Saint Wilfrid

Wilfrid
Born	c. 634, Northumbria
Died	April 24 709, Oundle, Northamptonshire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion
Major shrine	Ripon, Sompting (Sussex), and Frisia (Roeder).
Feast	October 12April 24
Attributes	(1) baptizing; (2) preaching; (3) landing from a ship and received by the king; or (4) engaged in theological disputation with his crozier near him and a lectern before him
Patronage	Diocese of Middlesbrough; Ripon[1]
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Wilfrid (c. 634 - April 24, 709) was an English bishop and saint.

Life

Early life

He was born of good parentage in Northumbria, possibly near Ripon in Yorkshire.^[2] When serving in King Oswiu's court, he attracted the notice of the queen, Eanfled who, fostering his inclination for a religious life, placed him under the care of an old noble, Cudda, now a monk at Lindisfarne. Later on Eanfled enabled him to visit Rome in the company of Benedict Biscop and Acca.^[1] At Lyon Wilfrid's pleasing features and quick intelligence made Annemund, the archbishop, desire to adopt him and marry him to his niece. Resisting his offers, the youth went on to Rome, received the papal benediction, and then, in accordance with his promise, returned to Lyon, where he stayed for three years, till the murder of his patron, whose fate the executioners would not let him share. On his return home in 658, Oswiu's son Alchfrith gave him a monastery at Ripon,^[2][3] and, before long, Agilbert, bishop of the Gewissæ, or West Saxons, ordained him priest.

Whitby and York

He was probably already regarded as the leading exponent of the Roman discipline in England^[2] when his speech at the council of Whitby determined the overthrow of the Celtic party in 664.^[3] About a year later he was consecrated to the see of York,^[4] not, however, in Northumbria, since he refused consecration at the hands of the Celtic Church,^[1] but at Compiègne, Agilbert being now bishop of Paris. On his return journey he narrowly escaped the pagan wreckers of Sussex, and only reached his own country to find Ceadda (St Chad) installed in his see of York.^[2] For three years from 665 to 668 he ruled his monastery at Ripon in peace, though acting as bishop in Mercia and Kent during vacancies in sees there. On the arrival of Theodore in 669, newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, he was installed finally in his see,^[4] and there spent nine years of ceaseless activity, especially in building churches, including the monastery at Hexham.

Expulsion

In 678, in the words of Bede:

a dissension broke out between King Egfrid and the most reverend prelate, Wilfrid, who was driven from his see, and two bishops substituted in his stead, to preside over the nation of the Northumbrians, namely, Bosa, to preside over the nation of the Deiri, with his seat in York; and Eata over that of the Bernicians, with his see in the church of Hexham, or else Lindisfarne; both of them promoted to the episcopal dignity from a society of monks. With them also was Edhed ordained bishop in the province of Lindsey, which King Egfrid had only just conquered, having overcome and vanquished Wulfhere; and this was the first bishop of its own which that province had.... Before Edhed, Sexwulf was bishop as well of that province as of the Mercians and Midland Angles; so that, when expelled from Lindsey, he continued in the government of those provinces. Edhed, Bosa, and Eata, were ordained at York by Archbishop Theodore; who also, three years after the departure of Wilfrid, added two bishops to their number; Tumbert, in the church of Hexham, Eata still continuing in that of Lindisfarne; and Trumwine in the province of the Picts which at that time was subject to the English. Edhed returning from Lindsey, because Ethelred had recovered that province, was placed by him over the church of Ripon.^[5]

Egfrid's second wife Eormenburg disliked Wilfrid, and she probably persuaded her husband to take a hard line with the bishop.^[3] Wilfrid went to Rome in 679 to appeal Theodore's decision.^[2] On the way he sojourned at the court of Aldgisl, the Frisian king in Utrecht. Pope Agatho held a synod in October, 679 where he ordered his restoration.^[2] Wilfrid must have been in Austrasia at this time, because according to his biographer Eddius Stephanus, Wilfrid left Austrasia after the death of Dagobert II, in mortal danger from the supporters of Duke Ebroin. In 680, Wilfrid appeared before a Witenagemot and produced his papal bull ordering his restoration, but he was briefly imprisoned and then exiled.^[6] Once again, Egfrid and his wife's attitude towards Wilfrid heavily influenced the decision to exile the bishop.^[3] After this, he took refuge in Sussex, preaching, converting, founding Selsey Abbey^[2] and possibly baptising St Cuthman.^[7]

In 686, Wilfrid was finally recalled to York.^[4] After 687 his nephew Beornwine was given part of the Isle of Wight to help convert the island to Christianity.^[8] In 691, the subdivision issue arose once more, along with quarrels with the new king Aldfrith who was a supporter of the Celtic Church,^[3] and Wilfrid left the area for the midlands.^[4]

Resignation and death

In 703, he resigned his post as bishop, and retired to the monastery at Ripon, where he lived in prayer and penitence until his death at Oundle, Northamptonshire, in 709, while on a visitation of monasteries he had founded in Mercia.^[2] Before his death, he also served as spiritual advisor to the young king Osred of Northumbria.^[3]

He was one of the first bishops to bring relics of saints back from Rome, and his biographer Stephanus implied that Wilfrid was the first person to have legally obtained body parts as relics, as the papacy was trying to restrict the relics being removed from Rome to things that had come in contact with the bodily remains such as dust and cloth.^[9]

His feast day is October 12^[1] or on April 24.^[2] He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion.

See also

• Eddius Stephanus, Wilfrid's biographer
• Preston, founded by Wilfrid?

Notes

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Ashely, Mike. The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf. 1998. ISBN 0796706929
• Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Translated by Leo Sherley-Price. London: Penguin Books. 1988. ISBN 0140440429
• Lawrence, C. H. ed. The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. 1999. ISBN 0750919477
• Lyon, Bryce. A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England. New York: Norton. 1980. ISBN 03939581324
• Ortenberg, Veronica. "The Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy". in Lawrence, C. H. ed. The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages Stroud: Sutton Publishing 1999. ISBN 0750919477
• "Patron Saint Index entry on Saint Wilfrid" - at Catholic-Forum.com - accessed on September 12, 2007
• Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde. Handbook of British Chronology. London: Royal Historical Society. 1961.
• Walsh, Michael. A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oates. 2007. ISBN 086012438X

External links

• His epitaph, from Bede
• Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England entry for Wilfrid

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