WOLSTAN, bishop of WORCESTER, saint. — A Benedictine monk, born at Long Itchington in Warwickshire (England) c. 1008, died at Worcester on 19 January 1095.
He studied at the monastic schools of Evesham and Peterborough; he was ordained c. 1083. After refusing the ecclesiastical dignities offered him by BRITHÈGE, bishop of Worcester, he entered the Benedictine Order at the monastery of the same city, where he held various offices until he became prior of the cathedral. On 8 September 1062, the see having become vacant through the transfer of Bishop Aldred to the Church of York, he was consecrated, by election of Edward the Confessor, bishop of Worcester, the last of the English bishops appointed under an Anglo-Saxon king. After the Norman conquest, he was among the few Saxon ecclesiastics who succeeded in retaining their see, representing the ideal link between the ancient age of the Anglo-Saxon Church, symbolised in the names of Bede and Cuthbert, and the new age, whose principal exponents were Lanfranc and Anselm.
He distinguished himself by pastoral zeal and fervour in prayer, preserving in the care of the diocese the asceticism that had marked his monastic life. He was canonised by Innocent III on 14 May 1203. Feast day: 19 January.