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Pega

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Saint Pega
Stained glass window depicting Saint Pega in Peakirk church
Anchoress
Bornc. 673
Mercia
Diedc. 719
Rome
Venerated inCatholic Church
Anglican Churches
Eastern Orthodox Church[1]
MajorshrinePeakirk(partially destroyed)
Feast8 January

Pega(c. 673 – c. 719) is aChristiansaintwho was ananchoressin the ancientAnglo-Saxonkingdom ofMercia,and the sister ofSt Guthlac.

Life

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The parish church in Peakirk is dedicated to Saint Pega

The earliest source of information about Pega is in Felix's 8th-century LatinLife of Guthlac,where she is referred to as 'the holy virgin of Christ Pega'.[2]As the sister of Guthlac, Pega would have been the daughter of Penwalh of Mercia and thus belonged to one of Mercia's great noble families.[2]

She lived as an anchoress at what is nowPeakirk( "Pega's church" ) nearPeterborough,not far from Guthlac's hermitage atCrowland.When Guthlac realised that his end was near in 714, he summoned Pega, who travelled by boat to her brother's oratory to bury him. One year later, she presided over the translation of his remains into a new sepulchre, when his body was found to beincorrupt.At this time, Pega also used a piece of glutinous salt, which had been previously consecrated by Guthlac, to cure the eyesight of a blind man who had travelled to Crowland fromWisbech.[2]

Henry of Avranches,in his 13th-century poetic life of Guthlac, adds the detail that Guthlac banished Pega from Crowland after the devil assumed her appearance and tempted him to break his fast.[3]

In the 15th-centuryCroyland Chronicle,Pseudo-Ingulfclaims that Pega inherited Guthlac'spsalterandscourge,both of which she later gave to Kenulph, the first abbot ofCrowland Abbey.[4]

Death, miracles and legacy

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Pega went on pilgrimage toRomeafter Guthlac's death and died there on 8 January 719, according to a 12th-century account byOrderic Vitalis.Orderic claims that her remains were kept at a church built in Rome in her honour, and that miracles took place there.[5]

The precise location of Pega's hermitage is not known, but it is possible that it was on the site of the 13th-century chapel at St Pega's Hermitage in Peakirk, which is now a private residence.[6][7]

Peakirk'sChurch of England parish churchis uniquely dedicated to Pega. There is a local legend that Pega's heart was returned to Peakirk and was kept as a relic in the church contained in a heart stone. Its broken remains can still be seen in the south aisle window.[8]

St Pega's Hermitage

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St Pega's Hermitage, Peakirk

St Pega's Hermitage is a chapel, now a private home, on what is considered likely to have been the site of St Pega's cell. Ac. 1300chancel was expanded with a 15th-century nave. It was rebuilt and restored over various centuries, with anorder of Anglican nunshoused in accommodation built in the 1850s and extended in 1937 for theCommunity of the Holy Family.[9]

The nuns, after 1980 from theSociety of the Precious Blood,left in 2001,[10]after which the property was deconsecrated by the Bishop of Peterborough,Ian Cundy,and sold. It has been converted into a private residence with an atrium linking the chapel, which retains the altar and other historic features, with the convent buildings. The Hermitage is Grade II listed.[7]

References

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  1. ^January 21 / January 8.https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/
  2. ^abcFelix (1985).Felix's Life of Saint Guthlac.Bertram Colgrave. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press. pp. 161–163.ISBN0-521-30926-3.OCLC12262183.
  3. ^Henry of Avranches (2014).Saints' lives.David Townsend. Cambridge, Massachusetts.ISBN978-0-674-05128-7.OCLC856879271.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^Ingulf; Peter, of Blois; Riley, Henry T. (1854).Ingulph's chronicle of the abbey of Croyland with the continuations by Peter of Blois and anonymous writers.University of California. London, H. G. Bohn.
  5. ^Vitalis, Orderic (1990).The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis.Marjorie Chibnall. Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN0-19-822243-2.OCLC21520544.
  6. ^Lumley Prior, Avril (2008)."Fact and/or Folklore? The Case for St Pega of Peakirk"(PDF).Northamptonshire Past and Present.61:7–17.
  7. ^abHistoric England."Hermitage, Peakirk (Grade II) (1275188)".National Heritage List for England.
  8. ^"More About St Pega".Peakirk Village.2 December 2017.
  9. ^"Sisters at Peakirk Hermitage".Peterborough Standard.10 September 1937.Retrieved26 January2023.
  10. ^Historic England."The Hermitage (350087)".Research records (formerly PastScape).Retrieved27 January2023.