Saint Winifred's Beheading

“Where’s your head at?”This is something my father asked me all throughout my childhood. Almost always when my head was somewhere it shouldn’t be. Continuing that line of thought, I’d argue that entire dissertations could be built upon contemplating the significance of just where exactly Saint Winifred’s head is at.Consider the chase. Caradog’s on the horse, sword in hand. The outside threat closes in with greater speed and force, as it often will. And Winifred was almost inside the church, wasn’t she? Her study and formal devotion to a life of faith was nearly complete. She almost made it fully in.It matters that her body collapsed just at the threshold while her head landed within the church. Recall that to the medieval Celts, the head was connected to the soul, the life force, the spiritual power of a person. So, Caradog’s outside. Winifred’s head landed inside while her body remained beyond the door. Beuno and the community are inside, and it’s from inside that they prayed for her.The well and Caradog’s fate are interesting too, aren’t they? To the Welsh and the Celts, spirituality was not confined to our thoughts, or some internal life of the mind. Fidelity to the Creator influenced creation itself. That’s why I’d argue that Winifred’s story is not merely a virtue anecdote. Her Wales was a world of mutual relationship among people, the earth, spiritual devotion, ancestry, stories, ritual and community. There’s much in our own present we’d do well to revive ourselves. Get full access to Penny Wagers at pennywagers.substack.com/subscribe