Saint Milburga’s father, Merewald, son of Penda who ruled a subkingdom called Hecani (south Shropshire and Herefordshire) had been converted in 660 and had married a Christian princess. Their eldest child, Milburga, was resolved to found a monastery in her father’s kingdom. Saint Botulf, Abbot of Icheanog set up a monastery at Wimnicas (later Wenlock – white monastery) under a Frankish abbess called Liobsynde. St Milburga later became the Abbess.
According to tradition St. Milburga was attracted to Wimnicas by the saintly life of St. Owen who was living in a hermitage there. There exist to this day two holy wells at Much Wenlock, one dedicated to St. Milburga and the other, quite near to the parish church, to St. Owen.
The importance of Wimnicas and Saint Milburga can be seen from the extent of the territory donated to the monastery during her lifetime. This included Sutton (where the medieval church building was built on a prehistoric sacred site dating back to 2,300 BC). Her consecration as abbess had been among the first undertakings of the aged St. Theodore, a monk of the Eastern Church, following his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury in 667 AD.
In 901 Aethelred, Earl of Mercia and Aethelflaedia, ‘Lady of the Mercians’ (daughter of King Alfred) donated “a gold chalice weighing thirty mancuses….for the love of God and for the honour of the venerable virgin Mildburg the abbess”.
The discovery of her relics, by children, in 1101 was attended by several miracles. The monastery church of Wenlock was rebuilt on a magnificent scale to accommodate the growing numbers of monks and pilgrims. The church at Sutton was probably rebuilt at this time giving the monastery a presence on the edge of the county town. In 1501 a magnificent shrine was built at the order of Henry VII.
The end came with the Reformation in January 1540 when Wenlock Priory was dissolved and nearly all the relics of Saint Milburga were burnt in the marketplace.
Christopher Jobson
The full account is here :
Feature Image: Much_Wenlock_Priory_of_St_Milburga_General_view, Wikicommons Images, PD.