'Seo fæmne þa lærde swa lange þone cniht oðþæt he ge-lyfde on þone lifigendan god': The Christian Wife as Converter and Ælfric's Anglo-Saxon Audience'

Ælfric's translation and adaptation of the traditional Latin Life of Cecilia in his Old English Lives of Saints foregrounds the theme of Christian conversion as it recounts the story of Cecilia, who, forced into marriage despite having dedicated herself to Christ, maintains her virginity and converts her husband to Christianity. As a document showing a woman who is both a virgin and a wife preaching the importance of simple faith in Christian conversion and salvation, at the social and communal level it recalls the important role women played in the Christianisation of England and serves as a particularly effective didactic and celebratory tool for Anglo-Saxon female monastic readers and listeners. Significantly, this segment of Æltric's audience contained not only the traditional virgin brides of Christ but also widowed or divorced wives, so that Cecilia's example at the personal and individual level reinforced and glorified a broad range of female Christian vocation.