St. OSWALD

Feast Day August 5th

The son of Ethelrith, king of Northumbria, Oswald was forced to flee to Scotland after Edwin usurped his father's throne in 616 and became a Christian during a time spent at Jona. When Edwin died in 633 Oswald, his family and other royal exiles returned to Northumbria. His brothers Osric and Eanfrid were killed while trying to stop Cadwalla taking over the kingdom, Cadwalla ruled as a tyrant for a year before Oswald defeated and killed him, with a much smaller army near Hexham. Before the battle Oswald had erected a wooden cross and although only a small proportion of his men would have been Christian he assembled his entire army to pray for victory.

When he became king, Oswald sent to Jona for a bishop to convert his land to the true faith, unfortunately a very severe bishop was sent at first and he enjoyed no success at all with a people he considered barbarous and obstinate. After further requests the kindly Aiden was sent, (his life was covered in an earlier article in this series) the king and Aiden worked well together, many local people were converted and Northumbria was soon a Christian land and a bishopric after Oswald had given the island of Lindisfarne to Aiden, close by to the royal residence at Bamburgh, to establish his episcopal seat and a monastery.

Oswald united both parts of Northumbria (Bernicia and Deira) under his rule, his overlordship was acknowledged by the other Anglo-Saxon kings, he married Cynegils, a princess of Wessex and he settled down and became a popular and kindly king. But his reign did not last, in 642, after only eight years as king he was killed by the pagan king Penda of Mercia at the battle of Maserfield, Shropshire, at the age of only thirty-eight. With his dying breath he prayed for the souls of his bodyguard who died with him. Under Penda' s orders his body was sacrificially mutilated to Woden, the head, arms and hands being hung up on stakes. Later these parts of his body were recovered and venerated in different places which led to the diffusion of his cult.

Bede recorded the various wanderings of these saintly relics, they seem to be so widespread, parts of his body could be found all over this country and a large part of Europe, although the word "relic" included fragments of his wooden cross and earth from his grave. Willibrord told Wilfrid and Acca about the many miracles accomplished by his relics both in Ireland and Frisia.

Seventy churched were dedicated to him in England as far apart as Hexham in the north to Paddlesworth in Kent. In Europe his cult extended from Scotland and Ireland to Austria in the east and Portugal in the south. Oswald was a good king, a truly holy man and great evangeliser. His bravery, generosity and piety, together with his sacrificial death in battle for country and faith has made him one of the greatest of England's national heroes.

John Hayward.