Saint for Saturday

 

St. Henry of Cocket

  A Danish hermit who had a hermitage on Cocket, an island off the coast of Northumbria, England. He lived under the director of the monks of Tynemouth.

Henry of Coquet (died 1127) was a Dane who lived in a hermitage on the island of Coquet, off the Northumberland coast.

Life

A Dane of noble birth, Henry is said to have been directed by a vision to make good his escape from a marriage his parents were endeavouring to force upon him, and to serve God all his days as a hermit on Coquet. He landed at Tynemouth, and obtained the prior's consent to build a small cell on the island.[1]

He died there in 1127. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. There is a stained glass window in the church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Deal, Kent, England, showing an image of 'St Henry the Dane'. He is wearing a horned helmet.[2]