St. Hilda was a noblewoman who founded abbeys at Hartlepool and, later, Whitby. This latter was a double-monastery at which both men and women lived (separately) and worshipped (corporately).

In real life, Hilda is best remembered for hosting the Synod of Whitby at which she succesfully argued that the Church in Northumbria should follow the customs of the wider church in the interests of seeking better unity with other Christians. In a rather brilliant move, the modern church honours her on two separate occasions – in October, for Roman Catholics, and today, for Anglicans. In fable, she is best remembered for turning a plague of snakes into stone, a local attempt to explain the ammonites which abound on Whitby's beach. One wonders if St. Patrick tried the same trick!

Her monastery was destroyed by Vikings, but the religious life lived on in the area – as a Benedictine monastery in the Middle Ages, and in the Order of the Holy Paraclete, an order of Anglican female religious who now live in Whitby. I’ve noted their website below. Famed for her wisdom, she is a patron of culture, and especially of female learning: the Oxford college dedicated to Hilda also gave us our first female Prime Minister (whose middle name, coincidentally, is Hilda) although that probably shouldn’t be held against her… She continues an example of practical piety, wisdom and the quest for unity.

“Rooted and Grounded in Love”
The Order of the Holy Paraclete