Saint Wilfrid (Wilferder) of England

Eanfled, his protectress, and Erconberht, King of Kent, to whom he communicated his design, having joined him for this purpose with Saint Benedict Biscop, he immediately set out on his journey with him. Pa ssing through Lyon, he gre l'archevêque saint Chamond Archbishop of Lyon who welcomed Wilfrid. eted the Archbishop Saint Annemund. This prelate, recognizing at once, and at the mere sight, this young man whom nature and grace had worked to make perfect, wished to keep him by his side, and made him great offers to persuade him to settle in France. But Wilfrid, who had no other thought than to give himself entirely to Jesus Christ, thanked him for the honor he showed him and continued his journey. After he was in Rome, under the pontific pontificat de Martin Ier Martyr pope sent into exile by Constans II. ate of Martin I, he visited the tomb of Saint Peter, and obtained from him a great openness of mind to learn what he wished to know, and an easy expression to be able to retell to the peoples of England what he had learned. God, who was guiding him, directed him to a holy man named Boniface, archdeacon and counselor to the Holy See, who interpreted the four Gospels allegorically for him, explained the difficulties of the paschal cycle, and showed him several other things that he had not been able to learn in his own country. Having thus been instructed in what he had proposed, he resumed his journey to England and first went to Lyon, to the holy archbishop who had shown him such kindness. He found him no less affectionate toward him than on his first visit; thus he remained three years with him, and received the clerical tonsure at his hands, to prepare himself to enter into Holy Orders. It was the design of the holy prelate to advance him therein and even to make him his successor and heir; but the violent death he endured soon after for justice stopped the execution of this project. Wilfrid wished to die with him, to have his share in the glory of martyrdom; however, as the assassins of Ebroin recognized that he was a foreigner, they did him no harm. He therefore returned to England, and, by the favor and help of Alhfrith, King of the Bernicians, he built a monastery at Stamford, and took possession of that of Ripon, which was previously occupied by Scottish monks. The eminence of his virtue and wisdom was soon known in this position.

He received Holy Orders at the hands of Agilbert, Bishop of the West Saxons. He distinguished himself in a famous conference held in the monastery of Saint Hilda, at Streaneshalch, today Whitby, in the presence of Kings Oswiu and Alhfrith, son of the former (664), regarding the time of the celebration of Easter; the Scots and the Britons wished to follow the custom of the East; our Saint vigorously defended the Roman custom there. Nothing is more remarkable than the point in the discussion where both parties equally recognize, in principle, the authority of the Holy See. Wilfrid, pointing out that Jesus Christ had said to Saint Peter: "You are Peter, etc.," Oswiu immediately said: "Do you both agree that Jesus Christ addressed these words to Saint Peter, and that in addressing them to him, He gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven?" — "Yes," they replied, "we recognize it." — "Well then!" the king replied, "I declare that I do not wish to oppose the one who guards the gate of heaven, and that I intend to obey his orders, for fear that this gate might be closed to me." The king's resolution was approved by the entire assembly. Appointe d Bishop of York, a Nommé évêque d'York English bishop who consecrated Suitbert. nd consecrated in France, Saint Wilfrid could not occupy this see until later, in 669.

As soon as he was in possession of his Church, he set to work with incredible zeal to regulate it. He introduced the frequenting of the Sacraments, the recitation of the divine offices, the use of ecclesiastical ceremonies and the preaching of the word of God, and took care to form the morals of the faithful according to the infallible rules of the Gospel: so that his diocese immediately took on a new face.

His zeal for the laws of the Church drew upon him the hatred of Egfrid, second son of Oswi. Unjustly persecuted by this prince, he embarked for Rome; but he had barely reached the sea when a storm cast him upon the coasts of Frisia. It was surely divine Providence that led him there. He was received with kindness by King Adalgise and all his people, even though they were idolaters. He preached Jesus Christ there, and had the joy of baptizing several thousands of them, thus paving the way for Saint Willibrord to establish a new church there. After spending the winter in this country, he went to Rome, where P ope Saint Agatho g pape saint Agathon Pope who exonerated Wilfrid during his first exile. ave him every sign of esteem and kindness. His cause was examined in an assembly of bishops, and his innocence appeared with such brilliance that he was restored without any difficulty to the possession of his see. He was therefore sent back to England to continue the exercise of his office; but, as the king would not allow him entry into his states, he went to the Anglo-Saxons to enlighten them with the light of the Gospel. His preaching had all the success he could hope for. Not only did he baptize a great number of them, but there were also many whom he raised to Christian perfection and led into the path of the evangelical counsels. He established the monasteries of Bosenham and Selsey in this region. Besides showering the Barbarians with spiritual blessings, he brought upon them all kinds of temporal blessings; he delivered them above all from the scourge of famine that a long drought had caused them; he procured for them, through his prayers, an abundant rain that restored a happy fertility to their lands.

However, Egfrid having died, his brother and successor, Alcfrid, recalled our Saint in 686 to his diocese. He could not govern it for long; obliged to defend ecclesiastical laws against the new king, as he had done against his predecessors, he was exiled again, five years after his reinstatement. This banishment was no less unjust than the first; John VII, who sat on the chair of Saint Peter, declared it as such in full synod; and unable to suffer that such a pastor should be separated from his flock, he issued an apostolic brief, by which he ordered his reinstatement. With this brief, Wilfrid, who had retired to Rome, returned to France to cross back into his country. While at Meaux, he fell so gravely ill that it was not believed he could recover; but God sent him the Archangel Saint Michael, who consoled him, strengthened him, and restored him to perfect health. When he returned to England, Brithwald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ethelred, who, after having left the crown to embrace religious life, had been made Abbot of Wearmouth, joined their efforts to reconcile him with his prince and to obtain the execution of the Sovereign Pontiff's judgment; but it was in vain. God permitted, for the greater perfection of our Saint, that his persecution should last as long as the life of King Alcfrid, and that he could only return to his see under the reign of Osred, his son, who succeeded him. Then he applied himself with more fervor and tranquility to the contemplation of eternal truths and to settling the accounts of his whole life to appear before the judgment of God; which he usually did in the monastery of Undalum (today Oundle). Finally, God wishing to reward him for his labors and sufferings, he rendered his spirit in that same monastery, on April 24, 709, in the midst of the troop of holy religious he had assembled there, and his body was carried to his former convent of Rippon.

This monastery having been destroyed subsequently, his relics were for the most part transferred to the cathedral of Canterbury and deposited under the main altar of that church in 959. Lanfranc had them enclosed in a shrine, and Saint Anselm placed them to the north of the same altar on October 12. From then on, the principal feast of the Saint began to be celebrated on this day, whereas it had previously been held on April 24, as seen in the ancient missal of the British church kept at Jumièges; in the ancient calendar of Saint Maximus; in the martyrology in verse by martyrologe en vers de Bède Hagiographer whose martyrology attests to the antiquity of the cult. Bede, published by d'Achéry; and in the ancient English martyrologies. It is said that the relics of Saint Wilfrid are currently near the tomb of the famous Cardinal Pole.

He is depicted resurrecting a child to give him baptism.

Father Gley had composed his account based on Bede; we have completed it with the Bollandists, Peck, *History of Stamford*, Lingard, and above all Alban Butler.