Pilgrims Follow in St Etheldreda’s Footsteps

The Diocese of East Anglia is marking its 50th anniversary with a jubilee of celebrations to explore the history and growth of Catholic life in the region. As part of this jubilee, the diocese is highlighting various historic and contemporary places of worship and pilgrimage.

A recent report by Deacon Martin L’Estrange, a member of a pilgrimage group from King’s Lynn, examines the history of pilgrimage to Ely. The site became a prominent destination during the early medieval period because of the abbey founded by St Etheldreda in the 7th century. The abbey housed her tomb, and the site became a center for veneration due to miracles attributed to her intercession.

St Etheldreda, the daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, was born near Newmarket around AD 636. After the deaths of her first husband and her second husband, King Egfrid of Northumbria, she entered a convent at Coldingham in Scotland. In 673, she moved to Ely to found an abbey for monks and nuns on the site of the current cathedral.