XI. How Sebbi, king of the same province, ended his life in a monastery. [694 A.D.]
CHAP. X.
How a blind woman, praying in the burial-place of that monastery, was restored
to her sight. [675 A.D.?]
HILDILID, a devout handmaid of God, succeeded Ethelburg in the office of abbess
and presided over that monastery with great vigour many years, till she was of
an extreme old age,in the observance of regular discipline, and carefully
providing all things for the common use. The narrowness of the space where the
monastery is built, led her to determine that the bones of the servants and
handmaidens of Christ, who had been there buried, should be taken up, and should
all be translated into the church of the Blessed Mother of God, and interred in
one place. How often a brightness of heavenly light was seen there, when this
was done, and a fragrancy of wonderful sweetness arose, and what other signs
were revealed, whosoever reads will find in the book from which we have taken
these tales.
But in truth, I think it by no means fit to pass over the miracle of healing,
which the same book informs us was wrought in the cemetery of that community
dedicated to God. There lived in that neighbourhood a certain thegn, whose wife
was seized with a sudden dimness in her eyes, and as the malady increased daily,
it became so burdensome to her, that she could not see the least glimpse of
light. Having continued some time wrapped in the night of this blindness, on a
sudden she bethought herself that she might recover her lost sight, if she were
carried to the monastery of the nuns, and there prayed at the relics of the
saints. Nor did she lose any time in fulfilling that which she had conceived in
her mind: for being conducted by her maids to the monastery, which was very
near, and professing that she had perfect faith that she should be there healed,
she was led into the cemetery, and having long prayed there on her knees, she
did not fail to be heard, for as she rose from prayer, before she went out of
the place, she received the gift of sight which she had desired; and whereas she
had been led thither by the hands of her maids, she now returned home joyfully
without help: as if she had lost the light of this world to no other end than
that she might show by her recovery how great a light is vouchsafed to the
saints of Christ in Heaven, and how great a grace of healing power.
CHAP. XI.
How Sebbi, king of the same province, ended his life in a monastery. [694 A.D.]
AT that time, as the same little book informs us, Sebbi , a very devout man, of
whom mention has been made above, governed the kingdom of the East Saxons. His
mind was set on religious acts, frequent prayer and pious fruits of almsgiving;
he esteemed a private and monastic life better than all the wealth and honours
of his kingdom, and he would have long before left his kingdom and adopted that
life, had not his wife firmly refused to be divorced from him; for which reason
many were of opinion and often said that a man of such a disposition ought
rather to have been made a bishop than a king. When he had spent thirty years as
a king and a soldier of the heavenly kingdom, he fell into great bodily
infirmity, of which he afterwards died, and he admonished his wife, that they
should then at least together devote themselves to the service of God, since
they could no longer together enjoy, or rather serve, the world. Having with
much difficulty obtained this of her, he went to Waldhere, bishop of London, who
had succeeded Earconwald,and with his blessing received the religious habit,
which he had long desired. He also carried to him a considerable sum of money,
to be given to the poor, reserving nothing to himself, but rather coveting to
remain poor in spirit for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven.
When the aforesaid sickness increased, and he perceived the day of his death to
be drawing near, being a man of a royal disposition, he began to apprehend lest,
when in great pain, at the approach of death, he might commit anything unworthy
of his character, either by word or gesture. Wherefore, calling to him the
aforesaid bishop of London, in which city he then was, he entreated him that
none might be present at his death, besides the bishop himself, and two of his
own attendants. The bishop having promised that he would most willingly grant
his request, not long after the man of God composed himself to sleep, and saw a
consoling vision, which took from him all anxiety concerning the aforesaid
uneasiness; and, moreover, showed him on what day he was to end his life. For,
as he afterwards related, he saw three men in shining garments come to him; one
of whom sat down by his bed, whilst his companions who had come with him stood
and inquired about the state of the sick man they had come to visit, and he said
that the king's soul should quit his body without any pain, and with a great
splendour of light; and told him that he should die the third day after. Both
these things came to pass, as he had learnt from the vision; for on the third
day after, at the ninth hour, he suddenly fell, as it were, into a light
slumber, and without any sense of pain he gave up the ghost.
A stone coffin had been prepared for his burial, but when they came to lay him
in it, they found his body a span longer than the coffin. Hereupon they chipped
away as much of the stone as they could, and made the coffin about two inches
longer; but not even so would it contain the body. Wherefore because of this
difficulty of entombing him, they had thoughts either to get another coffin, or
else to shorten the body, by bending it at the knees, if they could, so that the
coffin might contain it. But Heaven interposed and a miracle prevented the
execution of either of those designs; for on a sudden, in the presence of the
bishop and Sighard, who was the son of that same king and monk, and who reigned
after him jointly with his brother Suefred, and of no small number of men, that
coffin was found to fit the length of the body, insomuch that a pillow might
even be put in at the head; and at the feet the coffin was four inches longer
than the body. He was buried in the church of the blessed teacher of the
Gentiles,by whose doctrine he had learned to hope for heavenly things.
