Bishop of Worcester

“ The bishop of Worcester lived and died in Rome, and his predecessor and successor in the see were also foreigners.
No less detrimental to the well-being of the Church in England at this time was the crying abuse and scandal of pluralities. Some priests were proved to have as many as ten or twelve benefices, and very possibly resident on none, while there were "plenty of learned men in the universities " [9] for whom no preferment could be found. Cardinal Wolsey himself set the example. He held not only a plurality of livings, but was bishop of more than one see, whilst he farmed others. ”

“ But Wulstan bishop of Worcester, with a large military force, prevented the earl of Hereford from crossing the Severn and joining earl Ralph with his army at the appointed place, and the bishop was joined by Aegelwin abbot of Evesham, with his men, and summoned to his aid Urse, the sheriff of Worcester, and Walter de Lacy, with their forces, and a large company of the people. ”

“ Then and there before the altar he vowed that from that time forth he would never taste meat; and he remained a vegetarian all the days of his life, except on festivals, when he regaled on fish. What was a fast to others was a luxury to him [104] .” On the translation of Aldred to the see of York, Wulfstan became Bishop of Worcester. “In right of his authority over the diocese of Worcester, Aldred took away from it twelve vills, and appropriated them to York. As that Archbishop had only a life-interest in the see, it is clear that these estates ought to have been restored to it at his decease. ”

“ Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, of fifteen hides of land in Alveston, formerly called from its Saxon occupant Eanulfestune, Warwickshire, to the monastery of Worcester. An impression of the episcopal seal was appended, and the deed bore date, the day of Pentecost, in the third year of king William, the younger, A.D. 1099. ”

“ WULFSTAN, St. (1012?–1095) , bishop of Worcester, son of Æthelstan and Wulfgifu, people of good position, who both in later life entered religion at Worcester, was born at Long Itchington, near Warwick, in or before 1012, for he is described as past fifty in 1062. After receiving his education in monastic schools, first at Evesham and afterwards at Peterborough, where his teacher was Ervenius, a skilful scribe and illuminator, who wrote a sacramentary for Canute [q. v.] and a psalter for his queen Emma [q. v.] , he lived for a while as a layman, taking part in the sports of other young men. ”

“ An account of this synod, drawn up by Wulfstan himself, is printed in the Anglia Sacra. The Dean of Chichester thus translates the commencement:—“I, Wulfstan, by the grace of God Bishop of Worcester, determined to hold a synod in the Minster of St. Mary’s, in the crypt of the church, which I built from the foundations, and by the mercy of God afterwards consecrated. This synod was held in the year of our Lord 1092, the fifteenth indiction. There were assembled all the wisest men invited from the three shires in our diocese, Worcester, Gloucester, and Warwick ”

“ Very great men think it no shame to beg boons from the church. Already before 750 the bishop of Worcester has granted five manses to ‘Comes Leppa’ for lives [1052] ; before the century is out the abbot of Medeshamstead has granted ten manses to the ‘princeps’ Cuthbert for lives [1053] . In 855 the bishop of Worcester gives eleven manses to the ealdorman of the Mercians and his wife for their lives [1054] ; in 904 a successor of his makes a similar gift [1055] . But we have seen that the king himself was not above taking a loan from the church. ”

“ Should I forbear to add my testimony to such talents and such virtue, which, expanded by nature to the wide range of human benevolence, he knows how to concentre occasionally for the service of private friendship, how great would be my ingratitude and neglect, while no character ever so completely resembled his, as that of the famous Hough well known in England by the title of the good Bishop of Worcester. ”

“ Possibly our Lady, who knoweth the heart of a woman, had guided the
Knight in this matter also.
CHAPTER XLI WHAT THE BISHOP REMEMBERED Symon, Bishop of Worcester, sat in his library, in the cool of the day.
He was weary, with a weariness which surpassed all his previous experience of weariness, all his imaginings as to how weary, in body and spirit, a man could be, yet continue to breathe and think.
With some, extreme fatigue leads to restlessness of body. Not so with the Bishop. The more tired he was, the more perfectly still he sat ”

“ ABLE TO ENDURE Back to Worcester rode the Bishop.
Gallop! Gallop! along the grassy rides, beside the hard highway.
Hasten good Shulamite, black and comely still, though flecked with foam.
Important work lies ahead. Every moment is precious.
If Mother Sub-Prioress should send to the Palace, mischief will be done, which it will not be easy to repair. ”

“ He became a monk at Worcester, and schoolmaster and prior in the cathedral monastery there. In 1062 he was chosen bishop of Worcester, and the choice was approved by the witan; with some reluctance Wulfstan accepted, and was consecrated at York in September. The see of Worcester and the archbishopric of York had been held together before 1062 by Archbishop Aldred, who, when he was compelled to resign Worcester, retained twelve manors belonging to the see, which Wulfstan did not recover for some years. About 1070, however, it was decided that Worcester was in the province of Canterbury. ”

“ The truth is, that the former endeavoured after their own aggrandizement in every possible way, but had no inherent right of exemption from the fact of their being lords of parliament, or being invested with the mitre. Thus it appears from Dugd. Monast. that Gloucester, Winchcomb, and Tewkesbury were subject to the visitation and jurisdiction of the bishop of Worcester, till the Reformation; Croyland, Peterborough, Bardney, and Ramsey to the bishop of Lincoln; St. Mary in York, and Selby, to the archbishop of York, and Coventry to the bishop of Lichfield. ”

“ Finally he was consecrated bishop of Worcester on the 13th of October 1689. During these years he was cease- lessly engaged in controversy with Nonconformists, Romanists, Deists and Socinians. His unrivalled and various learning, his dialectical expertness, and his massive judgment, rendered him a formidable antagonist; but the respect entertained for him by his opponents was chiefly aroused by his recognized love of truth and superiority to personal considerations. ”

“ With which the Knight dropped upon one knee, and humbly kissed the hem of the Bishop's robe.
Symon of Worcester was greatly moved.
"My son," he said, "we are at one in desiring her happiness and highest good. For the rest, God, and her own pure heart, must guide her feet into the way of peace."
The Bishop rose, and went to the casement.
"The aurora breaks in the east. The dawn is near. Come with me, Hugh, to the chapel. We pray for His Holiness, giving thanks for his gracious letter and mandate; we praise for the safe return of my messenger. ”

“ In 1702, on the nomination of Archbishop Tenison, he was elected fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, he was chaplain to the bishop of Worcester in 1705, and on 14 Dec. 1705 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Worcester. ”

“ He himself will meet thee five miles this side of Worcester, and riding in, with much pomp and ceremony, will announce to the Community that, the higher service to which His Holiness sent thee, being accomplished——"
"Accomplished, Hugh?"
The Knight smiled, wearily. "I quote the Bishop, Mora. He will explain that he now reinstates thee as Prioress of the Order. The entire Community will, he says, rejoice; and he himself will be ever at hand to make sure that all is right for thee." ”

“ A nun may not yield to such love as Hugh d'Argent still desires to win from me. With long hours of prayer and vigil, have I sought to purge my soul from the stain of a weak yielding—even for 'a moment'—to the masterful insistence of this man, who forced himself, by the subterfuge of a sacrilegious masquerade, into the sacred precincts of our Nunnery. I know not whom he bribed"—continued the Prioress, flashing an indignant glance of suspicion at the Bishop.
"'Love thinking no evil,'" murmured Symon of Worcester. ”

“ Wulfstan, Saint, Bishop of Worcester, attends the Christmas assembly at Westminster, i. 18, 19 (note) ; defends Worcester against the rebels, i. 48–51, ii. 475–481; excommunicates them, i. 51; legendary growth of the story, ii. 477; decides between Anselm and Bishop Maurice, i. 440; his sickness, i. 478; his dinner with “good men,” ib.; his correspondence, i. 479; confesses to Robert of Hereford, ib.; his death, i. 477, 480; entry as to his death, i. 478 (note) ; appears to Bishop Robert of Hereford, i. 480, 533 (note) ; his burial, i. 480 ”

“ Still their affairs were by no means in a settled state. "So far was the provision from settling the affairs of their little communion, that there were new difficulties which successively started up hereupon, not easily to be stated and resolved, or at least without extreme danger; and though a separate communion was hereby kept up as a witnessing Church, according to the late Bishop of Worcester's hypothesis, who magnified the Providence of God in this case, though he himself held to the opposite side ”

“ And if you are bent upon divorcing a nun from her Heavenly Union, and making her to become the chattel of a man, you must seek her elsewhere than in the Convent of the White Ladies of Worcester, my Lord Bishop! ”

“ If his arms await her, she will not have far to go, nor many dangers to face. Her lover will know how to guard his own."
"My lord," said the Prioress, now flushed with anger, "you amaze me! Am I to understand that you would have me open the Convent door, so that a renegade nun may escape to her lover? Or perhaps, my lord, it would better meet your ideas if I bid the porteress stand wide the great gates, so that this high-spirited Knight may ride in and carry off the nun he desires, in sight of all! My Lord Bishop! You rule in Worcester and in the cities of the diocese. ”

“ PEDESTAL OF THE SHRINE OF BISHOP CANTILUPE.
Plate IV.
{H-23}
The shafts at the angles of all the windows are ringed, and the triangular arches, throughout the transept, are slightly stilted. Such arches are by no means common. They occur, however, in the clerestory on the south side of the nave in Worcester Cathedral, but of later date than this transept, which was possibly imitated by the Worcester architect.
This transept has been carefully and truly “restored,” under the direction of Mr. G. G. Scott. The stone-work has been freed from whitewash and cleaned ”

“ I follow by the short way through the forest, and shall not return to-night. Bid them saddle my white palfrey, Icon. I shall be ready to start within an hour. But first I must despatch to Worcester, a packet of importance. Bid two of the men, who rode with us from Worcester, prepare to mount and return thither. If they start in an hour's time, they can be well on their way, and make a safe lodging, before nightfall."
She passed into the library, laid the cross before her on the table, and began her letter to the Bishop. ”

“ At Worcester in 1778 he founded a society for the relief of distressed widows and orphans of clergymen in connection with the festival of the Three Choirs, and organised other clerical charities (Green, Worcester, i. 217; Smith and Onslow, Dioc. of Worc., p. 337) . As Bishop of Winchester he improved Farnham Park, and in 1817 spent over 6,000l. on the castle. In his time (1818) 40,000l. was laid out rather injudiciously on the restoration of the cathedral; and from 1800 to 1820 about twenty new churches were consecrated in his diocese. ”

“ The Bishop did not look up, or he would have seen dull despair displacing the Knight's anger.
"However she appears faithfully to have laid before Sister Mary Seraphine, my view of the matter, giving her to understand that I am inclined to be lenient concerning vows made under misapprehension; also that, when there is not a true vocation, and a worldly spirit chafes against the cloistered life, I regard its presence within the Community as more likely to be harmful to the common weal, than the short-lived scandal which might arise if those in power should connive at an escape." ”

“ Their limbs became weak and their eyes dim; they could hardly lift their weapons or know friend from foe. [143] The footmen were slaughtered; the horsemen, Norman, English, and Welsh, were taken prisoners; of the whole host only a few escaped by flight. The men of the King and of the Bishop marched back to Worcester—​so Worcester dutifully believed—​without the loss of a single man from their ranks. They came back rejoicing in the great salvation which had been wrought by their hands, and giving all thanks to God and his servant Wulfstan. ”

“ And moving forward, in the strength of that resolve, she passed out into the sunshine.
"Do it now!" sang the thrush, in the rowan-tree.
CHAPTER XLVII THE BISHOP IS TAKEN UNAWARES Symon of Worcester, seated before a table in the library, pondered a letter which had reached him the evening before, brought by a messenger from the Vatican.
It was a call to return to the land he loved best; the land of sunshine and flowers, of soft speech and courteous ways; the land of heavenly beauty and seraphic sounds; and, moreover, to return as a Cardinal of Holy Church. ”

“ The Bishop's uplifted fingers brought the nuns to their knees; but they rose at once to their feet again and crowded behind Mother Sub-Prioress as, taking a step forward, she hastened to explain the situation.
"My Lord Bishop, you find us in much distress. The Reverend Mother is locked into her cell, and we fear that, after a long night of vigil and fasting, she hath swooned. We cannot get an answer by much knocking, and we have no means of forcing the door, which is of most massive strength and thickness." ”