Feast Day ~ October 12
Not every saint of the Church has been universally loved. Many have had enemies – even other Christians – who opposed them for some reason, who did not share their ideas for missionary work or monastic practices, or any number of other things. We have to remember that what is required of us is faithfulness to Christ and His teachings, not whether we are popular or successful.
St. Wilfrid of York is a prime example of a saint who was constantly in conflict with others – kings, monks, bishops – but who, through all of these conflicts, converted pagans, established monasteries, and did everything he could to build up the Christian faith in 7th century Britain.
Born around 634, Wilfrid came from an aristocratic Northumbrian family who may have given him high expectations for social prominence. Throughout his life, he was patronized by royalty, beginning with Queen Eanflead, wife of King Oswiu, at whose court Wilfrid sought acceptance after an argument with his step-father (probably his first conflict) caused him to leave home at the age of 14. The queen sent him to the monastery on Lindisfarne to study and later gave him letters of introduction to royal family members at the court of Kent. There, Wilfrid met another young nobleman, Benedict Biscop, who would later establish and beautify the monasteries at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. The two embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome in the year 652, the first such pilgrimage by Anglo-Saxons on record.
A stop along the way of this pilgrimage was Lyons in Gaul and Wilfrid chose to stay here for a year while Benedict traveled on to Rome. The Archbishop of Lyons encouraged Wilfrid to marry his niece and continue to live there in some official capacity, but Wilfrid chose to complete his pilgrimage, later returning to Lyons where he was tonsured or ordained to one of the minor orders by the archbishop.
In Rome, Wilfrid’s views about religious matters were greatly broadened. At Lindisfarne, he had learned the Irish way of doing things – of church building (wood with thatch roofs), of liturgical celebration (simple and straightforward), and especially of the calculation of the date of Easter (the first Sunday after the beginning of Passover). In Rome, he saw churches which were great stone architectural wonders, he experienced services filled with much pageantry, and he learned that the rest of Christendom (outside Ireland and the north of England) celebrated Easter on a date calculated differently and mandated by the Council of Nicea in 325. He, like Benedict Biscop, learned of the importance of venerating the relics of saints in the Church and he determined to return to his native land and implement there as much of what he had seen in Rome as possible.
Back in Northumbria, Alhfrith, son of King Oswiu and a sub-king under his father’s direction, gave Wilfrid a monastery to oversee. This monastery, founded at Ripon with monks from the monastery of Melrose, was observing Irish customs in their manner of tonsure (hair shaved in the front of the head and long in the back, reminiscent of the Druid hairstyle), their liturgical style, and particularly the celebration of Easter. When the abbot, Eata, refused to change to the Roman observances at the order (no doubt not very diplomatic!) of Wilfrid, he was removed and Wilfrid, who was ordained priest shortly thereafter, became the abbot.
This was Wilfrid’s second big conflict and it put him in a position to be involved in another. Six years later (in 664), King Oswiu called for a Synod at the monastery of Whitby to discuss and resolve the differences in the dating of Easter. Those supporting the Irish practice were the king himself, Abbess Hilda, Cedd (bishop of Northumbria) and Colman, the abbot of Lindisfarne. Wilfrid was appointed to speak for the Roman method. A powerful and persuasive speaker, Wilfrid was able to convince the king and others that this diversity of practice undermined the Christian unity which the Church should be showing for missionary efforts among the still largely pagan population. He spoke of the importance of Rome as the see of Peter, who was given the “keys to the kingdom” by our Lord himself.
As a result of the decisions at Whitby, some of those who could not bring themselves to give up their “Celtic” practices removed themselves to the monastery on Iona or went back to Ireland, and Wilfrid was appointed to be bishop of Northumbria, with the see city of York. However, he refused to be consecrated by any other bishops (three are required for an episcopal consecration) because of their dubious consecrations, so he returned to Gaul for his consecration.
Another conflict arose when Wilfrid’s return was considerably delayed and Chad had been appointed bishop in his place, so Wilfrid went back to Ripon. In 669, Theodore, the Greek monk who was sent by Pope Vitalian to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, removed Chad because of his improper election and consecration and returned Wilfrid as the Bishop of Northumbria. Wilfrid performed his episcopal duties of visiting parishes, preaching and teaching with great energy, but he was criticized for dressing his household and servants in clothing fit for royalty and traveling with a retinue of warriors. The memory of the humble and much-loved Aidan, founder of the monastery on Lindisfarne, who had walked everywhere and who gave away all the gifts which he received beyond what was needed for subsistence, was still very strong.
During the next nine years, Wilfrid established more churches and founded a monastery at Hexham, recycling some of the stones from Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman fort at Corbridge. He established the Rule of St. Benedict at the monasteries of Ripon and Hexham, and was possibly the first to introduce this Rule in Britain. He was also the first in Northumbria to make written records of the gifts given to the monasteries and to have these benefactions read out at the yearly dedication ceremony.
Remembering the grand liturgical celebrations which he had witnessed in Rome and Gaul, Wilfrid sent to Kent for a singing-master who had been trained in the proper style of singing chant. Eddius arrived to teach antiphonal singing between two choirs of monks. The churches Wilfrid built had windows made by glassmakers brought from the continent and he commissioned gospel books and richly woven altar cloths. Both Ripon and Hexham had crypts built under the altars for the display of relics (probably inspired by the catacombs which he had seen in Rome). A three-day festival surrounded the consecration of the church at Ripon.
In 677 or 678, Wilfrid was involved in yet another dispute and this time, he initiated another first – one which would be used again and again centuries later. He and King Ecgfrith quarreled and the king expelled him from his diocese. Archbishop Theodore took advantage of this situation to make changes in the division of territory into dioceses, making Wilfrid’s smaller and creating new ones. Wilfrid went to Rome to appeal to the Pope against the king and the archbishop, the first Englishman to challenge a royal or ecclesiastical decision by petitioning the papacy.
When he returned to Northumbria in 680 with papal decrees in his favor in hand, Wilfrid was briefly imprisoned and then exiled by the king and took refuge in Sussex. Wilfrid spent the next five years preaching to, and converting the pagan inhabitants there, and he founded Selsey Abbey. St. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, says that Wilfrid’s success was due to the fact that there had been a three-year drought in Sussex which ended abruptly with his arrival; when he began teaching and baptizing, the rain began to fall! During this time in Sussex, Wilfrid and Archbishop Theodore were reconciled.
Bishop Wilfrid returned to York, but in 691, another dispute arose with the then King Aldfrith, and he went into exile in Mercia. In 700, Wilfrid again appealed to the Pope (Sergius I) who referred the whole issue back to a council in England. That council, convened in 702 by King Aldfrith, upheld Wilfrid’s expulsion, confining his authority to the monastery at Ripon. After several more contentious years, Wilfrid was restored to both Ripon and Hexham in 706 but, having suffered several strokes, he declined to return to York as bishop.
St. Wilfrid ended his long, arduous earthly pilgrimage in 709, having spent seventy-five years laboring to bring about conversions to Christianity, to build churches and to establish monasteries. His many conflicts were eclipsed by these good works and he very soon became venerated as a saint of the Church. Through the prayers of St. Wilfrid, may our good works outshine our many disputes and disagreements. Holy Wilfrid, pray for us.
Resources: Ecclesiastical History of the English People by St. Bede the Venerable; The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Saints by Rev. Alban Butler; Cuthbert and the Northumbrian Saints by Paul Frodsham; Wikipedia article.