Welcome to St Ethelbert's Blog, a collection of occasional articles from people in, around and connected to Hereford Diocese, about their Christian faith, their work, and the vision of the diocese.
St Ethelbert the King is one of the two patron saints of Hereford Cathedral, the other being St Mary the Virgin. In the 8th century, Ethelbert was King of East Anglia. He came to what is now Herefordshire to marry a daughter of King Offa of Mercia. Accused of political intrigue, possibly of seeking to take over Mercia, Ethelred was brutally murdered, reputedly on King Offa's orders and at the persuasion of his wife, Queen Cynethryth, in Marden, just north of Hereford. Ethelred was later canonised as St Ethelbert the King for posthumous miracles connected to his body and shrine, and a stone church was built over his shrine on the site of the present Hereford Cathedral, where his shrine remains to this day. Consumed by remorse, Offa built churches, and monasteries on the instruction of the Pope in expiation, following a visit to Rome.
