The Creation of St Modwens Lodge No.4850
How and Why the Lodge was formed
In the autumn of 1925 Abbey lodge No, 624 by the request of the general purposes committee held a meeting to discuss the forming of a new lodge, having a substantial membership of 121. It was felt that due to the excessive time between a brother’s initiation and undertaking his first office of Inner Guard that this was a so
und idea, after some discussion the chief difficulty seemed to be that no brother was anxious to undertake the job of organising the founders. The brother that had just been appointed as Inner Guard was approached with a request to undertake the task. When his zeal had gained the upper hand over his prudence he consented. March 2nd 1926 the Worshipful Master of Abbey Lodge Worshipful Brother Redfern gave notice to the regular brethren in attendance that at the request of the general purposes committee of Grand Lodge at the next regular meeting he would move that steps be made to form a new lodge. March 11th 1926 a committee was formed of those wishing to be founders of the new lodge, a this meeting a name was proposed for the new lodge that of “Priory” it was brought to the notice that this name may have recently been used and an alternative may be needed, it was proposed that the name St Modwens would be used and this was carried by vote. At a meeting on March 29th 1926 it was confirmed that the name priory was indeed in use by a new lodge Tutbury Priory and with it being so similar in name and very close in location the name St Modwens was adopted as the agreed name for the new lodge. During the same meeting it was after much negotiation decided that the annual subscription including rent would be £5 and 5 shillings. It was decided that that the new lodge would meet on the 4th Tuesday in each month between October and May, slightly different to how we meet today that being September to April. On 22nd June 1926 we received notification from the Grand secretary that the warrant was now complete and ready for delivery and as such preparations for the consecration should take place, the date was confirmed by Provincial Grand Lodge and the lodge was consecrated on 28th September 1926
The History of our namesake
The story of St.Modwen's or Modwenna's life and its legends has for many years been a question of conjecture, and will probably never be recorded with certainty. Two main sources of information are available: the "Vita Sanctae Monennae" written by Conchubranus, an Irish monk, sometime between AD1000 and 1050; and "Sanctae Modwennae Vita et Tractatus de Miraculis ejus" compiled by Geoffrey, Abbot of Burton, from AD1114 to 1151. She founded a convent in Faugha in County Louth in AD 630, and on coming to England, she spent some time at Whitby Abbey under the protection of King Aldfrith of Northumbria. Later around 685, on her way on a pilgrimage to Rome, she established a small community of Nuns on an island in the Trent. Conchubranus wrote that "When they reached the river called Trent, which flows past Mount Calvus, which is in English called Calvecliff (Scalpcliff) they built there a church consecrated to God and St.Andrew, which place is called Andresia, (Andresey) because it is a small island. On her return from Rome, St Modwen arranged for a church to be built on the other side of the river at the foot of Mount Calvus, dedicated to St.Peter & St.Paul (Stapenhill church). Following her death in Scotland, the remains of St Modwen were said to have been carried to Burton for interment around the year AD700. Her bones were eventually placed in a specially built shrine in the Abbey church. A Chapel on Andresey, called St.Andrew's chapel, contained her statue, with a red cow and a staff on which women in labour leaned. The statue was removed in 1538 during the Reformation and her Shrine was destroyed. "Ireland gave Modwen birth, England a grave,
Scotland her end, and God her soul shall save,
The first land life, the second death did give,
The third in earth, her earthly parts received,
Lanfortin takes whom Conall's country owns,
And happy Burton keeps the Virgin's bones." (from a description of her shrine in the old Abbey Church - 1551/1623 - translated by Shaw's History of Staffordshire). St.Modwen is reputed to have performed many amazing cures by the application of holy water from St. Modwen's (chalybeate) well in Andresey, and her burial place was a centre of pilgrimage for many years. One of the legends says that at St.Modwens death, two silver swans, emblems of chastity, rose into the air bearing the pure soul of St.Modwen to the border of the "sea of glass like unto crystal".
