CHAPTER 16: The restoration of the church at York [669–71]
CHAPTER 16
The restoration of the church at York [669–71]
WHEN Wilfrid was installed at York during Wulfhere’s reign, the stonework of the church which had been first founded and dedicated to God by St Paulinus, in the days of that most Christian king, Edwin, was quite clearly half in ruins. The top of the roof was too old to be serviceable any longer; water streamed through it; the windows had never been glassed in, so birds flew in and out and built their nests inside; the walls were in a disgusting state, decaying and filthy with the mess made by the birds and the rain. Our holy bishop’s soul stood still within him, like Daniel’s, at the sight of God’s house, a house of prayer, looking like a den of thieves. He planned to restore it and make it once more pleasing to God. The decayed ridges of the roof were replaced; the craftsmen made a good job of them, covering them with pure lead. The windows were glazed so that the birds were excluded without shutting out the light too. The walls were washed till they were in the words of the prophet, ‘whiter than snow’. The interior of the building was decorated and the altar provided with all kinds of vessels. In addition to all this Wilfrid acquired vast tracts of land for the Church, thus relieving its poverty and enriching it with valuable endowments. What God said about Samuel and all the saints certainly applied to him: ‘Whosoever will glorify me, him will I glorify’, for he was loved and respected by the whole nation.1