Saint Adalbert of Egmond (also called Æthelberht of Egmond) (died c. 710 in Egmond) was a

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n Anglo-Saxon missionary. He was one of Saint

Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fath ...

's companions in preaching the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

and Frisia.

Biography

Adalbert (or Æthelberht) is said to have been born in

, a member of the Northumbrian royal family. According to some sources, Adalbert studied at the

Rath Melsigi Rath Melsigi was an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Ireland. A number of monks who studied there were active in the Anglo-Saxon mission on the continent. The monastery also developed a style of script that may have influenced the writers of the Book of D ...

) in Ireland with

Egbert Egbert is a name that derives from old Germanic words meaning "bright edge", such as that of a blade. Anglo-Saxon variant spellings include Ecgberht () and Ecgbert. German variant spellings include Ekbert and Ecbert. People with the first name Mid ...

. Around 690 he went to assist

(who had also been at Rath Melsigi) in the mission field of Frisia. According to

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...

's late eighth-century ''Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis'', they landed near

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital ...

.Faber, Hans. "The Abbey of Egmond and the rise of the Gerulfings", Frisia Coast Trail, July 19, 2019
/ref> Adelbert became associated particularly with Egmond. He was made Archdeacon of the recently founded See of Utrecht and died at Egmund about A.D. 740. He was buried there, and miracles were reported at his tomb, over which a church was built. Adalbert is said to have shielded the settlement of Egmond from pirates by causing a fog to arise along the coast.

Veneration

His continued remembrance rests largely on the foundation of the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery,

Egmond Abbey Egmond Abbey or St. Adalbert's Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Egmond, ''Sint-Adelbertabdij'') is a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of the Annunciation between Egmond aan den Hoef and Bakkum in Egmond-Binnen in the municipality of Bergen in the ...

, the first in the country, some two hundred years later by Count Dirk I of West Frisia (or Holland), of which Adalbert was made the patron. The ''Vita'' was not commissioned until the 990s, which presumably accounts for its lack of facts. Adalbert's relics were translated to the newly built abbey (initially a nunnery) for veneration. After the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

and the destruction of the abbey, they were preserved in Haarlem. The cult was reinstated when the abbey was re-founded in 1935, and the relics were returned there in 1984. The saint's skull, painstakingly restored, is also preserved beneath the high altar. His feast day is 25 June.Farmer, David. ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 5th Edition Revised, p. 3, Oxford University Press, 2011

Notes

References

External links

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adalbert Of Egmond 8th-century deaths Dutch Christian clergy Northumbrian saints 8th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown Burials at Egmond Abbey People from Egmond 8th-century Christian clergy 8th-century English people