In a message dated 7/12/00 9:47:29 AM GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> MAURA and BRIDGET, virgin martyrs (5th cent.)
>
> Maura, probably Mawr, and Bridget, were virgin twin sisters, daughters
> of Ella, king of Scotland and Northumberland, and Pantilomena his queen
> . . . Maura's face shone at night, so that she had no need of a candle
> to go to bed with . . . One night a ruffian broke into the bedrook of
> the sisters, in a little inn, to rob and mistreat them. He was much
> surprised to find the room already occupied by an angel in the form of
> a priest, with a smoking censer in his hand, and retired in surprise
> and alarm.
>
> At least, he said he was an angel . . .
>
Holy Nightlight!
What source is there for this legend? "Ella, king of Northumberland and
Scotland" looks rather like _Aella_ king of Northumbria (ASC s.aa.560, 588),
but what of Maura and Bridget? The latter would presumably be christened in
honour of the Irish St B., so, after c.525? However, the Northumbrians are
not thought to have been converted until after 600.
Henry
visit the Scottish Place-Name Society website at
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/institutes/sassi/spns/index.htm
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