(A.D. 741.)
[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Also those of Usuardus and Wyon.
Authority:--A life written by a contemporary, Jonas, a monk of the
same abbey of Fontenelle to which S. Wulfram retired, of this there
are several editions, some much interpolated. Some of these additions
are gross errors. According to the life which Surius publishes, Jonas
dedicated it to his abbot Bainus. But Bainus died seven years after
Wulfram had undertaken his mission. Possibly Bainus is an error of
the copyist for Wando, who translated the body of S. Wulfram in 742.
In the prologue, moreover, Owen, or Ovus, the lad whom S. Wulfram had
resuscitated after he had been hung, is quoted as the authority for
much of what the bishop did in Friesland, Owen being then priest in
the abbey of Fontenelle. This indicates the date of the life as being
about the time of the translation.]
Wulfram was born at Milly, three leagues from Fontainebleau, of a noble
and wealthy family. His father, whose name was Fulbert, was held in
great esteem by Dagobert I. and Clovis II. on account of the signal
services he had rendered them in their wars. Although brought up, and
constantly engaged in the camp, Fulbert took care that his son should
receive an excellent education in letters; and as Wulfram exhibited a
marked partiality for the clerical over the secular life, he suffered
him to take holy orders. Wulfram was not, however, allowed to follow
the bent of his wishes in every particular, for notwithstanding his
desire to live a quiet secluded life of study, he was called in 670
to serve God in the court of Clothaire III. and Thierry III., kings
of the Franks, till the death of his father. About the same time,
Lambert, bishop of Sens, having died, Wulfram was unanimously elected
to fill his room, by clergy and people, and the royal consent having
been obtained, he was consecrated to the see of Sens, in 693. But "the
Spirit breatheth where He wills, and thou canst not tell whence He
cometh and whither He goeth." Moved by a divine call which could not
be gainsaid, after having occupied the see for only two years and a
half, Wulfram abdicted his charge in 685, probably moved by religious
scruples as to the canonicity of his appointment, for S. Amæus, the
rightful bishop of Sens, in the banishment to which he was sent by
Thierry III. in 674, had survived the appointment of Lambert. Wulfram,
freed from his charge, at once undertook a mission to Friesland. He
conferred on his design with S. Ansbert, then archbishop of Rouen,
after having been abbot of S. Vandrille.[69] By his advice he retired
for a while into that abbey of Fontenelle to prepare for his apostolate
to the Frisians, in solitude, with prayer. After awhile he came forth
refreshed, and having divested himself of his property at Milly, his
native place, which he gave to the abbey of S. Vandrille, that he might
go unimpeded into the battle; and having obtained from the abbot,
Hilbert, some monks to accompany him and assist him in his mission, he
embarked at Caudebec, in 700, spread the white sail to the breeze, and
flew out into the sea.
[69] Anciently Fontenelle.
"To the ship's bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended,
Round him were the tapers lighted,
And the sacred incense rose.
"On the bow stood bishop Wulfram,
In his robes, as one transfigured,
And the crucifix he planted
High amid the rain and mist.
"Then with holy water sprinkled
All the ship; the mass-bells tinkled;
Loud the monks around him chanted,
Loud he read the Evangelist."[70]
[70] Longfellow's Saga of king Olaf.
But as the deacon was wiping the paten, during mass, it slipped from
his fingers, and glanced down through a green wave and was lost. Then
he uttered a cry of dismay, for they had no other paten with them in
the vessel. But Wulfram turning himself about from the altar in the
ship's-bows, bade him thrust his hand over the side into the water. And
he did so, nothing doubting, and brought up the paten, dripping with
sea-water. This paten was preserved in the monastery of S. Vandrille
till the year 1621, when it was stolen.
Now when they had come into Friesland, Wulfram went before the king,
Radbod, and preached boldly to him the Word of God. The king listened,
and allowed the missionaries to settle in the land, and to declare the
Gospel of the Kingdom to his subjects, but he himself put off giving
attention to what they taught till a more convenient season. And as
Wulfram dwelt in the land, and saw it wholly given up to the worship of
false gods, and to the performance of cruel sacrifices, his spirit was
stirred within him, and he denounced the hideous offerings of children
made to the false gods. It was then the custom among the Frisians to
offer to Wodin their sons, by hanging them on gibbets. This method of
sacrifice was common to all the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples.
One horrible instance is related, for instance, in one of the old
Norse Sagas, of a mother thus sacrificing her child to Wodin to obtain
from him the secret of brewing better ale than the second wife of her
husband, in order that she might thus be able to attach him to herself
more closely.
Wulfram preached in vain, king Radbod replied to all his remonstrances
that it was the custom of the country, and that he could not, or would
not alter it. And this was the way in which the victims were chosen.
Lots were cast on the children of the nobles, and those who were taken,
were hung on a tree or gibbet, to Wodin, or else were fastened to a
post between tides, and left to drown with the rising flood, as an
offering to Ran, the sea-goddess, to stay her from bringing her waves
over the low, flat land, and submerging it.
Hearing that a child was about to be hung, Wulfram hasted to the spot,
but was unable to prevent the perpetration of the sacrifice. Then after
the boy had been hanging two hours, the rope broke, and the bishop
casting himself on the body, cried to the Lord, and He heard his voice,
and the child revived, and the bishop restored him to his parents.[71]
And on another occasion, he was present when two youths, sons of a
widow, were being sacrificed to the sea. He saw the poor lads waiting
on the wet sand, and shrieking with fear as the waves tumbled at every
instant nearer to them, whilst all the people looked on, shouting to
drown their cries, upon the dyke. Then Wulfram, unable to endure the
spectacle, knelt down, and covered his eyes, and prayed. And when he
looked up, he saw the sea was washing around the youths, but had not
touched them. So he prayed more fervently, and the people standing on
the dyke shouted, to drown the shrieks of the young men; and Wulfram
looked, and they were up to their chins in water, battling with the
angry waves. Then Radbod called to the bishop and said, "See! there be
the youths, go, save them if thou canst." Then Wulfram rose, and made
the sign of the cross, and cast his mantle from him, and went boldly
down to the sea, and walked thereon without fear, trusting in the Lord,
and he took the two children, one by each hand, and he came to the land
leading them, with foot unwet.
[71] The boy was afterwards sent to Fontenelle, and he is the authority
for the events of S. Wulfram's mission in Friesland.
Then the people were filled with wonder, and a great fear fell upon
them, and many renounced their false gods, and came and submitted their
necks to the sweet yoke of Christ. King Radbod also, convinced against
his will, consented to receive baptism. But as he was stepping down
into the water, he suddenly halted, with one foot in the stream, and
asked, "Where are my ancestors, are they in the heaven thou promisest
to me?"
"Be not deceived," answered Wulfram, "God knoweth the number of His
elect. Thy ancestors have died without baptism, therefore they have
certainly received the sentence of damnation." It was an injudicious
answer. It is by no means certain that those who have not had an
opportunity of knowing the truth, but have lived up to the light God
has given them, are eternally lost. The result of this harsh answer
was, that Radbod withdrew his foot from the water, saying, "I will go
to hell with my ancestors, rather than be in heaven without them." It
is only just to remark that this story is not to be found in the most
correct and ancient copies of the life by Jonas of Fontenelle.
After about twenty years of labour in Friesland, his health failed, and
he returned in haste to Fontenelle, to die amongst the brethren in the
peace of a cloister. He died on March 20th, in the year 720. Nine years
after, Wando, abbot of Fontenelle, took the body from its grave, and
translated to the church of S. Peter. In 1058, it was taken to Notre
Dame at Abbeville, and this church in course of years, assumed the
name of S. Wulfram. The sacred relics remain there, enclosed in a rich
shrine. An annual procession is made on this day at Abbeville with the
shrine.