Oswald of Worcester: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|10th-century Archbishop of York and(died saint992)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 20202024}}

| feast_day = 29 February <small>(leap years)</small> <br>28 February <small>(common years)</small><br>19 May <small>([[Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter|POCSP]])</small>

| venerated = [[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Anglican Communion]]

'''Oswald of Worcester''' (died 29 February 992) was [[Archbishop of York]] from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, [[Oda of Canterbury|Oda]], who sent him to France to the abbey of [[Fleury Abbey|Fleury]] to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury, Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle, who died before Oswald returned. With his uncle's death, Oswald needed a patron and turned to another kinsman, [[Oscytel|Oskytel]], who had recently become Archbishop of York. His activity for Oskytel attracted the notice of Archbishop [[Dunstan]] who had Oswald consecrated as [[Bishop of Worcester]] in 961. In 972, Oswald was promoted to the see of York, although he continued to hold Worcester also.

Oswald supported Dunstan and Æthelwold, [[Bishop of Winchester]], in their efforts to purify the Church from [[secularism]]. Aided by King [[Edgar the Peaceful|Edgar]], he took a prominent part in the revival of monastic discipline along the precepts of the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]]. His methods differed from Æthelwold's, who often violently ejected secular clergy from churches and replaced them with monks.<ref name=Monastic55>Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 55</ref> Oswald also organised the estates of his see into administrative [[Hundred (country subdivision)|hundreds]] known as the [[Oswaldslow]], which helped stabilise the ecclesiastical revenues.<ref name=Monastic488/> He constantly visited the monasteries he founded, and was long remembered as father of his people both as bishop and archbishop.<ref name=Monastic55/> It was Oswald who changed the cathedral chapter of Worcester from priests to monks,<ref name=Monastic621>Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 621</ref> although the exact method that he employed is unclear. One tradition says that Oswald used a slow approach in building up a new church of monks next to the cathedral, allowing the cathedral's priests to continue performing services in the cathedral until the monastic foundation was strong enough to take over the cathedral.<ref name=ASE450/> Another tradition claims that, instead, Oswald expelled any of the clergy in the cathedral that would not give up their wives and replaced them with monks immediately. Oswald also reformed Winchcombe Abbey, along with the monasteries of [[Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on Trym|Westbury Priory]], Pershore Abbey, and Evesham Abbey. It is also possible that monasteries were established in Gloucester and [[Deerhurst]], but evidence is lacking for their exact foundation dates.<ref name=DNB/>

In 972 Oswald was made Archbishop of York<ref name=Handbook224/> and journeyed to Rome to receive a pallium from Pope [[Pope John XIII|John XIII]]. It is possible that he also traveledtravelled on Edgar's behalf to the court of the Emperor [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]], and that these two journeys had been combined.<ref name=DNB/> He continued to hold the see of Worcester in addition to York.<ref name=Handbook224/> The holding of Worcester in addition to York became traditional for almost the next fifty years. Although it was uncanonical, it had many advantages for York in that it added a much richer diocese to their holdings, and one which was more peaceful as well.<ref name=ASE436>Stenton ''Anglo Saxon England'' 3rd ed. p. 436</ref> When Edgar died in 975, [[Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia|Ælfhere]], Ealdorman of [[Mercia]], broke up many monastic communities, some of which were Oswald's foundations.<ref name=Monastic53/> Ramsey, however, was not disturbed, probably due to the patronage of Æthelwine, Ealdorman of [[East Anglia]], son of Æthelstan Half-King. Ælfhere was a supporter of [[Ethelred the Unready]], the son of Edgar's third marriage, while Oswald supported the son of Edgar's first marriage, [[Edward the Martyr]],<ref name=DNB/> in the dispute over who would succeed King Edgar.<ref name=Williams9>Williams ''Æthelred the Unready'' p. 9</ref>

Oswald died on 29 February 992 in the act of washing the feet of the poor at Worcester,<ref name=Monastic55/> as was his daily custom during [[Lent]], and was buried in the Church of [[MaryWorcester (motherCathedral|Church of Jesus)|SaintSt Mary]] at Worcester]]. He promoted the education of the clergy and persuaded scholars to come from Fleury and teach in England.<ref name=Monastic53>Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 53</ref> A ''Life of Oswald'' was written after his death, probably by [[Byrhtferth]], a monk of Ramsey Abbey.<ref name=Monastic494>Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 494</ref> Two manuscripts, a [[psalter]] (Harley MS 2904 in the British Library) and a [[Roman Pontifical|pontifical]] (MS 100, part 2 from Sidney Sussex College of Cambridge University), probably belonged to Oswald and would have been used in his daily devotions.<ref name=DNB/>

Almost immediately after his death miracles were reported at his funeral and at his tomb. His remains were translated to a different burial spot in the[[Worcester cathedralCathedral]] ten years after his death. His [[Calendar of saints|feast day]] is celebrated on 28 February<ref name=Walsh459>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 459</ref> or on 19 May in the [[Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter]].<ref>[[Divine Worship: The Missal]] p. 734</ref>

* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, N. P. |author-linktitle=NicholasOswald Brooks(St Oswald) (d. 992) |encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |titleauthor-link=Nicholas OswaldBrooks (St Oswald) (d. 992historian) |url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20917 |access-date=22 April 2008 |year=2004 |publisher= Oxford University Press |formatdoi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20917 {{ODNBsub}} {{ODNBsub}}

* {{cite book |author=Dodwell, C. R. |title=Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/anglosaxonartnew0000dodw_62 |url-access=registration |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |year=1985 |isbn=0-8014-9300-5 }}

* {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |author-link= Richard A. Fletcher |title= Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Richard A. Fletcher |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-516136-X }}

* {{cite book |author=Knowles, David |title=The Monastic Order in England: A History of its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 940–1216 |author-link=David Knowles (scholar) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1976 |edition= Second reprint |isbn=0-521-05479-6 }}

* {{cite book |author=Lutz, Cora E. |title=Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century |publisher=Archon Books |year=1977 |isbn=0-208-01628-7 }}

* {{cite book |author1=Richardson, H. G. |author2=Sayles, G. O. |author2-link=G. O. Sayles |title= The Governance of Mediaeval England: From the Conquest to Magna Carta |author2-link=G. O. Sayles |year= 1963 |publisher= Edinburgh University Press |location= Edinburgh |oclc= 504298 }}

* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link= Frank Stenton |title= Anglo-Saxon England |year=1971 1971|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}

* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-X2 }}

* {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |author-link= Ann Williams (historian) |title= Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Hambledon & London |location=London |year= 2003 |isbn=1-85285-382-4 }}

* {{cite book |author=Wormald, Patrick |author-link=Patrick Wormald |title=The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century |author-link=Patrick Wormald |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Cambridge, MA |year=1999 |isbn=0-631-22740-7 }}

* [https://archive.org/details/historianschurc00raingoog 2 more lives of St. Oswald, plus relevant extracts of the ''Historia Rameseiensis'', pg. 1 ff.]