210 SOME SAXON SAINTS OF WIMBORNE. 



EADBURGH. 



Eadburgh has already been mentioned as St. Lioba's 

 teacher, and in all probability her novice mistress, at Wim- 

 borne. 



ST. AGATHA. 



St. Agatha, another Missionary who aided St. Boniface in 

 the evangelisation of Germany, was also trained at Wimborne 

 under Tetta. Amongst the numerous relics that are recorded 

 to have had a place in Wimborne Minster in pre-Reformation 

 days was, together with " a relique of St. Cuthburga " * part 

 of the thigh of the blessed Agatha. Whether it was a relic 

 of the Wimborne saint or of the more famous St. Agatha of 

 Catania, there is no means of telling. 



ST. WALPURGA. 



St. Walpurga,! the sister of Willibald and Wunnibald, was 

 the daughter of a certain Richard, who was supposed to be 

 the son of Hlothere, ninth King of Kent (673-685). Their 

 mother was Winna, who was related to Boniface, and also to 

 King Ina and his sisters Cuthburga and Quenburga. This 

 probably accounts for^her daughter Walpurga being sent to 

 St. Cuthburga's Monastery at Wimborne, where she was trained 

 under Tetta, and where she is said to have resided for twenty- 

 eight years. She was one of the nuns who were sent, in 

 response to the call of St. Boniface, in company with St. 

 Lioba for Mission work in Germany. At first she worked 

 under St. Lioba at Bischofsheim ; but two years later, in 750, 

 she was appointed abbess of Heidenheim, a religious house 

 which had been founded by her brothers, Willibald, who was 

 now Bishop of Eichstadt, and Wunnibald, who was the 



* Hutchins' History of Dorset, last edition, Vol. III., p. 225. 

 f Acta Sanctorum, Vol. VI., pp. 316-377. 



