Hierarch Wilfrid, Bishop of York

St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, was born around 633 into a noble Northumbrian family. As a young monk at Lindisfarne, and later during a stay in Rome, he became a fervent adherent of Roman church usage and the Alexandrian computation of Easter, contrasting with the Celtic tradition then followed in Britain. On his return he became abbot of the monastery he founded at Ripon, introducing the Benedictine rule and Roman practices. His decisive hour came at the Synod of Whitby in 664, where he successfully argued before King Oswiu of Northumbria for the Roman dating of Easter over Celtic practice, setting the English Church's course toward unity with Rome. Soon afterward he was made Bishop of York. His episcopate was marked by fierce conflicts with royal and ecclesiastical authorities: he was repeatedly driven from his see, appealed to Rome in person, and preached to the pagans of Sussex and Frisia. He spent his final years as abbot of Ripon and Oundle, dying there on April 24, 709 (some sources say 710); he was buried at Ripon.