jeudi 19 janvier 2017

Saint WULFSTAN (WULSTAN, WOLSTAN) de WORCESTER, prieur bénédictin et évêque


Saint Wulfstan

Évêque de Worcester et archevêque d'York (+ 1095)

ou Vulstan.

Évêque de Worcester, les historiens anglais le tiennent pour une des grandes figures de son époque. Par son amour de la justice, par ses vertus et son courage, il s'était acquis l'admiration de tous. Il fonda beaucoup d'écoles, releva le niveau moral du clergé, contribua à l'abolition de l'esclavage. Il avait un certain goût de la liberté. Alors qu'il était abbé de son monastère, il autorisait les moines qui craignaient de s'enrhumer à garder les cheveux longs et non pas la tonsure. En hiver, lui-même portait un gilet en peau d'agneau, alors que les moines l'avaient en peau de chat. A un moine qui lui demandait pourquoi il se singularisait, il répondit: "On dit bien : agneau de Dieu, aie pitié de moi... et non pas chat de Dieu..."

À Worcester en Angleterre, l’an 1095, saint Wulstan, évêque. Prieur du monastère de la cathédrale, il fut élevé sur le siège épiscopal et joignit les habitudes de vie monastique au zèle du pasteur: il mit le plus grand soin à visiter les paroisses, à inciter à la construction d’églises, à favoriser les lettres, ainsi qu’à condamner les marchands d’esclaves.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/466/Saint-Wulfstan.html

St Wulstan, Fleetwood, near to Fleetwood, Lancashire, Great Britain.

Saint Wulstan of Worcester


Also known as

  • Vulstano
  • Wolstan
  • Wulfstan

Memorial

Profile

Son of Athelstan and Wulfgeva, he was known as a pious youth. Studied at the monasteries of Evesham and Petersborough. When Wulstan was grown, but still a young man, his parents joined separate monasteries in Worcester, England. Priest who led his parish by good example. Monk in Worcester. Taught catechism to children, and served as church treasurer. Bishop of Worcester in 1062. Known for inspirational preaching, great humility, and asceticism. One of the first bishops in England to make pastoral visits to the parishes of his diocese. Influential in ending the sale of Irish prisoners as slaves in England.

Born

Died

  • 1095 of natural causes

Canonized

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Wulstan of Worcester“. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 November 2020. Web. 18 December 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/tag/name-wulstan/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/tag/name-wulstan/


Wulfstan of Worcester, OSB B (AC)

(also known as Wulstan, Ulfstan)

Born at Long Itchington (Icentum), Warwickshire, England, c. 1008; died in Worcester, England, 1095; canonized in 1203 by Pope Innocent III; feast of his translation June 7.

In his youth, Wulfstan is said to have perceived himself so besieged by lust upon seeing a woman dance that he threw himself into a thicket and beseeched God with contrition. From that time he was gifted with constant watchfulness over his senses, which prevented him from being similarly tempted thereafter.

Wulstan of Worcester, last of the Anglo-Saxon bishops, was educated at the monastic schools of Evesham and Peterborough, where he excelled in piety and sports. His parents, Athelstan and Wulfgeva, are said to have taken monastic habits at Worcester by mutual consent. Wulfstan was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Brihtheah of Worcester, in whose household he lived prior to his ordination. He was offered a richly endowed parish, but refused it. He served for a time as vicar of a parish near Chipping Sodbury.

He is said to have practiced greater austerities in the world than most monks in their monasteries. At first he permitted meat in his diet. But when he was one day distracted from saying Mass by the smell of roasting meat in the kitchen, he forsook eating any flesh in the future. Soon thereafter he entered the monastery of Worcester cathedral, where he was remarkable for the innocence and sanctity of his life. Wulfstan served the community as schoolmaster, and then, in turn, held the offices of precentor, sacristan, and prior of this small community of 12 monks. As precentor and sacristan he devoted himself totally to prayer and watched whole nights in the church.

As prior of the house, he restored its fortunes, religious and temporal. He regained lands which had been alienated, reformed its finances, and improved the monastic observance. He was not renowned as a scholar and wrote no theology, but was a great evangelist who drew crowds and moved them to tears by his preaching. He also had great pastoral qualities, which so impressed his superiors that when the bishopric of Worcester fell vacant in 1062 (because of Aldred's promotion to the diocese of York), he was nominated by the papal legates and approved by King Saint Edward and his council.

With characteristic humility, Wulfstan initially shrank from such high preferment, but finally accepted it under obedience. Upon his consecration by Aldred of York just four years before the Normans conquered England, he rejoiced in the fuller opportunities it offered for the exercise of his pastoral gifts. His unique talents allowed him effectively to combine governance of the monastery and his diocese. The monk Coleman, Wulfstan's biographer, described the bishop as "of middle height . . . always in good health . . . neither lavish nor niggardly in the choice of clothes and in his general standard of living."

Beloved by all, in the midst of a busy life he preserved the simple habits of a monk and the zeal of an evangelist, nor were any who sought his help turned from his door. "Troubled by people!" he exclaimed to those who remonstrated with him because he was always so accessible. "Why, that is what I am here for." Yet for all his humility he found it difficult to suffer fools gladly, and on one occasion when pestered by a titled woman who wasted his time with her pious chatter, he rounded on her and boxed her ears. Not even the saints are perfect.

He was an able administrator and a great church builder. He encouraged the building of churches on his own manors and on those of lay lords, and also rebuilt part of Worcester Cathedral (c. 1086). He said, "The men of old, if they had not stately buildings were themselves a sacrifice to God, whereas we pile up stones, and neglect souls." To rectify this, his days were primarily occupied in extensive visitation throughout his wide diocese and in crowded confirmation services which would last throughout the whole of a summer's day. He was the first English bishop to regularly visit all portions of his diocese, which he did in the company of two clerks--one carrying alms and the other the oil of confirmation.

As he travelled from place to place, he recited his psalter, and he never passed a church or chapel without stopping to pour out his soul before the altar with tears, which seemed to be always ready in his eyes for prayer. He has been called the Bishop of the Market-Place because of his plain and homely speech. He loved nothing better than to sit in the porches of the churches he visited and to talk kindly to the village people and gather the children round him.

Always outspoken, he rebuked the headstrong King Harold, who once walked 30 miles out of his way to make confession and receive Wulfstan's blessing. Wulfstan also withstood Blessed Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who at first tried to remove him.

In 1066, King Harold sent Wulfstan as his representative to Northumbria to ensure their loyal support. Wulfstan, obviously, was unsuccessful, but not blameworthy. After the Battle of Hastings, which he recognized as decisive, he was one of the first bishops to acknowledge William the Conqueror.

As the Normans spread across the country, appropriating property, despising the Anglo-Saxons as inferior, and taking over bishoprics and abbeys, Wulfstan preserved a rugged independence. He called the Normans 'the Scourge of God' and refused to surrender his cathedral. The Normans downplayed the cults of the Saxon saints. Wulfstan, therefore, in order to prevent the faith and culture of the poor from being eroded, showed heightened devotion to indigenous saints, such as King Saint Oswald, Venerable Saint Bede (to whom he dedicated a church), Dunstan, and a predecessor in the see of Worcester, Bishop Saint Oswald, whose abstinence and generosity to the poor Wulfstan imitated and surpassed.

A man of simplicity, he was accused of being unfit to be a bishop at the synod at Westminster but eventually, though speaking no French, he convinced all of his ability, and succeeded in being left in possession. Apparently, he convinced them by a miracle. When ordered to give up his crozier, he sunk it into the stone tomb of King Edward, who had insisted upon his consecration, and no one could remove it except Wulfstan.

He was one of the few Anglo-Saxon bishops allowed to retain his see, perhaps because he tried to alleviate public unrest over the oppression of the Normans. He gained the respect of William the Conqueror and helped him against the barons during an uprising in 1074. (Later, in 1088, he supported William II against the barons and Welsh, providing for the defense of Worcester Castle.) They considered him simple and old-fashioned, but he was more than a match for them. Eventually, he was so trusted that Lanfranc commissioned him to make the visitation of the diocese of Chester as his deputy.

Among his greatest achievements was his successful crusade against the Irish slave trade, the profits from which helped to swell the royal exchequer. Slaves in large numbers were brought from Ireland and sold in Bristol and elsewhere. Stirred by its inhumanity and encouraged by Lanfranc, who also worked toward this end, he opposed it on Christian grounds and, after bold and fierce denunciation, secured its abolition. For months on end he preached at the slave market in Bristol against the inhumanity of selling the poor into slavery to repay a debt. He was the first Englishman who helped to free the slave.

Wulfstan supported Lanfranc's policy of reform. Worcester became a suffragan see to Canterbury, ending its earlier ambivalent relation to York (often the bishop of York retained the see of Worcester). He also zealously enforced the discipline of priestly celibacy (a thankless task in those days), refounded the monastery at Westbury-on-Trym, and insisted upon the use of stone, not wood, for altars. He was scandalized to learn that priests required a fee to baptize children, and stopped this simonous practice.

Although Wulfstan was not an especially educated man himself, he encouraged learning among his clergy. (It should be noted, however, that a late legend implying that he was poorly educated is false. Contemporary evidence suggests he had an average education for an Anglo-Saxon bishop of his day.) Wulfstan sent his favorite disciple to Canterbury for further education and contact between the two communities was fostered by Eadmer. It is interesting to note that in his cathedral he would comment in English on the Latin reading. During his episcopate, Worcester became one of the most important centers of Old English literature and culture.

He showed the most tender care for penitents, and often wept over them while they confessed their sins to him. On Holy Thursday he would distribute food and clothing to the poor, hear public confessions, and then share a meal with the shriven penitents--a sign of the heavenly banquet.

Wulstan had a great love of the poor. Each Sunday in Lent he washed, fed, and clothed them. One year he ordered each estate to contribute clothing for one, shoes for ten, and food for 100. He remained humble and taught others the same. Noblemen sent them their sons to him to be educated and one of their greatest lessons was in humility. He always invited the poor to dine with them and insisted the young men in his charge personally serve the poor at table as honored guests.

Professor David Knowles writes of Saint Wulfstan, "He is, indeed, a most attractive figure, too little known to his countrymen . . .; the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the [early] bishops of pure English blood and culture."

He lived to the great age of 87 and served as bishop for 32 years, seeking neither rest nor retirement, loved to the end by his own people, and respected by their Norman conquerors. In 1095, Wulfstan appeared in a vision to his friend Robert, bishop of Hereford, bidding him to come to Worcester where he would die. He died while engaged in his daily practice of washing the feet of twelve poor men.

Miracles were reported at his tomb almost at once. From 1200, full and detailed records of the cures were kept in preparation for his canonization, which was granted by Pope Innocent III. William Rufus had Wulfstan's tomb covered with gold and silver. King John asked to be buried near him. His relics were translated in 1198. In 1216, the precious metals of his tomb were removed to pay a levy of 300 marks to Prince Louis of France. His relics were translated to a more magnificent shrine in 1218. At that time, Abbot William of Saint Albans removed one of the saint's ribs, took it back to the abbey, and built a shrine over it. In 1273, Edward I made a thanksgiving at Wulfstan's shrine after the conquest of Wales. Although only one church dedication honors his memory, his feast day is widely celebrated on monastic and diocesan calendars (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Knowles, Lamb, Markus, Walsh, White).

In art Saint Wulstan is a bishop fixing his crozier in the tomb of Saint Edward the Confessor with the devil behind him. He may also be shown (1) appearing to the king for judgment at the tomb of Saint Edward; (2) offering up Worcester Cathedral at the altar; or (3) in episcopal vestments, a monk presents charter and seal to him (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0119.shtml

Venerated at Long Itchington, Evesham, and Peterborough. Wulstan is the patron of peasants (Roeder). 


St. Wolstan
Benedictine, and Bishop of Worcester, b. at Long Itchington, Warwickshire, England, about 1008; d. at Worcester, 19 January, 1095. Educated at the great monastic schools of Evesham and Peterborough, he resolutely combated and overcame the temptations of his youth, and entered the service of Brithege, Bishop of Worcester, who ordained him priest about 1038. Refusing all ecclesiastical preferment, he became a novice in the great priory of Worcester, and after holding various offices in the monastery became cathedral prior there. He held this position, edifying all by his charity, holiness of life, and strict observance of the rule, until 1062, when the See of Worcester fell vacant by the translation of Bishop Aldred to the Archbishopric of York. Two Roman cardinals, who had been Wolstan's guests at Worcester during Lent, recommended the holy prior to King Edward for the vacant see, to which he was consecrated on 8 September, 1062. Not a man of special learning or commanding intellect, he devoted his whole life to the care of his diocese, visiting, preaching, and confirming without intermission, rebuilding his cathedral in the simple Saxon style, planting new churches everywhere, and retaining the ascetic personal habits which he had acquired in the cloister. His life, notwithstanding his assiduous labours, was one of continuous prayer and recollection; the Psalms were always on his lips, and he recited the Divine Office aloud with his attendants as he rode through the country in discharge of his episcopal duties. Wolstan was the last English bishop appointed under a Saxon king, the last episcopal representative of the Church of Bede and of Cuthbert, and the link between it and the Church of Lanfranc and Anselm. After the Conquest, when nearly all the Saxon nobles and clergy were deprived of their offices and honours in favour of the Normans, Wolstan retained his see, and gradually won the esteem and confidence both of Lanfranc and of the Conqueror himself. Ælred of Rievaulx tells the legend of his being called upon to resign his bishopric, and of his laying his crozier on the tomb of Edward the Confessor at Westminster. The crozier remained immoveable — a sign from heaven, as was believed, that the holy bishop was to retain his see. He survived both William the Conqueror and Lanfranc, and was one of the consecrators of St. Anselm.

 Hunter-Blair, Oswald. "St. Wolstan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 19 Jan. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15687a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Charlie Martin.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

St. Wulfstan of Worcester (Feast: January 19)

Wulfstan (Wulstan) was a native of Warwickshire, England.

After his priestly ordination, he became a novice at the monastery of Worcester where he edified all by the innocence and sanctity of his life. He was assiduous at prayer, often watching all night in church.

The first task assigned to him at the monastery was the instruction of children, then treasurer and eventually - though against his fierce resistance - he was made prior. In 1062, he was elected Bishop of Worcester.

Wulfstan was a powerful preacher, often moving his audience to tears.

To his vigorous action is particularly attributed the suppression of the heinous practice among the citizens of Bristol of kidnapping men into slavery and shipping them over to Ireland. St. Patrick who became the great apostle and patron of the Irish was such a slave in his youth.

After the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror was initially uncertain about Wulfstan. But acknowledging his capacity and uprightness, Wulfstan was the only bishop William retained at his post under the new rule.

For the next thirty years Wulfstan rebuilt his cathedral, cared for the poor and put forth great effort in alleviating the harsh decrees of the Normans upon the vanquished Saxons. Whenever the English complained of the oppression of the Normans, Wulfstan told them: “This is a scourge of God for our sins, which we must bear with patience.”

The saintly bishop died on January 19 at eighty-seven years of age after washing the feet of a dozen poor men, a humble ritual he performed daily. He was canonized in 1203.

SOURCE : https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Saints-Heroes/st-wulfstan-of-worcester.html


Worcester Cathedral


Irish pilgrims and the medieval shrine of St Wulstan at Worcester

Jan21by pilgrimagemedievalireland

St Wulfstan of Worcester

The 19th of January is the feast day of St Wulfstan (also known as Wulstan or  Wolstan) an 11th century Anglo-Saxon saint associated with Worcester. This post sets out to explore the saint’s connections with Ireland.

St Wulfstan (Image taken http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/weekly_digests/st-wulfstan-19th-january)

Wulfstan was born in the year 1008 at Long Itchington, Warwickshire.  As a young man he entered the priory of Worcester as a novice, he went on to become the cathedral prior before becoming the Bishop of Worcester in 1062. He had a reputation as a pious man.

He devoted his whole life to the care of his diocese, visiting, preaching, and confirming without intermission, rebuilding his cathedral  in the simple Saxon style, planting new churches everywhere, and retaining the ascetic personal habits which he had acquired in the cloister.  His life, notwithstanding his assiduous labours, was one of continuous prayer and recollection; the Psalms were always on his lips, and he recited the Divine Office aloud with his attendants as he rode through the country in discharge of his episcopal duties (Hunter-Blair, 1912).

Wulfstan was also a vegetarian.  It was said that once while preaching he became distracted by the smell of cooking meat and from that day forth abstained from eating meat.  He was an outspoken opponent of the slave trade between Ireland and Bristol and played a large part in the ending of the practice between the two countries.

Following the Norman Conquest of England, Wulstan submitted to King William I and was permitted to retain his position as bishop. By 1075 he was the only Saxon prelate left in England.  Wulfstan died at the age of 87 in the year 1095 during his daily service of washing the feet of twelve of the poor of Worcester and he was buried at the cathedral.  A rash of miracles were recorded at Wulfstan’s tomb in the year following his death. His  cult seems to have remained local until the early 1200’s.

Shortly  after his death, Wulfstan’s Life  was composed by his former chancellor Colman. The text which was written in English has not survived but it was translated into Latin by the medieval chronicler and historian William of Malmesbury in the late twelfth century,  prior Wulfstan’s canonisation in 1203 .  This text records many miracle by the saint performed during his lifetime and in the years following his death.  Fires at the cathedral and priory in the years 1113, 1147, 1189 and 1202  left Wulfstan’s  tomb  intact and without damage. This was seen by some as further evidence of his sanctity and fanned the flames of his cult.  Wulfstan was canonized in 1203 by Pope Innocent III following a papal commission into the authenticity of his cult and miracles at  his shrine.

By 1218 the earnings from offerings of pilgrims to Worcester was sufficient to have contributed to the rebuilding of the church and a new shrine for the saint (Spencer 1988, 40).  King John (1166-1216) who had a great devotion to Wulfstan was one of the most high status pilgrims to visit Worcester. Such was his devotion to the saint he went on pilgrimage several times and requested to be buried in front of the high altar between St Oswald and St Wulfstan.

So what are St Wulfstan’s connections with Ireland?

The cult of Wulfstan would have arrived in Ireland through the long-established the trade links with Bristol and Dublin  and through settlers from Bristol (Spencer 1988, 38). Bristol was located at the edge of the diocese of Worcester the heartland  of Wulfstan’s cult.

John Comyn archbishop of Dublin, was on the panel religious appointed by the Pope Innocent III  to verify the authenticity of miracles attributed to the saint prior to canonisation (Darlington 1928, 141-3). Given his testament to  Wulfstan’s sanctity perhaps he also had a role in promoting the saints cult in Dublin.

Devotion to the saint is represented by the dedication of the  Abbey of St Wolstan’s  (a variant of Wulfstan), established near Celbridge Co. Kildare by Adam de Hereford, as a monastery in the Order of St Victor circa 1202. This was around the time  Wulfstan was canonised by Pope Innocent III  (Kildare Historical Website).  According to Cane (1918, 55) this abbey was also known as ” Scala Coeli” or ” the Ladder of Heavan” and it grew to become one of the largest monasteries in Ireland with extensive lands in Kildare and Dublin, its buildings covering an estimated 20 acres. It was the first Irish monastery to be dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII.  No physical trace of the monastery remains today but Crane states in the early 1900’s

The remains of the priory buildings consist of two large archaways which I imagine formed the north and south gates of the main enclosure, 200 yards apart, a tall square tower or keep 50 yards further.

We know of two Irish people went on pilgrimage to Worcester.  The first pilgrim was mentioned  in the Vita Wulfstani/Life of Wulfstan. The Vita records a miracle bestowed on an Irish pilgrim to Worcester.

This miracle refers to the healing of an Irishman named Pippard, whose tongue had been cut out by Hugh de Laci, Earl of Ulster from 1205 until his expulsion from Ireland in 1210. The Annals of Worcester record that Pippard built a church in Ireland in honour of St Wulfstan and gave it to the church of Worcester together, with 30 carucates of land (a carucate being the amount of land that could be tilled by a team of eight oxen in a ploughing season) (Roswell 2012; Darlington 1928, 141).

This passage implies Irish pilgrims were visiting St Wulfstan’s shrine in the late 12th/early 13th century prior to and following the canonisation although it is difficult to quantify in what numbers.  To reach the shrine pilgrims would have  travelled by ship to Bristol and  then on  to Worcester.

Evidence of a second Irish pilgrimage  and  devotion to the saint was discovered during excavations of medieval Dublin, when a pilgrim ampulla (tiny flask) from the shrine at Worcester, was found at High Street.  The ampulla  is now on display at the National Museum of Ireland at Kildare street.

The flask is decorated on two sides, on one side there is an image of St Wulfstan dressed as bishop, the Virgin Mary appears on the other side. Worcester cathedral was dedicated to St Mary and from the 12th century  it  was in possession of a statue of St Mary which attracted great devotion and pilgrims. By the 15th century devotion to this statue suppressed that of Wulfstan and Oswald.

From the 12th century many pilgrim shrines sold specially designed souvenirs such as badges and ampullae, that depicted imagery specific to the shrine to pilgrims.  Ampullae were especially popular in England. The Dublin ampulla which dates to the 13th century was purchased by an Irish pilgrim at Worcester and would have contained holy water obtained at the shrine (Spenser 1988, 40). The Dublin find is very unique as it is the only known pilgrim souvenir from Worcester to have survived.

It’s very likely that these  two pilgrims represent only a fraction of  Irish pilgrims to who travelled Worcester.

References

Darlington, R. 1928.  (ed.), The Vita Wulfstani of William of Malmesbury, London: Royal Historical Society.

Flower, R. 1940. ‘A Metrical Life of St Wulfstan of Worcester’, National Library of Wales Journal, i/3, 119-130.

Hunter-Blair, O. 1912. St. Wolstan. In The Catholic Encyclopaedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 14, 2014 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15687a.htm

Kildare Local History. ‘History of Celbridge’, http://kildarelocalhistory.ie/celbridge/history-of-celbridge/churches-monasteries/

Roswell, R. 2012.  ‘Medieval Painted and Stain Glass at Worcester Cathedral Priory, Part II: The Priory Cloisters’ Vidimus Journal  Vol. 58, http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-58/feature/

Spencer, B 1988. ‘Pilgrim Souvenirs’, In Wallace, P (ed.) Miscellanea 1. MedievalDublin Excavations 1962-81(Series B) Vol.2 Fascicules 1-5. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 33-48.

This entry was posted in Medieval Pilgrimage, Uncategorized and tagged Irish medieval pilgrimage, Irish Pilgrimage to medieval Worcester, Pilgrim ampulla from Worcester, St Wulfstan of Worcester.

SOURCE : https://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com/2014/01/21/irish-pilgrims-and-the-medieval-shrine-of-st-wulstan-at-worcester/

Worcester Cathedral, Worcestershire


San Vulstano di Worcester Vescovo

20 gennaio

Long Itchington, Inghilterra, 1012 – Worcester, Inghilterra, 20 gennaio 1095

San Vulfstano, vescovo della città inglese di Worcester, in Inghilterra, seppe far convivere i costumi monastici che lo avevano distinto da monaco con lo zelo pastorale, impegnandosi a visitare le parrocchie, a costruire chiese, a favorire la cultura e a contrastare il mercato degli schiavi.

Emblema: Bastone pastorale, Mitra

Martirologio Romano: A Worcester in Inghilterra, san Vulfstano, vescovo, che elevato dal chiostro a questa sede episcopale, unì i costumi monastici allo zelo pastorale, dedicandosi con impegno a visitare le parrocchie, promuovere la costruzione di chiese, favorire le lettere e condannare la venalità.

Vulfstano nacque nel 1012 a Long Itchington, nella contea inglese di Warwich, da una famiglia molto religiosa. Dopo una prima educazione per potersi perfezionare nello studio, nella preghiera e nel lavoro fu inviato presso le abbazie di Evesham e di Peterborouch. Questi luoghi fecero sorgere il lui il desiderio di santità. Ritornato in famiglia, comprese presto con quale facilità un giovane potesse perdere l'innocenza battesimale abbandonandosi alle continue seduzioni del mondo. Un giorno, infatti, una giovane e graziosa donna danzò alla sua presenza per celebrare un successo da lui riportato in un torneo. A cotanto spettacolo per un istante Vulfstano sentì la fiamma della passione sconvolgergli l'anima, ma non volendo restarne vittima prese l'eroica decisione di nascondersi in uno spinoso cespuglio per martoriare il suo corpo, versando copiose lacrime e preso dal timore di aver sottostato alla tentazione.

Qualche anno dopo i genitori del santo decisero di comune accordo di abbracciare la vita religiosa. Al figlio non restò dunque che affidarsi al vescovo di Worcester, che fornitagli la dovuta formazione lo ordinò sacerdote. Vulfstano non acconsentì però ad applicarsi al ministero pastorale e preferì seguire la via indicatagli dalla madre, che gli aveva trasmesso un particolare amore per la vita monastica. Entrò allora nel monastero accanto alla cattedrale e per più di venticinque anni fu professore, cantore, sacrestano ed infine priore. Il santo monaco serviva Dio notte e giorno, predicando al popolo, consigliando i sacerdote e praticando austere penitenze ed una filiale sottomissione ai superiori.

Verso il 1062 giunsero a Worcester due cardinali per trascorrere la quaresima nell'abbazia di cui Vulfstano era priore. I due porporati ne rimasero talmente ammirati che, rientrati alla corte del re Sant'Edoardo III, lo segnalarono quale migliore candidato per la sede di Worcester divenuta nel frattempo vacante. Vulfstano cedette alle pressioni reali e l'8 settembre 1062 Aldredo, arcivescovo di York ed amministratore ad interim, lo consacrò vescovo. Il novello pastore seppe assolvere scrupolosamente tutti i suoi doveri. La sua esposizione della parola di Dio era solita intenerire gli uditori sino alle lacrime. Memorabili si rivelarono i successi che ottenne il suo talento oratorio tra gli abitanti di Bristol riuscendo a distoglierli dall'abominevole traffico di schiavi indigeni.

Frequenti furono le visite pastorali ala sua diocesi, durante le quali la sua borsa piena di denaro era sempre pronta ad aprirsi per tutti i bisognosi. Lungo il percorso numerose erano le sue stazioni, finalizzate a riprendere i peccatori, ordinare sacerdoti, consacrare altari, confessare ed amministrare le cresime. popolo nutriva una grande fiducia in questo vescovo paterno e giusto.

Vulfstano fece ricostruire l'antica cattedrale di Worcester, che era stata edificata nel VII secolo da Sant'Osvaldo, re di Northumbria, e non mancò di dotare di chiese tutti i paesi ancora sprovvisti.

Malgrado i suoi numerosi rimproveri e la sua severità, fu unanimemente amato ed ammiravano. Fu l'ultimo vescovo a ricevere il bastone pastorale per mano di un re sassone. Alla morte di Sant'Edoardo III infatti, succedette forzatamente al trono il celebre Guglielmo I il Conquistatore, di origini normanne.
Vulfstano fu uno dei pochi vescovi che non rinunziarono alla loro sede fra le varie peripezie che sconvolsero la Chiesa inglese in tale frangente storico: pur ammettendo durante un sinodo di ritenersi indegno del ministero che Edoardo III e la Santa Sede lo avevano costretto ad accettare, soggiunse solo al re medesimo avrebbe restituito il bastone pastorale. Si recò dunque alla tomba del santo monarca nell'abbazia di Westminster e conficcò con estrema facilità il bastone nella pietra sepolcrale. Solo il santo, una volta ricusata la sua deposizione, riuscì ad estrarre nuovamente il suo pastorale con estrema facilità.

Vulfstano fu poi rivalutato dal re Guglielmo e dal primate Lanfranco, ai quali sopravvisse sino ad assistere alla consacrazione di Sant'Anselmo di Aosta, eletto nel 1093 nuovo arcivescovo di Canterbury. A coloro che si lamentavano dell'oppressione normanna, egli rispondeva che si trattasse di un castigo da sopportare con pazienza, in quanto permesso da Dio per i loro peccati. La cura che il vescovo aveva per la salute delle anime a lui affidate, non gli faceva tuttavia dimenticare la propria, celebrando sovente la Messa contrariamente all'uso del tempo, pregando con assiduità, elargendo abbondantemente ai poveri e con frequenti digiuni, tanto da arrivare a rinunciare alla carne di oca, suo piatto preferito.

Nella festa di Pentecoste del 1094 Vulfstano fu assalito da una febbre continua che progressivamente lo indebolì. Capendo che la morte si avvicinava, si preparò all'evento moltiplicando preghiere ed austerità. Nel capodanno successivo si mise definitivamente a letto e, con gli occhi rivolti all'altare della sua stanza, continuò a seguire mentalmente la recita dei salmi, unendo talvolta la sua voce a quella dei salmodianti. Morì il 20 gennaio 1095, dopo ben trentatrè anni di episcopato. Alla sua sepoltura, avvenuta nella cattedrale, come egli aveva predetto nessuno riuscì a sfilargli l'anello episcopale. La sua tomba divenne presto sorgente di numerosi miracoli. Nel centesimo anniversario della morte avvenne un'esumazione ed il corpo del vescovo fu trovato incorrotto. Non tardò allora a giungere la canonizzazione ufficiale, avvenuta nel 1203 da parte del pontefice Innocenzo III. Il Martyrologium Romanum commemora ancora oggi San Vulfstano al 20 gennaio. L'iconografia cristiana è solita raffigurarlo nell'atto di rendere la vista ad una religiosa cieca con un segno di croce, ma principalmente nel celebre episodio di conficcare il bastone pastorale nella tomba del santo re Edoardo III il Confessore.

Autore: Fabio Arduino

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92663

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