CHAPTER 33: OUR bishop returns [680]
CHAPTER 33
OUR bishop returns [680]
WILFRID’S long stay in Rome was brought to an end by the injunction of the pope and synod to return home, taking with him the orders of the Holy See which he was to show to Archbishop Theodore and King Ecgfrith. Our holy bishop carried out these commands with unwavering loyalty as he had promised, but before setting out he spent several days going round the shrines of the saints making his devotions. He managed to obtain, much to the comfort of the churches of Britain, a large supply of relics, each of which he labelled with a description of the object itself and the name of the saint. In his usual way he acquired numerous other articles to decorate the house of God, but it would be tedious to give a list of them all here. Finally he and his company set out for home in great joy with the blessing of pope and synod and with the help of God. He journeyed on, bearing the triumphal decision, up through Campania and over the mountains till he came to the land of the Franks, only to find that his faithful friend King Dagobert had been assassinated by some treacherous dukes and (Heaven defend us!) with the bishops’ consent. One of these same prelates rode out to meet Wilfrid at the head of a mighty army, intending, had not God intervened, to rob the whole company, reduce them to serfdom or sell them into slavery, and to kill any who resisted. Our holy bishop was to suffer the anguish of being imprisoned and reserved for Duke Ebroin’s judgement.
‘What made you so bold,’ they demanded, ‘as to pass through the land of the Franks, seeing that you deserve to be put to death for making Dagobert king? You it was who brought him back from exile and what did he do but lay waste our cities, spurn the advice of our elders, act like Solomon’s son Rehoboam in imposing an humiliating tribute on his people, and despise the Church of God and her rulers? These are the crimes for which he was slain; this is the reason his body now lies in the grave.’
Our holy bishop answered humbly: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ what I say is true; by the holy apostle Peter I swear I do not lie. It was in accordance with God’s command to the people of Israel when they dwelt as strangers in a foreign land that I helped and cherished King Dagobert, then an exile and a wanderer. I raised him up not to your harm but for your good, sending him to build up your cities, to put spirit into your citizens, to counsel your senate, and, as he promised in the Lord’s name, to defend the Church. Most righteous bishop, if an exile of my own country, and one of royal blood, had come to your lordship, where else would your duty have lain?’
The prelate replied: ‘The Lord préserve your goings out and your comings in. Woe to me, sinner that I am! Pardon me, for, like the patriarch Judah, I see you are more righteous than I. The Lord be with you, and may the apostle Peter be your aid.’