Wulfram of Sens
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| Wulfram of Sens | |
|---|---|
| Died | April 20, 703, Fontenelle |
| Major shrine | Abbeville |
| Feast | March 20, October 15 |
| Attributes | baptizing a young king; cleric with a young king nearby; cleric arriving by ship with monks and baptizing a king; baptizing the son of King Radbod |
| Patronage | Abbeville, France |
| A short hymn or prayer 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 Sigurd, In his robes as one transfigured, And the Crucifix he planted |
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Wulfram of Sens, Saint Wulfram is also known as Wulfram of Fontenelle. He lived from about 640 to March 20, 703, (though the years vary according to the authority, from birth in about 630, to death between 700 and 720). His life was recorded by the monk, Jonas of Fontenelle, eleven years after he died. However, nowadays, there seems to be little consensus about the precise dates of most events in his life and subsequently.
There are churches dedicated to him in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Ovingdean, Sussex and Abbeville, in the French département of Somme. This last has his name in the form of St. Vulfran.
His name comes in several forms such as the Latin Wulframnus, the French Vulfran and Vulphran, Vuilfran, Wulfrann, Wolfran. In England, Wulfram has become the standard form since the 19th century.
As a patron saint, he protects against the dangers of the sea.
Saint Wulfram is depicted in art as baptizing a young king. Sometimes (1) the young king is near him; (2) he is shown arriving by ship with monks and baptizing the king; or (3) he is shown baptizing the son of King Radbod.
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[edit] Early life
Wulfram was born in the diocese of Meaux, at Mauraliacus, an insecurely identified place near Fontainebleau, probably Milly-la-Forêt, Essonne. He was the son of a Fulbert, a knight attached to the court of Dagobert I, king of the Franks. Dagobert's kingdom was divided on his death and it was close to the court of his partial successor, Clovis II, king of Neustria and Burgundy that Wulfram is likely to have been born a little after Dagobert had died in 639.
Wulfram was educated at Clovis's court and showed a gift for academic learning. He took holy orders and seems to have intended a quiet life but was called to the court of Theodoric III (Thierry III) of Neustria. This seems to have propelled him into greater prominence since, in 692, he was elected Archbishop of Sens. (There are various versions of this date, from 682). At any rate, he was in post in 693, when he attended an assembly of bishops at Valenciennes.
In 695, he resigned the archbishopric in favour of Saint Amatus, who it seems, he thought would be the better at that sort of work, and retired to the Benedictine abbey called "Fontenelle". There are several places called Fontenelle, but this was probably at St-Wandrille, near Caudebec-en-Caux on the lower Seine, in the Diocese of Rouen. However, the Kirchenlexikon (See external link) places it at Fontenelle in the extreme north of the département of Aisne.
[edit] The mission in Friesland
When Saint Boniface withdrew from his missionary work in Friesland, in order to visit Rome for the second time, Wulfram seems to have stood in for him in Friesland. There, he converted the son of King Radbod and was allowed to preach. The custom was that people, including children were sacrificed to the local gods having been selected by a form of lottery. Wulfram, having remonstrated with Radbod on the subject, was told that the king was unable to change the custom but Wulfram was invited to save them if he could. The saint then waded into the sea to save two children who had been tied to posts and left to drown as the tide rose.
According to the story, the turning point came with the rescue of a man, Ovon, who had been chosen by lot to be sacrificed by hanging. Wulfram begged King Radbod to stop the killing, but the people were outraged at the sacrilege proposed. In the end, they agreed that Wulfram's God could have a chance to save Ovon's life, and if he did, Wulfram and the God could have him. Ovon was hanged, and left for a couple of hours, while Wulfram prayed. When the Frisians decided to leave Ovon for dead, the rope broke, Ovon fell - and was alive. Ovon became Wulfram's slave, his follower, a monk, and then a priest at Fontenelle Abbey. The faith of the missionaries (and their power to work miracles), frightened and awed the people who turned from their old ways, and were baptized.
Even Radbod was in the queue for conversion, but just before his baptism, he asked where his ancestors were. Wulfram told him that idolaters went to Hell. Rather than be apart from his ancestors, he chose to stay as he was. On his death bed, he changed his mind and sent for the missionary on duty at the time, Saint Willibrord, for baptism but Radbod departed before the saint’s arrival.
[edit] His death and after
He retired to Fontanelle, where he died in 703. The saint’s year of death is sometimes given as 720 but his interred body is said to have been moved in 704, so he will have died at some time before that. Whichever year it was, the date was March 20, which is kept as his feast day. He was buried in St. Paul’s chapel in the abbey but in 704, he was re-buried in the main church. The body was again moved in 1058, this time to the collegiate church of Our Lady in Abbeville, which was then re-dedicated in Wulfram’s name. The translation of his body to Abbeville is commemorated on October 15.
At about this time or later, perhaps when his body was again moved, this time to Rouen, his arm was taken as a relic to Croyland Abbey, Lincolnshire. The interest in him there may have arisen from Ingulph, the abbot's being a former monk of Fontenelle. Also, everyone concerned was a Benedictine. Ingulph, who died in 1109, was secretary to William I, who made him Abbot of Crowland in 1086.
After the building at Crowland was damaged by fire, there was no longer a suitable place for keeping the relic, so it went to Grantham for safe-keeping. For two or three hundred years, it was kept in the crypt chapel below the Lady Chapel, where the pilgrims helped to wear the hollow, now to be seen in stone step before the altar. Later, towards 1350, the arm went to the specially added chapel above the north porch. At some stage in the long process of the English Reformation, it was lost.
[edit] References
Much comes from the web sites listed below but also:
- Knapp, M.G. St.Wulfram's Parish Church, Grantham (1999)
- Muskett, P. St. Wulfram's Grantham Plan A leaflet guide to St. Wulfram's church building in Grantham. (c.1980)
- Pointer, M. The Glory of Grantham (1978) ISBN 0-906338-06-9
- Thorne, J.O. Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1969) SBN 550-16001-9
- Volkmann, J-C. Bien Connaître Les Généalogies des Rois de France (1997) ISBN 2-87747-208-6
