St Frideswide
Ruth has made a detailed study of the legend of Saint Frideswide, the Patron Saint of Oxford, UK. She was a Saxon princess who lived in Oxenford in the 8th century AD. She became the first abbess of a monastery, founded by her father on the banks of the River Thames, near Folly Bridge, the original oxen ford. She was renowned for virtue, devotion to God and good works and several miracles happened as a result of her prayers. The present Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford is built on the site of her monastery and still contains the remains of her shrine.
Saint Frideswide is a relatively unknown saint, yet the legend of her life is simple and beautiful and she deserves to be more widely known. The tragedy of what happened to her shrine and her remains during the desecration by King Henry VIII is worth telling. There is also a mystery surrounding where the first Church of Saint Frideswide was located, where the original shrine was situated and where her bones may still lie, buried in an unmarked grave in the Cathedral.
Ruth is still researching her life but has meanwhile translated an authentic 14th century document, the Legendary Lives of the Saints, which contains two versions of her life, from middle English into modern English, presenting it is prose and rhyme. She is also developing the information she has found for use in schools in a collaboration with Christ Church Cathedral, which already offers guided tours and pilgrimages for school children.
Further books will become available in due course.
Ruth Buckley has opened a new information website about St Frideswide. Go to: www.frideswide.org.uk.
 The Legendary Life of Saint Frideswide.
Souvenir Booklet. A detailed translation of the life of Saint Frideswide from the Legendary Lives of the Saints, an authentic 14th century document. In prose, for adults and young people.
24 pages. Size: 18x12cm £2.99 + 70p P&P.
ISBN 978-0-9567230-0-0
 The Legend of Saint Frideswide in Rhyming Verse.
Souvenir Booklet. A simpler translation in rhyme for older children and poetry-lovers from the Legendary Lives of the Saints, an authentic 14th century document.
24 pages. Size: 18x12cm. £2.99 + 70p P&P
ISBN 978-0-9567230-1-7
Saint Frideswide for Children
62 pages. Size A4 |
