If the “violently aggressive paganism” can be exchanged for “violent aggression,” I wholly agree. The spokesman lamented that: “If ever there was a ‘Saint for our times’ it is Lewinna: a young woman prepared to give everything…in the face of a violently aggressive paganism and in a male-dominated world.” Many would just as soon leave Lewinna where she is – forgotten.”
In 2011, a spokesman of the Society of Saint Lewinna reported in the West Sussex County Times that the response from “some C of E circles was not encouraging. There have been attempts to revive interest in St Lewinna in recent years. It’s not inconceivable that this is because of Lewinna’s gender, considering the male-orientated past and present. In contrast to St Wilfrid, who has attained some fame, St Lewinna is almost totally unknown and largely forgotten. Not only is Lewinna the first named female in Sussex historical records, she is also Sussex’s first and only female saint. What can be concluded to be likely is that a young girl named Lewinna/Leofwynn lived around this time, met an untimely, violent death, and became part of the county’s history. No doubt this was considered a small miracle, but I have some reservations about coastal residents (settled there for a quarter of a century) not having a single clue that the sea contains fish which can be caught for food. One account of St Wilfrid, for example, claims that the South Saxons living in the seaside settlement of Selsey were so dim the Yorkshireman had to teach them how to fish. The accuracy of these records are disputable. Some say Viking raiders, others South Saxon Pagans. There are different accounts as to who was responsible for the gristly deed.
She was martyred sometime around 675 – 690 AD, possible by having her skull struck by an axe. Lewinna met a rather gruesome Pagan response to her faith. She was active in Sussex in her early teens, around the time St Wilfrid arrived to bring Christianity to the South Saxons.
Saint Lewinna, also known as Leofwynn of Bishopstone, is a 7 th century female Sussex saint.
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