CHAPTER 1: The birth of Wilfrid and its portent [634]
Eddius Stephanus: Life of Wilfrid
CHAPTER 1
The birth of Wilfrid and its portent [634]
I SHALL now embark, with the help of God, on the holy life and merits of blessed Bishop Wilfrid, whom the Lord, in the words of that outstanding teacher St Paul, ‘foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified’.1 A sign from God proved that he was sanctified while still in the womb of his most pious mother, just as clearly as when the voice announced to Jeremiah: ‘Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee: and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.’ 2 His mother was in confinement, worn out with the pains of labour, her women round her, when a group of men standing outside saw the house suddenly take fire and flames shoot sky high. Everyone started dashing panic-stricken in all directions, trying to douse the flames with water and rescue the inhabitants. But the women of the house came to the door and told them to keep calm: ‘Control yourselves; a child has been born into the world.’ At first they were amazed: then saw in what had taken place a great work of God, just as when Moses saw the burning bush with the flames crackling yet consuming nothing. Very often, brethren, we hear of the Holy Spirit appearing in the form of fire, for God is a fire consuming sinners and enlightening the righteous.3 This light God has ordered to be placed on a candlestick, not hidden under a bushel, and through our holy bishop it has shone openly on almost every church in Britain. This, the meaning of the omen, was entirely borne out by future events.