Saint Eskil

Saint Eskil was an Anglo-Saxon monk particularly venerated during the end of the 11th century in the Province of Södermanland, Sweden. He was the founder of the first Diocese of the lands surrounding Lake Mälaren, today the Diocese of Strängnäs. He is the patron saint of Södermanland and the Diocese of Strängnäs.

Saint Eskil was sent as a Missionary Bishop to the Lake Mälaren landscapes by Saint Sigfrid of Växjö along with Saint Botvid and Saint David. Botvid lies buried in Botkyrka, today a suburb of Stockholm in the east of Södermanland. All three saints are known to have perished trying to Christianize the people living around Lake Mälaren and both Eskil and Botvid have been made patron saints of Södermanland County. David has been made patron saint of Västerås and the province of Västmanland. They all are sources of several medieval legends.

Saint Eskil made the village of Tuna (present day Eskilstuna) his missionary diocese and later, around 1080, he made a 30 kilometre journey east of Tuna to Strängnäs, an Old Norse holy place. Saint Eskil was stoned to death, according to tradition, because he disrupted a holy ritual. Saint Eskil's followers decided to take his corpse back to Tuna. The local tradition says that during that journey, his body was placed on the ground and that a miraculous spring gushed from that spot, and started to flow out of the mountain side just outside Strängnäs. The spring is known as the Spring of Saint Eskil.

Saint Eskil was buried in his monastery in Tuna. Strängnäs was later converted into Christianity and the diocese that Eskil had created in Tuna was moved or re-created in Strängnäs.