Guthlac of Crowland

Saint Guthlac of Crowland
St. Guthlac holding the whip given to him by St. Bartholomew and, a demon at his feet. (The statue from the second tier of the Croyland Abbey's west front of the ruined nave; dates from the 15th century).
Born	673 Mercia
Died	714 Croyland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	11 April

Saint Guthlac of Crowland (Old English: Gūðlāc) (673–714) was a Christian saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England.

Guthlac was the son of Penwalh or Penwald, a noble of the English kingdom of Mercia, and his wife Tette. His sister is also venerated as Saint Pega. As a young man, he fought in the army of Æthelred of Mercia and subsequently became a monk at Repton Monastery in Derbyshire at age twenty-four, under the abbess (Repton was a double monastery). Two years later he sought to live the life of a hermit, and moved out to the island of Croyland, now called Crowland on St Bartholomew's Day, AD 699. His early biographer Felix asserts that Guthlac could understand the strimulentes loquelas ("sibilant speech") of the British-speaking demons who haunted him there, only because Guthlac had spent some time in exile among British-speaking people.

Guthlac built a small oratory and cells in the side of a plundered barrow on the island, and he lived there the rest of his life until his death on 11 April in AD 714. Felix, writing within living memory of Guthlac, described his eremitic life as follows:

Guthlac suffered from ague and marsh fever.

His pious and holy ascetic life became the talk of the land, and many people visited Guthlac during his life to seek spiritual guidance from him. He gave sanctuary to Æthelbald, future king of Mercia, who was fleeing from his cousin Ceolred. Guthlac predicted that Æthelbald would become king, and Æthelbald promised to build him an abbey if his prophecy became true. Æthelbald did become king and, even though Guthlac had died two years previously, kept his word and started construction of Crowland Abbey on St Bartholomew's Day 716 AD. Guthlac's feast day is celebrated on 11 April.