ILDA (HILD), saint. — Born in Northumbria (England) in 614; died in the monastery of Streaneshalch, where she was abbess, on 17 Nov. 680.
Daughter of the nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria, she embraced the faith following the preaching of Paulinus of York
in 627; at the age of thirty-three she entered monastic life; after intending to join her sister Heresuinde at the monastery of Chelles in France, she was kept in her native land by Bishop Aedan. She was abbess of the double monastery of Herepool, then of the monastery of Newton Kyme. When, in 658, the double monastery (male and female) of Streneshalch was built under her direction, she became its abbess until her death. The men's monastery was a centre of serious ecclesiastical formation, from which many bishops for England emerged. From 674 until her death she endured long illnesses with heroic patience. Feast day: 17 Nov.