| Saint Edward The Martyr—
Patron Saint of Those Named Edward "St.
Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar of England and his first wife, Ethelfleda
who died shortly after her son's birth. He was baptized by St. Dunstan and became
King in 975 on his father's death with the support of Dunstan, but against the
wishes of his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who wished the throne for her son Ethelred.
St. Edward ruled only three years when he was killed
on March 18 while hunting near Corfe Dastle, reportedly by adherents of Ethelred.
William of Malmesbury, the English historian of the twelfth century, said Elfrida
was the actual murderer. In the end, Elfrida was seized with remorse for her crime
and, retiring from the world, she built the monasteries of Amesbury and Wherwel.
St. Edward was a martyr only in the broad sense of
one who suffers an unjust death, but his cultus was considerable, encouraged by
the miracles reported from his tomb at Shaftesbury. His feast day is March 18
and still observed in the diocese of Plymouth." Prayer
to St. Edward
"O God, who called your servant St. Edward to an an
earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave him zeal
for your Church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate
him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of
your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." | 
