Religious figure. She is well-known as the patron Saint of Oxford, England and for the miracles she performed during her lifetime. The documentation on St. Fridewide was written in two or three narratives, dated the 12th century or 400 years after the event. These narratives are difficult to read as they are written in Old English verse or Latin. They have similar but not the same details, yet all the major facts and events associated with this saint are well-documented. Born at the royal palace at Oxford, she was the daughter of Didan, the wealthy King of Lower Mercia, and Selfrida, his wife. Elgitha became her Roman Catholic studies teacher and had a tremendous influence teaching her that “Whatever is not God, is nothing”. After she became a beautiful, intelligent woman, her father gave her a plot of land at the city gates to build a church. She is credited with founding the first church in Oxford, which is on the site of the present-day Cathedral. She and twelve other maidens took the holy vows to be devoted to Jesus Christ and would remain virgins the rest of their lives. Her father then built a convent next to the church for them. Over the years, she developed a monastery with priest and nuns. Prince Aelfgar of the Royal House of Mercia and Earl of Leicester decided that he wanted Fridewide as his wife, and he was accustomed to getting whatever he wanted by any means. Fridewide refused his proposal for marriage causing Aelfgar to became angry. He rode to Oxford with the intention of stealing Fridewide against her will. An angel of the Lord appeared and warned her of the approaching of Aelfgar and to flee to the River Thames, where she would find a boat. After traveling down stream, she found a hut in an abandoned pig pen and humbly lived there for three years. There is confusion concerning the actual location of this hut, but many agree it was at Binsey, a town less than one mile from Oxford. She prayed for water and God gave her a fresh-water well nearby, and for years later, the well's blessed water was the source of a cure for blindness. The well is located at St. Margaret's Church in Binsey. The angry Aelfgar and his army of men marched to Oxford and planned to burn the city if someone did not tell him the location of the beautiful and wealthy Fridewide. At this point, she was betrayed as her whereabouts had fallen in the wrong hands. Once source tells of Aelfgar's love for her, wanting to shower her with gifts while courting her, while another source, tells of Aelfgar's anger, wanting to force himself on her and share her with all the men in his army. With God's help she returns to Oxford in the middle of the night to hide. By morning, she learns that Aelfgar was near. Too tired to run again, she prays to God for protection for herself and punishment for her persecutor. As he passed through the town gates with his army, a heaven-sent blow struck him blind. Understanding his wrongful actions, he sends a messenger to her asking for sincere forgiveness, and upon her forgiveness, his sight returns. Over her lifetime, she continues her service to God as she planned. There is documentation of her praying for the sick and many healed. It is believed that she died at Binsey. Unfortunately, all the early records of her monastery were lost in an eleventh-century fire. After her death, her body was buried in the floor of her church where it lay until 1189. It was then exhumed and placed, by the Archbishop of Canterbury Richard of Dover, on a shrine inside the newly built St. Fridewide's Priory, which is now at the Oxford Cathedral. In 1289, the shrine was replaced with the present one. King Henry VIII's wife, Katherine of Aragon, came to the shrine in 1518 to pray for the birth of a healthy son. It was the failure of her prayers to be answered that eventually led to the Reformation and the Church of England. Since this was a Roman Catholic shrine, it was destroyed in 1538 after the reformation. Her remains disappeared for several years but were discovered during the burial of a Protestant woman, Catherine Dammartin Vermigli. The two women's remains were buried entwined under the floor of the Cathedral and the site not marked. For over 1,000 years, she has been the venerated as the patron of Oxford, England and it over half the millennium, as the heavenly patroness of Oxford University and its students. In her honor there is a huge grouping of stained glass windows in the Oxford Cathedral telling her life story. Besides this grand window, there have been a half-dozen oil paintings and banners of her likeness holding the cathedral in her hand. Her name has been recorded as being spelled as Firthuwith, Fritheswithe, Fritha, or Fris. Her actual birth date is estimated between 665 and 680 AD. The church honors the anniversary of her death on October 19th each year. She is recognized as a saint by the Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church.