Confessor Wilfred

Saint Wilfrid, also commonly spelled Wilfred and often styled Confessor, was a Northumbrian nobleman who became one of the most influential and controversial bishops of seventh-century England. Born of aristocratic parentage in the kingdom of Northumbria in the early 630s, he spent part of his boyhood at the royal court before entering the monastery of Lindisfarne as a teenager. Dissatisfied with the Irish customs observed there, he obtained leave to travel. After a period in Kent he went on to Rome about 653, among the earliest Northumbrians to undertake that pilgrimage. On his return he stayed several years at Lyon with Archbishop Annemund, receiving the Roman form of tonsure; he escaped the massacre in which the archbishop perished and eventually made his way home.

Back in Northumbria, Wilfrid received from Alhfrith, sub-king of Deira, the monastery of Ripon, where he established the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Roman dating of Easter, expelling monks who refused to conform. At the Synod of Whitby in 664 he was the leading spokesman for the Roman party; King Oswiu’s decision in favor of Roman practice marked a turning point for the English Church. Chosen bishop of York, Wilfrid insisted on consecration in Gaul. His long absence allowed Chad to be installed in the see. Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury later restored Wilfrid to York around 669, transferring Chad to Lichfield.

Wilfrid’s episcopal career was repeatedly disrupted by disputes with Northumbrian kings and with Theodore over the partition of the enormous diocese of York. Driven into exile on several occasions, he became the first English bishop to appeal to the papacy and obtained rulings that were only imperfectly enforced in England. During exile he worked in Mercia, evangelized the still-pagan kingdom of Sussex and founded a see at Selsey, and briefly preached in Frisia. He built ambitious stone churches at Ripon and Hexham, furnished in the Roman manner, and spread Benedictine monasticism through his foundations.

In later life Wilfrid recovered a reduced northern jurisdiction that included Hexham and Ripon. He died on 24 April 709 or 710 at his monastery of Oundle in Mercia while visiting his communities; his body was taken to Ripon for burial. A near-contemporary biography was written by Stephen of Ripon, a member of Wilfrid’s circle; Bede also narrated his career, at times more critically. A cult developed rapidly at Ripon and Hexham. Wilfrid is commemorated principally on 12 October, with 24 April observed in some calendars as the anniversary of his death.