Wulsin of Sherborne

CONCERNING ST. WULSINUS, OR WULSIUS, BISHOP OF SHERBORNE.

Year of Christ 983.

Wulsinus, Bishop of Sherborne in England (St.)

[1] Wulsinus, or Wlsinus, Wulfsinus, Wlfius, Wltius, Ulsinus, Ulsius, Vulsius, Wlsius, Bishop of Sherborne in England, migrated to heaven on the 6th day before the Ides of January; on which day Hugo Menardus in the Benedictine Martyrology: The feast of St. Wulsinus. "At Sherborne in England, of St. Wlsinus, Bishop and Confessor." The English Martyrology records him on September 26, and calls him only an Abbot, as also does Ferrarius.

[2] Sherborne (which means "Clear Spring"), otherwise Sherbona, The town of Sherborne. is now a populous town, famous for its wool trade, in the county of Dorset; but in the age of William of Malmesbury, as he himself writes in book 2 of the Deeds of the English Bishops, it was a small village, pleasant neither for the frequency of its inhabitants nor the agreeableness of its position; in which it was a wonder and almost a shame that the episcopal See had endured through so many centuries. The first to sit there was St. Aldhelm, whose life we shall give on May 25. Afterwards the See was transferred to Salisbury, in the times of William the Norman.

[3] We shall give the brief life of St. Wulsinus from John Capgrave, then shall subjoin certain things from the Malmesbury writer, book 2 of the Deeds of the English Bishops. The life of St. Wulsinus. Matthew of Westminster, Nicholas Harpsfield (century 10, chapter 9, and century 11, chapter 16), Arnold Wion (Appendix to book 3 of the Wood of Life), and Godwin also treat of him. Godwin errs egregiously when he writes that he departed this life in the year 958 and was raised to the Episcopate in the year 940: His age. since in the year 958 he was constituted Abbot of Westminster by St. Dunstan, then Bishop of London, and King Edgar; but he became a Bishop only in the time of King Ethelred, who was crowned in the year 978. The series of the Bishops of Sherborne seems confused, since after St. Wulsinus is placed Alfwold, who seems to have preceded him, since Florence of Worcester writes that he died in the year 978 — the very year in which Ethelred began his reign. There is no doubt that Wulsinus suffered many bitter things in his episcopate, since at the beginning of the reign of Ethelred, Portland and the maritime parts of the province of Dorset were frequently ravaged by Danish pirates: nor could the calamity of his flock fail to grieve deeply so excellent a pastor.

LIFE FROM JOHN CAPGRAVE.

Wulsinus, Bishop of Sherborne in England (St.) BHL Number: 8754

From Capgrave.

[1] The holy Wlsinus, born of illustrious parentage in London The birth and education of St. Wulsinus. and diligently reared by his parents, when he had come to the bloom of boyhood, his parents determined to offer him to the Lord Jesus Christ. For beneath the very walls of that city shines the monastery of St. Peter, now called Westminster, in which, having been made a monk, they commend him to serve the Lord perpetually. His priesthood. When boyhood had passed, he was admitted to the rank of the Priesthood, and in mature age and morals he shone as a bright mirror of sanctity. He fought against the enemy of the human race with vigils and prayers, chastising his body with fasts: His outstanding virtues. he despised the desires of the world with heavenly longings: and he guarded all the motions of his mind and body with every vigilance and care. Humbled in humility, devoted in fraternal service, filled with charity, he was accustomed not only to apply himself to readings, but also to expound to his fellow brothers what he had read, and with pious exhortation to kindle them toward every virtue and to gain them for Christ.

[2] At length, by the favor of St. Dunstan the Bishop, King Edgar appointed Wlsinus to preside over that same monastery. He becomes Abbot. How greatly he labored for the salvation of many, and how he rose against the adversary of the Lord's flock, what example of his teaching and life he showed to all — who could worthily explain?

[3] At length King Ethelred, the son of Edgar, by the favor of the people and the election of the Clergy, He is created Bishop. caused him to be set over the Church of Sherborne as its Pastor. For he was the refuge of the poor, the eye of the blind, the foot of the weak, the staff of the infirm, the food of the hungry, the clothing of the naked, His generosity to all. and the redemption of the guilty. In the Lenten season, enclosed in the monastic cloister and stripped of the tumult of the world, he remained simply with the monks, devoting himself to fasts, The Lenten fast. contemplation, and tears. On Maundy Thursday, going forth from his chamber, he prepared the chrism, teaching and blessing the people. After the celebration of the Paschal sacrament, he visited his diocese by preaching the Gospel. Solicitude for the Church. Solicitous indeed for that ancient and noble triumph of Sherborne, he strove not only to amend, enlarge, and advance it, but also to stabilize it with perpetual peace. For with the sword of eternal anathema he struck every wolf — that enemy of his house — who tore, vexed, or scattered the flock of Christ.

[4] In the fifth year of his episcopate, having fulfilled the ministry of a good steward, he fell into illness, and at the same time a certain knight of his named Egelwius, always most faithful to him. He, hearing of the illness of his lord, He predicts his own death and that of a certain nobleman. touched inwardly with grief, sends a messenger to ask whether there was any hope for his recovery. For the Bishop said to the messenger: "Report swiftly to your lord, that having disposed of his affairs, he should prepare himself with every care: for tomorrow he will journey with me to the court of the eternal King, where he may receive from our common Lord the reward for his faithful service." When that man had departed, the Bishop began to address the brethren present with these words: "This, my dearest ones, I ask with paternal charity: keep this — He commands him to be buried with himself. cause this faithful man of ours, who will migrate to God with me, to await my funeral, and to be carried with me to Sherborne and buried; so that he who was always devoted to me in the present life may also be present with me in death and in perpetual peace."

[5] Among others, a certain Priest who was closely associated with the holy Bishop by the merit of his sanctity and was privy to his secrets, named Wlricus, mourned greatly. The holy Bishop, having compassion on him and speaking with confidence, as if already released from the body and placed in heaven, said: "Do not weep, dearest brother, for I go to the joy of my Lord who calls me. Rather trust and believe that from the twelfth year after my passing and henceforth, the Lord, remembering his goodness, He predicts that he will work miracles after death. will show his mercies upon me by the attestation of miracles, and will visit his people with the revelation of his grace in me: so that just as you are afflicted with sorrow at my passing, so then you may rejoice at the heavenly regard." Having said these things, with his eyes raised to heaven, he burst into the wonderful proclamation of Blessed Stephen, saying: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." He dies, seeing Jesus. And with this utterance, on the 6th day before the Ides of January, he breathed forth his spirit into the hand of the Lord.

a From this it seems that the Author's Preface had been prefixed, which Capgrave omitted.

b Concerning this monastery, restored more magnificently by St. Edward the Confessor, we treated in his life on January 5, chapters 4, 5, 6.

c Malmesbury testifies that this happened in the year 958. We shall give the life of St. Dunstan on May 19.

d Only in the year 959 did Edgar, son of Edmund, obtain the rule of all England. But the part of the kingdom which extends beyond the Thames to the north had been conferred upon him by the people, offended by the lust and stupidity of his brother Eadwig, two years before.

e King Ethelred of England was crowned on April 14, 978, a Sunday, as we said in chapter 1 of the life of St. Edward on January 5. Whence it is clear that St. Wulsinus, even if he were created Bishop in the first year of Ethelred, did not die before the year 983, since he died in the fifth year of his episcopate.

f Harpsfield has "Egelinus."

CONCERNING THE SAME, FROM WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY.

Wulsinus, Bishop of Sherborne in England (St.)

[1] Dunstan the Archbishop, when he was Bishop of London, St. Wulsinus becomes Abbot, had made him Abbot at Westminster, having established a small monastery for twelve monks in the place where formerly Mellitus had built a church to St. Peter. Thus administering the office committed to him in a holy and prudent manner, then Bishop. the honor of the Episcopate at Sherborne was thrust upon him. He immediately installed monks in the episcopal See, having expelled the secular clergy, He installs monks in place of canons. lest amid such great zeal of his contemporary Bishops he should seem to be sleeping. Having bestowed nothing on the monks for the necessities of sustenance from the Episcopate, but having purchased it from elsewhere, he also planned to appoint an Abbot. When they objected that they could not bear to be deprived of his sweet governance while he lived, he yielded unwillingly, publicly declaring that this would be the beginning of great calamities for their successors.

[2] The proof of his sanctity was manifested often in his lifetime, but especially at his death. For when he was already pressing close upon the gates of death, with the eyes of his mind opened he cried out in song: He dies singing and seeing Christ. "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Which song, expressed without hesitation, he died while singing: a holy and venerable soul, which could borrow the saying of the first and most blessed Martyr! Blessed she who saw heaven opened and deserved to enter! His staff and certain other insignia of the Bishop are still preserved there, His relics. displaying, as it were, a living image of his modesty and humility.

a Matthew of Westminster: "In the year of grace 598, upon the death of Brithelm, Bishop of London, King Edgar substituted Blessed Dunstan in his place. Who straightaway, having built a small monastery for twelve monks at Westminster, in the place where formerly Bishop Mellitus had built a church to Blessed Peter, constituted St. Wltius as Abbot there." Concerning St. Mellitus, we shall treat on April 24.

b The same St. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, did this, as Westminster testifies at the year 962, and as we shall say in his life on August 1; and many holy Bishops of the same age did likewise.