Ethelbrugha has never been officially recognised by the Papacy as a saint, and it is doubtful whether she actually existed. Her legend is as follows:-
Ethelbrugha was the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. Even as a young girl, she would berate her parents' relatives and guests for the immorality of their lives. This often led to her being spanked or caned, but she was in no ways deterred; and later she behaved in the same way towards prsoective husbands chosen by her father. Finally he gave up the struggle in disgust and sent her off to be a nun.
There she soon gathered round her a community of likeminded sisters, but even when she was an abbess she would still allow herself to be beaten, as a token of humility. How she died is not known.
In the 13th century an order of nuns who claimed Ethelbrugha as their inspiration was suppressed by order of Pope Innocent III because of the "scandalous" lives of its members.
Ethelbrugha is commemmorated in a handful of chaurches. She is depicted in just one late-Victorian stained-glass window, bearing her symbol, a cane. It is believed that the donor was the poet A.C.Swinburne.
A few years ago an extraordinary earthernware figurine was discovered, dating from the early 16th century. It shows Saint Ethelbrugha with her bottom bared. Scholarly debate continues on whether it was a devotional object, or the work of a Protestant artisan ridiculing her cult.
Ethelbrugha has recentlybeen hailed as the patron saint of flagellants, spankers and BDSM enthusiasts. The Vatican has yet to pronounce on the matter.
