St. Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester (d. 1095)

This Friday, 19th January, is in England the (optional) memorial of St. Wulstan or Wulfstan (1008-1095), Benedictine monk and Bishop of Worcester. He came from Warwickshire and as a child, educated in Peterborough, he excelled both in sports and in his piety. In 1033, he joined the household of the Bishop of Worcester and was ordained a priest but later entered Worcester cathedral priory as a Benedictine monk. In 1050, he became prior and was zealous in both his administration and in his pastoral care and preaching. When in 1062, the Bishop of Worcester was appointed to York, Wulfstan was recommended by the papal legates as his successor and shortly afterwards, he was consecrated. He combined well the role of monastic superior and diocesan bishop and was the first English bishop to undertake a systematic visitation of his diocese. He encouraged the building of churches, promoted the celibacy of the clergy and insisted on the installation of stone altars over wooden ones. He had a particular devotion to the early English saints such as St. Bede and St. Oswald. After his death in 1095, his cult began, with many pilgrimages to his shrine in the Cathedral. St. Wulstan is also a patron saint of vegetarians and dieters. It is said he was one day very distracted at Mass by the smell of a goose being cooked, after which he swore never to eat meat again. [Image: Church Scholar.com]