St Werburgh – who went on to become Chester’s patron saint – tamed a flock of geese… and raised one from the dead
Chester Cathedral is a place of quiet stone and echoing footsteps – but its patron saint is anything but ordinary.
St Werburgh, the daughter of a 7th-century Mercian king, is remembered not for battles or martyrdom but for something far stranger: she once punished a flock of geese, lectured them like wayward children… and then brought one of them back from the dead.
It is a tale so odd it feels like folklore – and yet, for over a thousand years, pilgrims have come to Chester to venerate her name.
The Princess Who Became a Saint
Werburgh was born around 650 AD, the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia. A princess with power at her feet, she turned her back on wealth and courtly life to become a Benedictine nun.
Her devotion was legendary. Werburgh rose to become an abbess, governing convents at Ely, Hanbury, and Weedon. But it was in Hanbury that the miracle – the one that would follow her for all eternity – took place.
The story goes like this.
A flock of wild geese had been raiding the convent gardens, eating crops and causing havoc. Instead of chasing them away, Werburgh summoned the birds. To the astonishment of the nuns, the geese came.
Lining up in front of her, necks bent and wings still, they stood like a court of feathered criminals awaiting judgement.
Werburgh scolded them. She ordered them to leave and never return – and they obeyed.
But one servant, disbelieving or perhaps greedy, caught and killed a goose for supper.
When Werburgh discovered this, she did something that defied reason: she took the dead bird, prayed, and restored it to life.
The flock, now tamed, followed her every command. From then on, the geese of Hanbury were hers.
Werburgh died around 700 AD and was buried at Hanbury. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage. The sick came for healing. Farmers prayed for her blessing over their animals.
When Viking raids threatened the Midlands, her relics were carried to Chester for safekeeping. There they remained, enshrined in the great church that would one day become Chester Cathedral.
By the Middle Ages, her shrine glittered with offerings. Pilgrims wore badges stamped with geese – a reminder of the saint who tamed the wild.
St Werburgh’s Legacy
Today, St Werburgh’s shrine is long gone – destroyed during the Reformation – but her name has never left Chester.
Some say her spirit still walks the cathedral cloisters, a silent guardian of the city. Others claim that in the stillness of night, you can hear the faint rustle of wings… as if her spectral geese still keep her company.
Whether miracle or myth, St Werburgh’s story lingers like a half-forgotten prayer.
And in Chester, where the River Dee flows past the swans and the ancient stones, you will still find her – the princess who once put a flock of geese in their place and became a legend.
Discover other British and Irish saints on Spooky Isles
Have you ever seen anything strange in Chester? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!
Love this story! Thank you so much for sharing this.