
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.