HE was a native of Icentum, in Warwickshire. In his youth, perceiving
himself somewhat touched with wanton love on seeing a woman dance, he
withdrew into a thicket hard by, and, lying prostrate, bewailed his
fault before God, with very great contrition. And he was endowed from
that time, by Almighty God, with the gift of such a constant
watchfulness over his senses, as prevented his being ever more annoyed
with the like temptations. He laid the foundation of his studies and
education in the monastery of Evesham, but completed the same at
Peterborough. His parents having by mutual consent taken the monastic
habit at Worcester; his father, Athelstan, in the great monastery of
men, and his mother, Wulfgeva, in a nunnery; St. Wulstan put himself
under the direction of Brithege, bishop of Worcester, by whom he was
advanced to the holy orders of priesthood. In this station he redoubled
his ardor for prayer, and practised greater austerities in the world,
than monks in their convents. At first, he allowed himself the use of
flesh; but being one day distracted in saying mass, by the smell of meat
that was roasting in the kitchen, he bound himself by vow never more to
eat any flesh. Not long after he entered himself a novice in the great
abbey at Worcester, where he was remarkable for the innocence and
sanctity of his life. The first charge with which he was intrusted in
the monastery, was the care of instructing the children. He was
afterwards made preceptor, and then treasurer of the church. In these
two last stations he devoted himself totally to prayer, and watched
whole nights in the church. As the meanest employments were always the
object of his love and choice, it was contrary to his inclination that
he was made prior of Worcester, and, in 1062, bishop of that see, when
Aldred was translated to that of York. Though not very learned, he
delivered the word of God with so much dignity and unction, as often to
move his whole audience to tears. He always recited the psalter while he
travelled, and never passed by any church or chapel without going in, to
pour forth his soul before the altar with tears, which seemed to stand
always ready in his eyes for prayer. When the conqueror had deprived the
English, both nobility and clergy, of the posts of honor they possessed
in the church and state, in favor of his Normans, on whose fidelity he
could depend, Wulstan kept his see, though not without a miracle, as St.
Aelred, Florentius, and Capgrave relate, as follows: In a synod, held at
Westminster, in which archbishop Lanfranc {182} presided, Wulstan was
called upon to give up his crosier and ring, upon pretext of his
simplicity and unfitness for business. The saint confessed himself unfit
for the charge, but said, that king Edward, with the concurrence of the
apostolic see, had compelled him to take it upon him, and that he would
deliver his crosier to him. Then going to the king's monument, he fixed
his crosier to the stone; then went and sat down among the monks. No one
was able to draw out the crosier till the saint was ordered to take it
again, and it followed his hand with ease. From this time the conqueror
treated him with honor. Lanfranc even commissioned him to perform the
visitation of the diocese of Chester for himself. When any English
complained of the oppression of the Normans, he used to tell them, "This
is a scourge of God for your sins, which you must bear with patience."
The saint caused young gentlemen who were brought up under his care, to
carry in the dishes and wait on the poor at table, to teach them the
practice of humiliation, in which he set the most edifying example. He
showed the most tender charity for penitents, and often wept over them,
while they confessed their sins to-him. He died in 1095, having sat
thirty-two years, and lived about eighty-seven. He was canonized in
1203. See his life by William of Malmesbury, in Wharton, t. 2, p. 244.
Also, a second, by Florence of Worcester, and a third in Capgrave; and
his history, at length, by Dr. Thomas, in his History of the Cathedral
of Worcester.