Huna of Thorney

Saint[1] Huna of Thorney was a seventh century priest and hermit.[2] His influence in the Northumbrian and Anglian courts make him an important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England.

Thorney Abbey Church
Saint Huna of Thorney
Saint
Died7th Century
Huneia
Venerated inCatholic Church
Major shrineThorney
Feast13 February

Huna was a chaplain for Æthelthryth[3] the daughter of Anna of East Anglia, Queen of Ecgfrith, king of the Northumbrians and the Abbess of Ely and he gave Æthelthryth advice pertaining to salvation and talked to her about the teachings and deeds of the saints.[4] St Huna also conducted her funeral.[5]

After her death, Huna left Ely to become a hermit on an island in the Cambridgeshire fens. His residence on the island was called Huneia[6] and later known as Honey Hill, or Honey Farm, which is located just outside the town of Chatteris. Huna was considered a holy man and his grave on the small island was known for producing healing miracles.[7] Later Huna's relics were translated from Chatteris to Thorney,[8] at the time more a collection of hermit cells than a monastic institution.[9]

Huna's feast day is 13 February.[10]

References
  1. Secgan II.27
  2. J. Fairweather Liber Eliensis: a history of the Isle of Ely from the seventh century to the twelfth (Woodbridge 2005) I.15; I.18–23
  3. Anon.LiberEliensis I.22 (679).
  4. Anon.LiberEliensis I.15
  5. Liber Eliensis Janet Fairweather (trans) (Boydell Press, 2005) I.22 (679).
  6. William Watson (F.A.S.), An historical account of the ancient town and port of Wisbech, in the Isle of Ely, in the county of Cambridge: and of the circumjacent towns and villages, the drainage of the great level of the fens, the origin of the royal franchise of the Isle of Ely ( H. and J. Leach, 1827) page 575.
  7. St Huna, Priest of Ely – Michelle Ziegler
  8. Anon.LiberEliensis I.22
  9. Magna Britannia;: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain, Volume 2, Part 1 (Google eBook) Samuel Lysons (T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1808) page 266.
  10. Huna in The Oxford Dictionary of Saints.
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