I lived close to and undertook my secondary (high school) education in Bury St Edmunds, so the town and the legend from whom it got its name was an important part of my life especially in 1969/70. My route to school involved a walk through the Abbey Gardens past the ruins of the old St Edmunds’ Benedictine Abbey founded in 1020 and one of the last to be destroyed during King Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. However, what is left does today give a good impression of what this mighty edifice might have looked like originally.

A couple of months ago, my sister and I revisited the area and revived many memories of our life and schooling 50 years previously; I recreated that walk through the Abbey gateway and gardens down towards the River Lark which I had to cross to get up to my school.

Walking through it again also reminded me of a role I played during those years. In 1970, to mark the 1100th anniversary of King Edmund’s death on 20 November 969, and his martyrdom the following year, the town put on a Pageant, Edmund of Anglia. The highlight of this was a dramatization of Edmund’s coronation, resistance of the Danish invaders, capture, and execution. Using the Abbey Ruins as the backdrop, the production, written and directed by Olga Ironside-Wood, and drawing on local talent of actors, musicians, dancers, and an Alsatian dog (!) was a show by the people of East Anglia, about the people of East Anglia and for the people of East Anglia. Not quite so talented perhaps were those chosen to play the part of the Saxons and Vikings in the final battle of Bury. We teenage schoolboys from the King Edward VI Grammar School, the building of which overlooked the grounds of the Abbey, were the brave defenders. However, the Danish invaders were played by servicemen from the nearby United States Airforce base. We didn’t stand a chance as blood and gore was shed on the banks of the River Lark.

One evening the show was graced by the presence of the then current Prince of Denmark. At that time, I was participating in the Observer newspaper’s Young Reporter of the Year competition, with the pageant being my subject, and Ms Ironside-Wood had kindly arranged for me to speak to the Prince. When I asked him whether they had the story in Denmark, he replied “Yes, but our version is slightly different!” A diplomatic Dane indeed and his remarks were included in my report as I cut my teeth on my non-fiction writing activities.

The production was filmed and a 30-minute archive footage is still available to watch today, which can be viewed by clicking on the following link, opening the new tab and typing in ‘Edmund of Anglia 1970’

Work

Whilst the story of St Edmund is a mix of proven history, local myth and rumour the big question remains. Where is Edmund buried? Some believe he may, appropriately, have been buried in the former monastery’s cemetery under the site of the current tennis courts. But, unlike in the case of King Richard III in Leicester, excavation works have yet to take place find yet another of England’s lost Kings. https://wordpress.com/post/jeremyjlhill.com/1114

But should it come to pass that he is discovered and identified, it would give further weight to the campaign by the people of East Anglia to have him re-instated as England’s Patron Saint. So who would you go for? The Middle Eastern mercenary who saved a princess from the jaws of a dragon, which might be favoured by the romantics? Or, in the words of Francis Young ‘No saint in English history lends himself to secular re-invention more readily than Edmund, the King who died for his people’. Let all the English everywhere remember, your Patron Saint is St Edmund the Martyr; honour him on the 20th November. Your flag is not the Red Cross but the White Dragon, well known to Alfred the Great, Knut the Great and King Harold the Second.

I know who gets my vote.

And I shall probably mark my hero’s day while listening to the 2015 song ‘Barbarian’ by Suffolk rock band The Darkness in which he gets a mention:

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=the+darkness+barbarian&type=E210GB739G0#id=1&vid=b217ec85635434841d1c9efd3b7294de&action=click

WARNING:-GRAPHIC AND VERY LOUD

HAPPY ST EDMUND’S DAY to you all!

“See you in church!”

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Not a phrase you will hear me uttering, nor one to which I would usually respond. Although baptised as a Christian in my childhood, I do not follow its teachings or beliefs nor that of any other formal religion. Instead, I adhere to a more spiritual way of thinking attaching more importance to a rationalist outlook, . Therefore, I attach great importance to the power of nature and, as such so will visit Shinto shrines in Japan where the spirits inhabit trees and natural phenomenon, for inspiration. In the UK I am not averse to wandering into a local church in the countryside for a few moments of quiet reflection, especially if it has an interesting historical or cultural background, and from where we can use our understanding of the past to inform our present thinking.

The nearest, pictured above, which is just a few minutes’ walk away from my home in Little Bowden, is that of St. Nicholas, where a church has stood on the site from at least the middle of the twelfth century. Although it has obviously undergone substantial restoration and reconstruction since, the earliest surviving part of the original building is thought to date from about 1300, with other parts from the late 18th and 19th centuries so occasionally I step back into time.

Of more recent historical interest and almost within living memory of a very few surviving veterans is a memorial to the Reverend Vivian Redlich, the son of Canon Redlich, the rector of Little Bowden where Vivian was brought up. And, to my surprise and interest, an explanation as to his fate is accompanied by some Japanese writing and a letter from the Bishop of Yokohama in Japan.

Letter from Bishop of Yokohama
Vivian Redlich
Interior of St Andrews Church

After undergoing theological training in England himself, Vivian served with the brotherhood of St. Andrew in Australia before volunteering for missionary work in nearby Papua New Guinea where he soon found himself involved in the war with Japan, writing what would be his final letter to his father on 27 July 1942, which is also displayed on the wall of the church.

” Somewhere in the Papuan Bush, July 27th 1942. My dear Dad, The war has busted up here. I got back from Doguara and ran right into it, and am now somewhere in my parish hoping to carry on, tho’ my people are horribly scared. No news of May, and I am cut off from contacting her. My staff O.K. so far, but in another spot.  I’m trying to stick whatever happens. If I don’t come out of it just rest content that I have tried to do my job faithfully.  Last chance of getting word out, so forgive brevity. God Bless you all.  Vivian”

It was originally believed that Redlich was taken from his Mission House by the Japanese army, and beheaded on a nearby beach, thus prompting the letter of profuse apology from the Bishop of Yokohama to the people of Leicestershire. However 70 years later, it emerged that this was not the case. There is a further sad twist to this story, as Vivian had met and fallen in love with May Hayman, an Australian mission nurse who had cared for him during illness. Only recently engaged, they were working at different mission stations about 40km apart in the jungle, and Nurse Hayman had been captured by the Japanese at the time of the invasion. It is now believed that Vivian Redlich was on his way to rescue her when he was attacked with spears and killed by local tribesmen. Nurse Hayman managed to escape into the jungle, with another nurse but they were both re-captured and executed by the Japanese army.

So, despite the Japanese army being exonerated for the death of Vivian Redlich this tale remains shrouded in tragedy, but makes for an interesting story when I take my Japanese visitors to the church.

My good friend and walking companion, Yu Yoshida.

And so as not to become too morbid, I usually try to cheer my friends up with a traditional British lunch or dinner in the neighbouring thatched Cherry Tree pub.

So, if I don’t see you in church, I might very well see you in the pub!