St Etheldreda's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It is part of the Diocese of East Anglia within the Province of Westminster.
The church notably contains the national shrine and relics of St Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon queen and abbess who died on 23 June AD 679 and went on to become one of the most popular of the medieval saints in England.St Etheldreda, (David Nash Ford's Early British Kingdoms) She has even been described as one of "the most significant of all native English Saints."Virginia Blanton, Signs of Devotion: The Cult of St. Aethelthryth in Medieval England 695-1615, Pennsylvania State Univ Press, 2007, , p.3
History of the parish and church By the middle of the nineteenth century the town of Ely had approximately 600 familiesAlexander Wood, St. Etheldreda and her Churches in Ely and London: A Preliminary Notice of the Catholic Memorials and Missions in the Vicinity of the Latter and a Supplementary Account of Ely House, (A lecture Read at St. Etheldreda's Ely Place, 2 March 1876), Papers in the Cambridgeshire Collection C52 p.14 and there were some 30-40 Catholics living in the district.See 30 March 1851 Ecclesiastical Census, cited in Tim Glasswell, 'The Rectorship of Canon Quinlivan 1843-1883, p.81-96 in Nicholas Rogers, Catholics in Cambridge, Gracewing 2003, p.85 but there was no resident priest. At that time there was a single missionary rector based in Cambridge, Canon Thomas Quinlivan. The opening of the London to Norwich railway line in July 1845 made it easier for Canon Quinlivan to travel to Ely and say occasional masses in a private house in the town.Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.1
The parish of St Etheldreda began as a distinct and separate mission in 1890 when Fr John Francis Freeland was sent to Ely and opened the first place of worship by partitioning his lodging room to create a tiny chapel. In 1891 the population of Ely numbered 8017Cambridgeshire History on the Net (The Cambridge Collection) and the first Roman Catholic congregation numbered just 16 worshippers. With numbers rising, Fr Freeland purchased ground and opened a small corrugated-iron chapel in 1892 on part of the site upon which the later St Etheldreda's church would be built.Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.1-2. The date given for the opening of the church is 1891 in the town records Cambridgeshire History on the Net (The Cambridgeshire Collection)
The original iron church still exists at Thorney Toll as it was used as a chapel until about 1973, dedicated to St Patrick. It was then sold and used as a garage.The Introduction to Owen Garvey's Letter to The Wisbech Telegraph. See also P Bright, Op. Cit p.3
When the parish church opened in 1892 the services offered were as follows: Sunday mass at 8.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. catechism 3 p.m. & rosary, instruction & benediction 6.30 p.m. daily mass 8 a.m., holidays of obligation, mass 9 a.m.Cambridgeshire History on the Net (The Cambridgeshire Collection)
The parish grew gradually, numbering about 100 by the early 1930s.Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.5 In the period around and after, the Second World War, there were up to 300,000 Italian and German Prisoners of War based in the Fens, a number of whom were based at a camp in Ely and worshipped at St Etheldreda's.R Douglas Brown, East Anglia 1945, Terence Dalton Ltd, 1994, p.94. See also P Bright, Op. Cit p.7
Architecture and appearance of the church
The current church was opened on 17 October 1903, on the feast of the translation of St Etheldreda's relics.Pamela Blakemon & Mike Petty, The Archive Photographs Series: Ely, Chalford Publishing Company, 1997, p.81 Due to the finances at the time of opening, the church was not consecrated until 22 May 1987.The Catholic Directory, (ed. John Danson), Gabriel Communications Ltd, 1998, , p.275
The architect of the church was Simon Croot of Brampton and the builders were Messrs Howard of Huntingdon.Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.2 The church was built for a cost of £2,600 with the Presbytery costing a further £900Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.3
The parish church was dedicated to St Etheldreda because she died in Ely.
The church is built in Decorated Gothic style, with a separate elevated sanctuary and two aisles. It contains a number of stained glass windows which depict:
St Peter St Pius X St Margaret Clitheroe St John Houghton St Francis St John the Evangelist The Good Shepherd Jesus as Priest
The original organ was by the Positive Organ Company.Patrick Bright, A History of the Catholic Church of Saint Etheldreda in the City of Ely (Private Publication, 1987, held in the Cambridgeshire Collection) p.B1
The original stained glass was supplied by Messrs Jones & Willis of London and Birmingham. The main window behind the Altar depicts St Wilfrid, Our Lady and St Etheldreda. The window is a conscious copy of a similar window to be found in York Minster.
Parish priests and clergy
The clergy resident in the parish have been as follows:This list is based on the information contained in Patrick Bright (Op Cit) for the period 1890-1987. The details thereafter are taken from The Catholic Directory which is published annually and details for East Anglia can be found online at http://www.catholiceastanglia.org/ Parish Priest Date at St Etheldreda's Rev. John Francis Freeland 1890–1906, died 7 Dec 1940 Rev. Henry Long 1906–1908, died 16 April 1936 Rev. George Frederick Stokes 1908–1928, died 2 Jun 1928 Rev. Henry George Hughes 1928–1933, died 29 Nov 1943 Rev. Constantine Ketterer 1933–1940, died 18 Dec 1940 Rev. Christopher McGregor 1941–1943, died 20 Jun 1943 Rev. Charles Alexander Grant 1943–1945, died 24 Apr 1989 Rev. Albert E Whyatt 1945–1946, died 21 Mar 1991 Mgr Canon James Bernard Marshall 1946–1947, died 31 Dec 1946 Rev. Guy Pritchard 1947–1970, died 3 Jan 1983 Rev. Brendan Peters 1970–1980, died 29 May 1991 Rev. Gerard Quigley 1980–1980 Canon Paul Taylor 1980–1993, died 27 Aug 2002 Rt Rev. Mgr Michael Cassidy 1994–1995 Rev. Laurie Locke 1995–1999 Rev. Anthony Shryane 1999–2019 Rev. David Finegan 2019-
Parish statistics
The following table records the number of Baptisms (of children), Receptions (of adults) into the church, Marriages and the number attending Sunday Mass (as counted on the annual Census Sunday).
Year Baptisms Receptions Marriages Estimated RC Pop. Mass Attendance 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985Data taken from Gary Dowsey (Ed), East Anglia Diocesan Year Book 1987, Universe Publications Company Ltd, 1987, , p.62-63 19 4 12 750 223 1990Data taken from Gary Dowsey (Ed), East Anglia Diocesan Year Book 1992, Gabriel Communications Ltd, 1992, , p.36-7 14 1 5 1000 240 1995Data taken from Paul Maddison (Ed), East Anglia Diocesan Year Book 1997, Mersey Mirror Ltd, 1997, , p.44-45 18 4 4 500 230 2000Data taken from John Warrington (Ed), Diocese of East Anglia 2002 Year Book and Ordo, Mersey Mirror Ltd, 2002, , p.46-47 11 0 4 1000 224 2005Data taken from Mark Hackeson (Ed), Diocese of East Anglia 2007 Year Book and Ordo, Mersey Mirror Ltd, 2007, p.80-81 23 3 2 1000 250 2010Data taken from Mark Hackeson (Ed), Diocese of East Anglia 2012 Year Book and Ordo, Mersey Mirror Ltd, 2012, p.80-81 17 0 8 1000 270 2015
Shrine of St Etheldreda
The main modern shrine of St Etheldreda is located within the Church of St Etheldreda in Ely. In medieval England the principal shrine of St Etheldreda was at the Abbey of Ely. St Etheldreda was one of the most popular Anglo-Saxon saints and her shrine was one of the five most visited in medieval England. An analysis of Shrine offerings during the medieval period, for example, shows her shrine to be a major centre of pilgrimage until the 1520s.Virginia Blanton, Signs of Devotion: The Cult of St Aethelthryth in Medieval England 695-1615, Pennsylvania State Univ Press, 2007, , p.248. See also Ben Nicholson, Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England, Boydell Press, 2001,. The popularity of St Etheldreda in medieval literature is also attested for by the number and type of depictions of her. For images from the Benedictional of St Aethelwold, in the 10th century, see Peter Meadows & Nigel Ramsey (ed) A History of Ely Cathedral, Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2003, p.20 and Plate 17A. The parish church of Willingham has also been recently found to have medieval pictures of St Etheldreda, on which see Rosalind C Love (ed & trans), Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely, Clarendon Press, 2004, , p.xlvii.
At the heart of St Etheldreda's cult was that her body was found to be incorrupt, remaining whole and lifelike in the grave, rather than decomposing. This was recorded initially by Bede in Bk 4, chp 19 of the History of the English Church thus helping her cult to become established and well known from an early date.The incorruptibility of the saint's body was attested long after the translation of the relics in 695, on which cf: J. Bentham, The History and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely from the Foundation of the Monastery AD 673 to the Year 1771, (2nd Ed) Stevenson, Matchell and Stevenson, 1812, p.61
During the medieval period the Abbeys or Cathedral churches of Durham, Glastonbury, Salisbury, Thetford, Waltham and York all claimed to have relics, or small parts of the body of St Etheldreda.Rosalind C Love (ed & trans), Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely, Clarendon Press, 2004, , p.xlvii It cannot now be confirmed whether these were authentic relics or not, but the nineteenth-century discovery of a relic, recorded below, supports the idea that relics of St Etheldreda may well have been distributed wider than the main shrine.
Besides the principal relic of the body of St Etheldreda, the cult of St Etheldreda seems to have also involved the distribution of lace necklaces and other objects which were claimed to have been associated with St Etheldreda. Records of the visitation of Dr Layton and Dr Leigh in 1536 make reference to cloths for women with sore throats and sore breasts, a comb of St Etheldreda for women with headaches and a ring of St Etheldreda for women seeking relief when 'lying-in' in childbirth.