Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/684

 WILGEFORTIS

622

WILGEFORTIS

drew to the north. It was not until he had been for five years Abbot of Ripon, that Wilfrid became a priest. His main work at Ripon was the introduction of Roman rules and the putting forward of a Roman practice with regard to the point at issue between the Holy See and the Scottish monks in Northumbria; to settle these questions a synod was held at Whitby in the year 664. Chiefly owing to Wilfrid's advocacy of the claims of the Holy See the votes of the majority were given to that side, and Colman and his monks, bitterly disappointed, withdrew from Northumbria. Wilfrid, in consequence of the favours he had then obtained, was elected bishop in Colnian's place, and, refusing to receive consecration from the northern bishops, whom he regarded as schismatics, went over to France to be consecrated at Compiegne.

He delayed some time in France, whether by his own fault or not is not quite clear, and on his return in 666 was driven from his course by a storm and shipwrecked on the coast of Sussex, where the heathen inhabitants repelled him and almost killed him. He succeeded in landing, however, in Kent not far from Sandwich. Thence he made his way to Northumbria, only to find that, owing to his long absence, his see had been filled up, and that a St. Chad was bishop in his place. He retired to his old monastery at Ripon, and from thence went southwards and worked in Mercia, especially at Lichfield, and also in Kent.

In 669 Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury visited Northumbria, where he found Chad working as bishop. He pointed out to him the defects of his position and, at his instigation, St. Chad withdrew and Wilfrid once more became Bishop of York. Dur- ing his tenure of the see, he acted with great vigour and energy, completing the work of enforcing the Ro- man obedience against the Scottish monks. He founded a great many monasteries of the Benedictine Order, especially at Henlam and at Ripon, and com- pletely rebuilt the minster at York. In all that he did he acted with great magnificence, although his own life was always simple and restrained.

So long as Oswy hved aU went well, but with Ecg- frid, Oswy's son and successor, Wilfrid was very un- popular, because of his action in connexion with Ecgfrid's bride Etheldrida, who by Wilfrid's advice would not live with her husband but retired into a monastery. It was just at this juncture that Theo- dore, possibly exceeding his powers as Archbishop of Canterbury, proceeded to subdivide the great diocese over which Wilfrid ruled, and to make suffragan bishops of Lindisfarne, Hexham, and Whitherne. Wilfrid, whether or not he approved of the principle of subdivision, refused to allow Theodore's right to make it, and appealed to the central authority at Rome, whither he at once went. Theodore rephed by consecrating three bishops in Wilfrid's own church at York and dividing his whole bi-shopric between them.

An attempt was made by his enemies to prevent Wilfrid from reaching Rome, but by a singular coinci- dence Winfrid, Bishop of Lichfield, happened to be going to Rome at the same time, and the singularity of the name led to his being stopped while Wilfrid got through safely. At Rome a council was called by Pope Agatho to decide the case, and Wilfrid appeared before it in person, while Theodore was represented. The case was decided in Wilfrid's favour, and the intruding bishops were removed. Wilfrid was to return to York, and since subdivision of his huge dio- cese was needed, he was to appoint others as his coad- jutors. Ho came back to Northumbria with this de- cision, but the king, though not disputing the right of Rome to settle the question, said lliat Wilfrid lia<l bought the decision and put him in jjrison at Bam- brough. After a time this iiiiprisoiuiient was con- verted to exile, and he was driven from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He went south to Sussex where the heathen inhabitants had so inhosiutably received him

fifteen years before, and preached as a missionary at Sclsey.

In 686 a reconciliation took place between Theo- dore and Wilfrid, who had then been working in Sussex for five years. Through Theodore's good offices Wilfrid was received back in Northumbria, where Aldfrid was now king. He became Bishop of Hexham at once, and before long, when York again fell vacant, he took posse.ssion there once more. For some years all went well, but at the end of that time great difficulties arose with the king because Wilfrid utterly refused to recognize what had been done by Theodore but annulled by Rome in the matter of the subdivision of his diocese, and he once more left York and appealed to Rome. He reached Rome for the third and last time in 704.

The proceedings at Rome were verj' lengthy, but after some months Wilfrid was again victorious. Archbishop Brihtwald was to hold a synod and see justice done. Wilfrid started again for England but on his way was taken ill at Meaux and nearly died. He recovered, however, and came back to England, where he was reconciled to Brihtwald. A sj-nod was held, and it was decided to give back to Wilfrid, He-xham and Ripon, but not York, a settlement which, though unsatisfactory, he decided to accept, as the principle of Roman authority had been vindicated.

Beyond all others of his time, St. Wilfrid stands out as the great defender of the rights of the Holy See. For that principle he fought all through his life, first against Colman and the Scottish monks from lona, and then against Theodore and his successor in the See of Canterbury; and much of his life was spent in exile for this reason. But to him above all others is due the estabhshment of the authority of the Roman See in England, and for that reason he will always have a very high place among English saints.

Eddius, the biographer of St. Wilfrid, was brought by that saint from Canterbury when he returned to York in 669. His special work was to be in connex- ion with the music of the church of York, and he was to teach the Roman method of chant. He was an inmate of the monastery of Ripon in 709, when St. Wilfrid spent his last days there, and he undertook the work of wTiting the life of the saint at the request of Acca, St. Wilfrid's successor in the See of Hexham. The best edition of the work is in Raines, "Historians of the Church of York" (Rolls Series).

The chief authority for Wilfrid's life is Eddiu.s, Vila Wilfridi, which was used by Bede for his Hist, ecdesiastica. It is also the main foundation for the later lives by E.\dmer and William of Malmesbury. Another life, by Peter of Blois, is not now known to exist. Among modern authorities ma.v be consulted, the articles by Raine in Did. Christ. Bioa.. s. v., and by Hunt in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.; see also Bright. Omplers of English Church History (3rd ed., London. 1S97); .4r/o SS.; BtTTLER, Lives of the Saints, IV (Baltimore), lOI; Faber in Lives of the English Saints, ed. Newman.

Arthur S. Barnes.

Wilgefortis, a fabulous female saint known also as L'n'cumber, Kummernis, Komina, Comera,

CUMERANA, HULFE, OnTCO.MMENE, OnTCOMMER, DlGNEFORTlS, EuTROPIA, ReGINFLEDIS, LiVRADE,

Liber.\ta etc. The legend makes her a Christian daughter of a pagan King of Portugal. In order to keep her vow of chastity, she prayed God to disfigure her body, that she might evade the command of her father to marry a pagan prince. God caused a beard to grow on her chin, whereupon her father had her crucified. Connected with this legend is the .story of a destitute fiddler to whom, when he played before her image (or before her crucified body), she g.ave one of her golden boots. Being condemned to death for the theft of the boot, he was granted his request to play before her a second time, and, in presence of all, she kicked off her other boot, thus establishing his innocence.

The legend is not a Christi.an adaptation of the Ilermaphroditus of Greek mythology or of other