Hilda of Whitby

Life events

1. Born — 614

   Hilda was born c. 614 into the Deiran royal household, the second daughter of Hereric, nephew of Edwin, King of Deira, and his wife Breguswith. Her father was poisoned while in exile at the court of the Brittonic king of Elmet in what is now West Yorkshire, while she was still an infant.

2. Baptized — 627

   Hilda was baptised on Easter Day, 12 April 627, alongside the entire court of King Edwin in a small wooden church hastily constructed near the site of the present York Minster; she was approximately thirteen years old.

3. Tonsured — 647

   At approximately thirty-three, Hilda answered the call of Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne and returned to Northumbria to live as a nun, initially leading a small community on the north bank of the River Wear where she learned Celtic monastic traditions brought from Iona.

4. Consecrated — 649

   Bishop Aidan appointed Hilda as the second abbess of Hartlepool Abbey, a double monastery where men and women lived separately but worshipped together. No trace of the abbey buildings survives, though its monastic cemetery has been identified near the present St Hilda's Church, Hartlepool.

5. Consecrated — 657

   In 657 Hilda founded and became the first abbess of Whitby Abbey, then known as Streoneshalh, remaining there until her death. Archaeological evidence indicates the monastery was built in the Celtic style, with members living in small two- or three-person houses.

6. Council — 664

   King Oswiu of Northumbria chose Whitby Abbey as the venue for the Synod of Whitby, the first synod of the Church in his kingdom, convening clergy from as far as Wessex. The synod settled the calculation of Easter in favour of Roman practice; Hilda, along with most present, accepted the king's ruling.

7. Other — 679

   In the last year of her life, while suffering from a fever that had persisted for seven years, Hilda established a new monastery at Hackness, fourteen miles from Whitby.

8. Died — 680

   Hilda died on 17 November 680, after receiving viaticum, at the age of sixty-six. A nun at Hackness named Begu claimed to have witnessed her soul being borne to heaven by angels at the moment of her death.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Five men trained at Whitby Abbey under Hilda's abbacy later became bishops, including John of Beverley and Wilfrid of York, both subsequently canonized. (likely)
• Hilda recognized and cultivated the gift of Caedmon, a cowherd at the monastery who composed vernacular Old English verse in praise of God after a dream, making him the earliest named poet in the Old English tradition. (likely)
• A local legend holds that Hilda turned a plague of snakes to stone, accounting for ammonite fossils on the Whitby shore; the ammonite genus Hildoceras takes its scientific name from her. (legendary)
• Hilda is conventionally depicted with a pastoral staff and a model of an abbey church, with ammonites at her feet, linking abbatial authority to the Whitby snake-stone legends. (likely)
• Feast days differ by jurisdiction: 17 November in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Church of Australia; 18 November in parts of the Anglican Communion; 19 November in the Church of England; 23 June in the Roman Catholic Personal Ordinariate calendar. (certain)