Hilda, Saint

Saint (614-680), an Anglo-Saxon abbess. She was a member of the royal family of Northumbria. She was head of the abbey of Hartlepool, and later of the famous monastery of Whitby, which she founded in 658. For twenty-two years she ruled this community of monks and nuns with marked ability. St. John of Beverly and the poet Caedmon are among those whose names are remembered in connection with this monastery, which, in St. Hilda's time, was probably the strongest religious house in Great Britain. For many years a tradition was current at Whitby that, when on a summer afternoon the sun shone on the high windows in the north part of the abbey, Saint Hilda's figure could be there discerned.