From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Why did Jesus touch the leper   
      
       "And why did [Jesus] touch him, since the law forbade the touching   
   of a leper? He touched him to show that 'all things are clean to the   
   clean' (Titus 1:15). Because the filth that is in one person does not   
   adhere to others, nor does external uncleanness defile the clean of   
   heart. So he touches him in his untouchability, that he might instruct   
   us in humility; that he might teach us that we should despise no one,   
   or abhor them, or regard them as pitiable, because of some wound of   
   their body or some blemish for which they might be called to render an   
   account.... is there anyone here that has the taint of leprosy in his   
   soul, or the contamination of guilt in his heart?....”   
   by Origen of Alexandria (excerpt from FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW 2.2–3)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   19 January – Saint Wulfstan   
      
    (c 1008–1095)   
    Bishop of Worcester from 1062 to 1095, Monk, Prior, a man of extreme   
   holiness and penitence who was admired by all, he was a he was a man   
   of iron will, immense charm and unworldly humility and piety. and   
   suffered no luxury, preferring always the poor to himself. Born in c   
   1008 at Long Itchington, Warwickshire and died in January 1095 at He   
   was the last surviving pre-Norman Conquest Bishop and the only   
   English-born Bishop after 1075. Patronages – Vegetarians and dieters.   
      
   Saint Wulfstan was an impressive character. As Bishop, he fought   
   against the continuing of married Priests in his Diocese – announcing   
   that they should either give up their women or their Priesthood! This   
   was in accordance with the reform of the Church as promoted by the   
   Papacy from the mid 11th century in which clerical marriage was   
   censured. Wulfstan expected his Monks and congregation to adhere to   
   Christianity in the strictest sense; it is recorded that he recited   
   Psalms repeatedly when travelling on horseback anywhere as a sign of   
   his unwavering faith and conviction, inviting all to follow his   
   example.   
      
   Wulfstan was born at Itchington in Warwickshire on the eve of the   
   Danish Conquest (c 1008 or a little later), into a well-connected   
   family. His mother may have been the sister of Wulfstan, Archbishop of   
   York, the prominent homilist and law-maker who was an influential   
   adviser first to King Æthelred and then to the Danish conqueror Cnut.   
   (So the elder Wulfstan was also a bishop adept at making himself   
   acceptable to conquerors – clearly it ran in the family.) The younger   
   Wulfstan was probably named for his famous uncle but Coleman’s life   
   says, that Wulfstan’s parents named him from a combination of their   
   own names: his father was called Æthelstan (‘noble stone’) and his   
   mother was called Wulfgifu (‘wolf gift’), so they named their son   
   ‘Wulfstan’, joining elements from the two names   
      
   Wulfstan was educated in the Monastery of Peterborough, where he was   
   taught by a Monk named Earnwig, an expert scribe and illustrator.   
   Coleman’s Vita of our Saint, tells how Earnwig gave young Wulfstan   
   some books to look after – a Sacramentary and a Psalter, with letters   
   illuminated in gold. The boy fell in love with these beautiful books,   
   captivated by the rich decorations but his teacher, with an eye to   
   winning royal favour, presented the books to Cnut and his queen, Emma.   
   The child was heartbroken at the loss but the story has a happy ending   
   for Wulfstan had a dream, in which an angel promised the books would   
   be returned to him and much later in life they were! Cnut sent the   
   books to Cologne as a diplomatic gift to the Holy Roman Emperor and,   
   in the reign of St King Edward the Confessor, they happened to be   
   brought back to England and were given to Wulfstan as a gift by   
   someone who did not know of his dream! The Lord indeed, works in   
   strange and wondrous ways to the eyes of men!   
      
   Wulfstan became a Priest and then a Monk at Worcester. One night he   
   was praying in the Church, when an old peasant came in and scolded him   
   for being there so late and challenged him to a fight. Wulfstan –   
   knowing, of course, that it was the Devil in disguise, wrestled with   
   the peasant until he vanished in a puff of smoke.   
      
   “But so that [the Devil] should not seem to have failed altogether, he   
   trod on the good man’s foot with all the force wickedness could muster   
   and pierced it, as though with a red-hot iron. The damage penetrated   
   to the bone, so Godric, a Monk of that house, bore witness; according   
   to Coleman, he said he had often seen it, he said “I do not know   
   whether to call it wound or ulcer.’ The same Coleman avows, that he   
   knew the rustic whose shape the Devil took on, a man well suited from   
   his superhuman strength, wicked character and grim ugliness, to be the   
   one into whom that wicked bandit transformed himself. (SL, 29)”   
      
   Wulfstan was Consecrated Bishop of Worcester in 1062, late in the   
   reign of St King Edward the Confessor. The tone of his time as Bishop   
   was set, according to William of Malmesbury, by the Bible verse chosen   
   at his Consecration (at random, as was customary, as a   
   prognostication): ‘Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no   
   guile’. The stories about Wulfstan’s career as Bishop, illustrate this   
   idea of his guilelessness, his remarkable simplicity and humility,   
   even when he was mixing with the most powerful people in the land.   
   Wulfstan had been closely associated with Harold Godwineson but he   
   nonetheless, managed, to retain his position after the Norman Conquest   
   when many English Abbots and Bishops were deposed. Later legend said   
   ,that when he was ordered to surrender his Episcopal Staff, he stuck   
   it into the tomb of St King Edward, declaring that as Edward had   
   appointed him, only Edward could take it from him. No-one could pull   
   the staff out of the tomb except Wulfstan himself – his own   
   sword-in-the-stone miracle. So he kept his position.   
      
   Typical of the stories about Wulfstan’s simplicity of life, is this   
   witty exchange with a Norman Bishop who teased Wulfstan for dressing   
   in humble lamb-skin, rather than grander clothes:   
   “When he was on one occasion told off for this by Geoffrey Bishop of   
   Coutances, he retorted with some witty remarks. Geoffrey had asked why   
   he had lamb-skins when he could and should wear sable, beaver or wolf.   
   He replied neatly, that Geoffrey and other men well versed in the way   
   of the world, should wear the skins of crafty animals but he, was   
   conscious of no shiftiness in himself and was happy with lambskin.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)