Saint Hybald (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

c. 664 – c. 690), also known as Higbald, Hibald or Hygbald, was a 7th-century

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. His feastdays are 18 September and 14 December (Orthodox).

Life and legacy

The

Venerable Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most fa ...

, in his ''Ecclesiastical History'', describes St Hybald as a "most holy and continent man who was an abbot in Lindsey". It is conjectured, in the ''Dictionary of Christian Biography'' (1877–87), that this is the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

abbey at

Bardney Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...

, then in the old

Kingdom of Lindsey The Kingdom of Lindsey or Linnuis () was a lesser Anglo-Saxon kingdom, which was absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century. The name Lindsey derives from the Old English toponym , meaning "Isle of Lind". was the Roman name of the settlement w ...

, now

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. In 679,

Osthryth Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia. Osthryth w ...

, queen of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

, sought to move the remains of her uncle, St Oswald, to

, Catholic Encyclopedia: St Oswald but the monks refused to accept the body because Oswald, as king of Northumbria, had once conquered Lindsey. The remains were locked outside the abbey but the appearance of a mysterious beam of light, that night, led the monks to reconsider. (as ) Hybald was also a friend of

Saint Chad Chad (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon monk. He was an abbot, Bishop of the Northumbrians and then Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. After his death he was known as a saint. He was the brother of Bishop C ...

, and, had a prophetic vision of his death. He later, followed Chad's example and became a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

. Hybald died around 690, and was buried in the village of

Hibaldstow Hibaldstow is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,433. It is situated on the B1206 road, south from Brigg and the M180 motorway, M180 ...

, whose name means ''place where St Hygbald is buried''. Following his

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

, a shrine was built near his grave to hold his relics, and became a place of pilgrimage. This continued until the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

when the shrine was destroyed. Hybald's body remained undisturbed until it was rediscovered in 1864, when, the, then, dilapidated, church, was, rebuilt. In addition to Hibaldstow, three Lincolnshire churches are dedicated to Hybald at

Ashby de la Launde Ashby de la Launde is a small village, part of the civil parish of Ashby de la Launde and Bloxholm, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated just west of Digby, and east of the A15 and B1191 roads. In ...

, Manton and

Scawby Scawby is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-west from Brigg, and just east from the A15 road (England), A15 road, and south from the M180 motorway. According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 ...

Notes

References

External links

*
List of celtic saints:Hybald of BardneyThe Parish Church of St Hybald, HibaldstowThe Parish Church of St Hybald, Scawby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hybald Mercian saints English abbots 7th-century Christian abbots People from Lincolnshire 7th-century Christian saints