From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 20th - St. Wulfric   
    (also known as Ulfrick, Ulric)   
      
   Born at Compton Martin (near Bristol), England; died at Haselbury, Somerset,   
   England, in February 20, 1154. Saint Wulfric was an ordained priest, but not   
   because he felt a religious vocation. He like to hunt and eat and party with   
   the   
   lords of the manors near Deverill, Wiltshire, England. He performed all the   
   functions of a priest, but he did not have his heart in them. Legend reports   
   that, one day in the early 1120's while he was a priest at Deverill, near   
   Warminster, he was suddenly touched by divine grace. Some say that he had   
   underwent a metanoia(1) during a chance encounter with a beggar. Other say   
   that   
   Wulfric was converted to a life of penance one day upon recitation of the   
   Lavabo   
   verse: "I will wash my hands among the innocent." It was as if all the easy   
   ways   
   of his past rose up at once to torment him, and he fled immediately to a   
   place   
   in search of solitude.   
      
   We don't know how long he remained a hermit, but there are seemingly endless   
   reports of his austerities and arduous mortifications: going down in the icy   
   waters to recite the Psalms, flagellations, prostrations, mail-shirts. When   
   Wulfric finally returned to his flock, he was a new man. He ministered to   
   his   
   flock until 1125.   
      
   A knight offered him a cell adjoining a church at Haselbury-Plunkett   
   (Plucknett)   
   near Exeter in Somerset. He had no official episcopal authorization, but was   
   supported by the neighboring Cluniac monks of Montacute. There he lived the   
   remainder of his life, starving himself until his body was skin and bones.   
   He   
   was famous for his gift of prophecy and for his priestly care of all who   
   sought   
   his counsel, including Kings Henry I and Stephen. In 1130, Henry and Queen   
   Adela   
   obtained through his intercession the healing of the knight Drogo de Munci   
   from   
   paralysis. In 1133, Wulfric prophesied the death of the king which occurred   
   in   
   1135. Stephen visited him with his brother, Henry of Blois, bishop of   
   Winchester, when Wulfric greeted him as king even before his disputed   
   accession.   
   On another occasion, Wulfric reproached him for misgovernment.   
      
   A curious story is recounted in detail that he cut the iron links of his   
   mail-shirt with ordinary scissors as if they were only linen in order to   
   shorten   
   it to permit the numerous prostrations that were a part of the penitential   
   exercises of that era. He said Mass daily with the assistance of a boy named   
   Osbern, who later became a priest and who recorded Wulfric's vita. The   
   near-contemporary life of Wulfric by Abbot John of Ford is accurate and   
   informative.   
      
   The saint employed himself primarily in copying books, which he bound   
   himself.   
   He also made elements for the celebration of Mass. Many miracles were   
   attributed   
   to his intercession, both in this life and after his death. (Although the   
   first   
   miracle at his tomb is not recorded to have occurred until 1169; they were   
   numerous between 1185 to 1235.) The Cistercians lay claim to Wulfric, as did   
   the   
   monks of Montacute, but he was unaffiliated with an religious order.   
      
   Wulfric's cultus was slow to develop. He was mentioned favorably by Henry of   
   Huntingdon, Roger of Wendover, and Matthew Paris. William Worcestre and John   
   Leland also mention his tomb. In 1633, John Gerard recorded that his cell   
   was   
   still standing as was his memory. A 16th-century martyrology and a French   
   menology include Saint Wulfric. He is venerated at Haselbury, where he is   
   buried   
   in the cell in which he lived, which is now the site of the church's vestry   
   (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, Walsh).   
      
    (1) Metanoia, a Greek word meaning a change of mind. A radical revision and   
   transformation of our whole mental process. That change of mind is something   
   whereby God takes center place in our consciousness, in our awareness, and   
   in   
   our minds.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "For if we return to the head and source of Divine Tradition, human   
   error ceases."   
   -St Cyprian of Carthage, "Epistles of St Cyprian", p. 389, Ante-Nicene   
   Fathers.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Now I praise you brethren, that you remember me in all things and   
   keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you." 1st Corinthians   
   11:2.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer for the dying:   
      
   O most merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I beseech Thee, by the agony of Thy   
   Most Sacred Heart and by the sorrows of Thine immaculate Mother, wash clean   
   in Thy Blood the sinners of the whole world who are now in their agony and   
   who are going to die this day. Amen.   
      
   V. Heart of Jesus, who didst suffer death's agony,   
   R. Have mercy on the dying.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)