Begu of Hackness

Holy Venerable Begu of Hackness was a nun at the nunnery of Hackness, near Scarborough in Yorkshire in England, founded by Saint Hilda of Whitby shortly before her repose. She fell asleep in the Lord on 31 October 690 (her record gives around 660). She is a saint of the undivided Church.

According to Saint Bede, Begu was the one who said she saw Hilda's soul borne to heaven by angels at the moment of Hilda's repose, on 17 November 680. Tradition says the bells tolled then; Begu awoke and, while her sisters slept, saw the roof of the house open and the abbess's soul ascend. The nuns awoke and prayed for the soul of the blessed abbess until, at dawn, some monks arrived with the news of her death. Many years after Begu's own death, the monks of Whitby were seeking holy relics to replace those of Hilda, which had been moved to Glastonbury because of the Viking raids of the 10th century. Through a supposed revelation, a sarcophagus was uncovered at Hackness bearing the inscription Hoc est sepulchrum Begu; its contents were taken to Whitby, where miracles were soon reported.

She is commemorated on 31 October, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).