Hildelitha was one of the first Englishwomen to become a nun, going to a convent in France because England had none yet. When St. Erkonwald founded Chertsey for himself and Barking in Essex for his sister Ethelburga, he called Hildelitha from France to train Ethelburga in religious life.

Ethelburga became the first abbess, and when she died Hildelitha succeeded her. Bede (the English monk-historian, d. 735) praises her piety, St. Aldhelm dedicated his treatise on virginity to her, and St. Boniface wrote of the great things he had heard of her. She died at a good old age.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 183 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

Hildelitha was one of the first virgins of the English nation who consecrated herself a spouse to Christ, going abroad to a French monastery, there being, at that time, none in England. When S. Erkonwald had founded the monastery of Chertsey for himself, and the convent of Barking, in Essex, for his sister Ethelburga, he sent to France for S. Hildelitha, and committed his sister to her care, to be by her instructed in monastic discipline. Thus S. Ethelburga herself, who was the first abbess of Barking, was a disciple of S. Hildelitha, though she died before her, and was succeeded by her in the government of the community.