St. Hollyberry

St. Hollyberry was an Idiri woman who became the disciple and traveling companion of St. Loomis in the years shortly before the Great Dark. Especially popular in Ensor, she is celebrated on her saint's day of Ilvius 20th as well as on Ilvius 19th, Holly Eve.

St. Hollyberry is the patron saint of queens, bellmakers, and platonic love. She is represented in Church artwork as a tall woman with dark skin and short black hair, wearing a circlet of holly leaves and berries.

Background

Although Hollyberry was the princess of a distant land far off across the sea, she had heard tales of Kalen Phoinikos and his deeds and had developed a great curiosity about those who called themselves Kalentians. After receiving a vision of a golden compass with hands of flame that guided her northwards, she left her kingdom in the hands of a trusted regent and sailed off along with a small retinue of companions, in search of the people of Kalen.

Journeying ever north, Hollyberry eventually found herself in the Honey Isles in the Sea of Salaah between Marzum and Jalanjhur. It was there that she met the wandering priest and scholar who would later be known as St. Loomis. Seeing in him the holy man she had been looking for, Hollyberry asked to become his disciple and eventually accompanied him to the kingdom of Ensor and the town then called Grey Lea, which now bears his name. Hollyberry and Loomis set out on many other travels from here, some of them lasting for more than a year, but they always returned to the little town of Grey Lea where they had founded a community which worked closely with the monks of nearby Windhaven Monastery. This community was especially important during the times of the Great Dark, when Loomis and Hollyberry and their disciples devoted themselves to keeping both the people of the area and their hope alive.

The turmoil caused by the Great Dark and the Deluge kept Hollyberry in Ensor for some years longer, but eventually the time came when she knew she must return to her own kingdom far across the waves. Bidding farewell to the people she had grown to love, and to her most beloved mentor, she gathered up those of her original retinue who wished to return with her, along with a number of Ensormen and women who also wished to go and help spread the word of Kalen. Hollyberry took with her a golden compass that was a gift from Loomis, and sailed off into the realm of legend.

Legacy

Hollyberry was canonized as a saint after her own death, which, though unwitnessed by any in the Church, was attested to by the Miracle of the Holly Tree, when the berries of the tree planted at Windhaven Manor in her honor were found to have all turned a brilliant pure white. The date of her death and of this miracle are celebrated on St. Hollyberry's Day, Ilvius 20th.

After her return to her kingdom, which became known to Kalendom as the land of Blessed-Be, Hollyberry sent back a ship bearing a gift for the people of Grey Lea. This was a set of wondrously cast bronze bells, created by the artisans of her own land, which produced beautifully sweet tones when rung. These bells were placed in a tower constructed just for them, now part of the Cathedral of the Blessed Wayfarer, and both the Hollyberry Carillon and its story are renowned to this day.

Based loosely on the memory of some letters that were also conveyed between Blessed-Be and Ensor, folk tales of Hollyberry tell how she returned to her own kingdom, where she told her people of the One God and preached His Song, and soon saw the whole land converted to the true faith. Belonging as she did to the royal line of her land and acclaimed by her people, she ascended to the throne and became a queen of immense wisdom and holiness. Although Hollyberry's kingdom has not been heard from in countless centuries, its location and people have furnished the material for numerous tales and legends.

Besides becoming a wise and learned theologian under the guidance of St. Loomis, St. Hollyberry was notable for her great curiosity and produced a number of written works at a time when few people of Ruvera, and especially few women, were able either to read or write. Most notable was the account she wrote of her travels with St. Loomis, but this along with most of her other works has largely been lost.