Wilgyth of Cholsey was a 6th-century Catholic female saint from Anglo-Saxon England who was venerated locally in Berkshire.
Provenance
Very little is known of the life of this saint who is known to history through the hagiography of the Secgan Manuscript, and Manuscript R.7.13. held in Trinity College (Cambridge) Library.
Family
She had a (step)brother Bana, founder of a monastery at Le Relecq-Kerhuon in France, and sisters Saints Juthwara and Sidwell, and Eadwara (possibly a nickname of Juthwara) She possibly had other brothers, Paul Aurelian a bishop, Gulval another saint, Pautel and Nautel. If a sister of Paul Aurelian, she would have been the daughter of a Cornish/Welsh chieftain named Perphirius from Penychen in Glamorgan. Legend holds that her mother died while she was quite young and that following the later death of her father, two of her sisters were murdered by her stepmother.
References
- The Oxford Dictionary of Saints
- Julian Marcus Luxford, "New Light on St Wilgyth, Sister of St Juthwara" University of St Andrews Journal; Volume XXV, 2004).
- Stowe MS 944, British Library.
- Luxford, J. M., "New Light on St Wilgyth, Sister of St Juthwara", Southern History; 25(Folkestone, 2003), pp. 1-7.
- Förster, Max. "Die heilige Sativola oder Sidwell." Anglia; 62 (1938): 33-80.
- St. Aude Wyry alias St. Juthwara.
- Heesok Chang, Robert DeMaria, Jr., Samantha Zacher, A Companion to British Literature, Medieval Literature, 700 - 1450 (John Wiley & Sons, 2013) page 69
- Doble, G. H., Saint Gudwal or Gurwal, bishop and confessor; with notes on Gulval church and parish by Charles Henderson. (Truro: Netherton and Worth, 1933).
- Doble, G. H. (1960) The Saints of Cornwall: part 1. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 61-78
- St. Aude Wyry alias St. Juthwara.