WILFRID (Wilfrid), bishop of York, saint. — Born in Northumbria c. 634, of noble family, died in the monastery of Oundle (Northamptonshire) on 12 Oct. or, similarly, on 24 Apr. 709.
Having become a monk at Lindisfarne and Canterbury, he felt the need to perfect his intellectual culture through contact with Roman civilisation, and went to Rome, where he observed the divergences between the Roman liturgy then in use there and that practised in Northumbria. On his return journey he stopped for three years at Lyons and there completed his studies. At the Synod of Whitby (664) he defended with such vigour the adoption of the Roman date for Easter that King Oswy, who until then had favoured the Celtic reckoning, abandoned the old usage (cf. Mansi, XI, col. 67).
Appointed abbot of the monastery of Ripon and highly esteemed for his learning, Wilfrid was elected archbishop of York, but was unable to take possession of his see. The untimely decision to receive consecration at the hands of the archbishop of Paris alienated King Oswy, who, during Wilfrid’s absence, replaced him with Ceadda. Theodore, however, archbishop of Canterbury, restored him to his see (669). Deprived of it again in 678 through court intrigues, Wilfrid went to Rome to plead his cause, and Pope Agatho restored him to his bishopric (679), though obliging him to share his duties with some assistants (cf. Mansi, XI, col. 179).
The papal decision aroused suspicion among the clergy of Northumbria, and Wilfrid, first imprisoned, had to go into exile in Sussex and the Isle of Wight, where his apostolic zeal enabled him to convert many pagans. The archbishop of Canterbury sought to compensate him by choosing a successor for him; but Wilfrid refused the offer and insisted on being fully reinstated in all his rights at York, in accordance with the decree of Pope Agatho. This intransigence brought him fresh misunderstandings. At the Synod of Austerfield (702) he was offered a return to his former monastery at Ripon on condition that he reside there permanently. Wilfrid then set out again for Rome to lodge his appeal. The Holy See upheld the full legitimacy of his claims and asked the king of Northumbria to restore him to the see of York. The synod held at Ripon, however, deferred the Roman decision and left the see provisionally in the hands of Bosa, who occupied it, assigning to Wilfrid the sees of Ripon and Hexham (cf. Mansi, XII, cols. 158-74).