Hieu Explained

Hieu was a 7th-century Irish abbess who worked in Northumbria. She was foundress of abbeys at Hartlepool and Healaugh in Yorkshire England. Hieu was also the first of the saintly recluses of Northumbria,^[1] and the first known woman to rule a double monastery.^{[2] [3]}

Life

Nothing is known of her early life, until she met Aidan of Lindisfarne who appointed her abbess of Hartlepool Abbey and subsequently a monastery at Healaugh near Tadcaster.^{[4] [5]}

She died at Healaugh on 12 March of an unknown year in the 7th century.^[6] It is possible that the towns of Hartlepool (Hereteu) and Healaugh are named after her.

Hieu's memorial is kept on September 2.^{[7] [8]}

References

1. [Bede]
2. Archaeologia Aeliana, xix, 47.
3. [Lina Eckenstein]
4. Michael Lapidge, & Helmut Gneuss, Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England: Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday (Cambridge University Press, 1985) page 8.
5. Susan G. Bell, Women, from the Greeks to the French Revolution, (Stanford University Press, 1980) page 103.
6. Agnes Dunbar, A Dictionary of Saintly Women (1904).
7. News: Saint Hieu. 2009-08-06. CatholicSaints.Info. 2018-02-17. en-US.
8. http://orthochristian.com/calendar/20180902.html September 2/September 15.