ON SAINT ALFWOLD, BISHOP OF SHERBORNE IN ENGLAND, IN THE YEAR 1050.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Alfwold, Bishop of Sherborne, in England (Saint)
[1] Sherborne is a town in the County of Dorset, formerly distinguished by an episcopal See: where the first to sit was Saint Aldhelm, a Bishop famous for both learning and holiness, whose veneration is assigned to the day of May 25. Of Saint Alfwold, the last Bishop of Sherborne, The last to sit, however, was Saint Alfwold or Alfwald, whom Alford, from the Chronological Tables of the Kings and Bishops of England, reports to have presided as Bishop over this diocese from the year 1041 until the year 1056, when Hermann succeeded him, who transferred the See to Salisbury. Concerning Alfwold, Henry of Knighton, a Canon of Leicester, confers a celebrated testimony in book 2 of the Events of England, chapter 10, where he both addresses him as Saint and briefly touches upon his virtues; and reports his death around the aforesaid year 1050, in the times of Saint Edward the King, with these words: "Around these days died Saint Alfwold, the last Bishop of Sherborne, his eulogy from Knighton, who, having been made Bishop from a monk of Winchester, amid the lavish banquets which were then celebrated in England since the coming of the Danes, used bread and water. A man in all things devoted to Blessed Mary and Saint Cuthbert: whose See after his death no one could with impunity press while sleeping, without being terrified by hideous apparitions and springing back, with voices rebuking him for unworthily usurping the Bishop's See: this was a spectacle to many. There had arisen between him and Earl Godwin an anxious quarrel, from what cause it is uncertain to me. On the appointed day for making peace, when matters proceeded not to peace but to litigation, the Bishop departed after the altercation, Godwin the Earl, who resisted him, is punished, hurling these threats against the Earl: 'By my Lady Mary, it shall go ill with him.' And from that hour Godwin did not rest from torment of his bowels, until he had received a blessing from the Bishop. At last that Bishop went to Durham: where, which seemed great boldness, having opened the sarcophagus, he spoke to Saint Cuthbert as to a friend: where he placed a gift and departed." These are the words of Henry Knighton, who flourished nearly three hundred years ago: a fuller account from William of Malmesbury. which William of Malmesbury described more fully over five hundred years ago in book 2 of the Deeds of the English Bishops, under the title "On the Bishops of Sherborne, Salisbury, and Wilton," where after Brinwinus his brother he relates the following about him.
[2] "Alfwold, his brother, Bishop from a monk of Winchester, Saint Alfwold's devotion to Swithun, who, having placed an image of the most holy Swithun at Sherborne, raised the torch of veneration. For he is known to have been of a most reverend life, and amid the most lavish displays of banquets, which were then exhibited in England since the time of the Danes, to have always used a wooden bowl without any richer food and a small cup with water poured over it, abstinence, so that all the flavor of the beer would be diluted. I heard a Presbyter of good faith, already sprinkled with grey hairs, relating his good deeds with tearful joy. Of which this did not escape: the See held in veneration, that no one, either before or after his death, could ever with impunity press his See while dozing, without immediately being terrified by hideous apparitions and springing back, with voices rebuking him for unworthily usurping the Bishop's See: this was a spectacle to many. There had arisen between him and Earl Godwin an anxious quarrel, from what cause uncertain to me. On a day set for a hearing, when matters proceeded not to peace but to litigation, the Bishop departed after the altercation, Godwin the Earl, who resisted him, is punished, hurling these threats against the Earl: 'By my Lady Saint Mary, it shall go ill with you, because you have saddened me.' Having therefore returned home, he had scarcely set his foot on the ground, exchanging his riding for walking, when behold, a retainer of the Earl arrived on a horse at full speed, the beating of the flanks betraying the speed of his course. He begged pitifully, falling to his knees, that he return: his lord immediately after his departure was burning in his heart, scarcely able to move his tongue. Then the Bishop said, his anger not yet appeased: 'By my Lady Saint Mary, woe to him.' healed by his blessing, But bent by the unanimous prayer of those beseeching him, he pardoned the offense, gave his blessing, and restored the sick man." And the Presbyter reported that the Bishop had been devoted with ready obedience to Saint Cuthbert, joyfully weeping at every mention of him, and almost always holding that antiphon about the Saint in his heart, ruminating it on his lips, and practicing it in deed: 'Holy Bishop Cuthbert, a man perfect in all things, among crowds he was a monk, in all things reverend.' And as the daily love in his breast received a sweet increase, and the good flame could not contain itself in him, devotion toward Saint Cuthbert, he set out for Durham to Saint Cuthbert: and there, which seems great boldness,
having removed the lid of the tomb, he faithfully conversed with him as with a friend, deposited a small gift as a pledge of perpetual love, and departed. And as the fatal moment approached, singing the antiphon as long as his voice lasted, when his speech was cut off, he signaled with his hand for the others to continue. Thus the token of the love which he bore for the Saint his death, he sent forth with his last breath." These are the words of William of Malmesbury. Which Nicholas Harpsfield summarized more briefly in century 11 of his English Ecclesiastical History, chapter 19. Saint Ailred, in his Life of Saint Edward the King, which we published on January 5, chapter 8, depicts the said Earl Godwin as proud, treacherous, perjured, and punished by God. Concerning the city of Durham, and the incorrupt body of Saint Cuthbert preserved there, we treated at length on March 20. And Saint Swithun is venerated on July 2.
[3] Edward Mayhew, in the Trophies of the English Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, His memory in the calendars on March 25, celebrates on March 25 the Commemoration of Blessed Alfwold, Bishop of Sherborne in the County of Dorset, from a monk of Winchester, and adds very many things transcribed from Malmesbury. Gabriel Bucelinus in the Benedictine Menology on the same March 25, citing Malmesbury and Mayhew, published a long eulogy of Blessed Alfwold. Jerome Porter in the Flowers of the Lives of the more illustrious Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland, published in English the Life of Saint Alfwold, Bishop and Confessor, of the sacred Order of Saint Benedict, on the said March 25. Meanwhile, John Wilson in the second edition of the English Martyrology, citing, besides Malmesbury and Harpsfield, the said Flowers of the Lives of the Saints of England, records the deposition of Saint Alfwold, Bishop and Confessor, on March 26. But for what reason? unless perhaps because no other English Saint presented itself for that day, since the Martyr Monks killed by the Danes in the territory of Lincoln, who in the first edition were referred to this day, had now been assigned to March 22, and March 26, as was then stated. But there is an error in the death of Saint Alfwold assigned to the year 998 there. In the printed work of Edward Mayhew it stated that he had succeeded Saint Wulsin and flourished around the year 990. But those things had been corrected by hand in the copy transmitted to us. And rightly so, since at that time Earl Godwin was not alive; indeed, in the said year 990 the body of Saint Cuthbert had not yet been carried to Durham. Alfwold I succeeded Saint Wulsin, between whom and Saint Alfwold four other Bishops are interposed in Malmesbury. We treated of Saint Wulsin on January 8. Alford incorrectly reads that the year of death 1098 is marked in the English Martyrology, when, as we said, it only has the year 998. Moreover, he too numbers him among the Saints of England.