He had a penchant for trouble

	St. Wilfred When: 634-709 Where: England What: Bishop Feast: Oct. 12

St. Wilfred is one of those people with a knack for being in trouble. Over the course of his 75 years, he was several times not permitted to govern his diocese and was even locked in jail. Yet, he never gave up.

A baron's son, Wilfred was born in North-umbria and, as a teen, was sent to the monastery for studies. There, he decided that the Roman practices of Catholicism were superior to the Celtic practices then common in England. So, when he was 20, Wilfred set out for Rome. On the way, he stopped at Lyons, France, and stayed there a year with St. Annemund, who tried to convince Wilfred to marry his niece.

In Rome, Wilfred completely accepted the Roman practices. Soon afer returning to England, he was named Abbot of Ripon, where he introduced the Rule of St. Benedict and Roman practices.

At a conference in 663 to determine if the area should follow the Roman or Celtic practices, the Roman view won. Shortly after, Wilfred was named Bishop of York. He decided that, to be validly ordained, he needed to go to France.

For reasons not clear, Wilfred didn't return from France for two years When he did, he found that St. Chad had been named the bishop in his place. Rather than cause a fight, Wilfred went back to the Ripon Abbey, where he was an advisor to kings.

Finally, in 669, St. Theodore, newly-named Archbishop of Canterbury, ruled that Wilfred, not Chad, should be the bishop.

Wilfred soon imposed Roman practices, restored the York cathedral and began living like the French bishops, with a great deal of power and wealth. He seems to have been popular with most people. Except, that is, King Egfrith because Wilfred helped the queen, St. Etheldreda, escape to the convent.

In response, the king convinced Theodore to divide the diocese and depose Wilfred, who became the first bishop to appeal such a decision to Rome. On his way to Rome, Wilfred became stranded in Friesland (northern Netherlands) where he spent months as a missionary and opened the way for St. Willebrord.

After he reached Rome, the pope called a synod that ruled in Wilfred's favor. Egfrith refused to accept this and had Wilfred imprisoned for nine months, allowing him out only to work as a missionary in southern England.

Soon, he became the bishop there, staying for five years until Egfrith died. He then returned to the north and the abbey at Ripon. But within five years, Wilfred and the new king got into a dispute that led to Wilfred's banishment.

For the next several years, he served as Bishop of Lichfield. All was going well until he was ordered to resign and return to the Ripon abbey. Instead, he again set off for Rome, where the Holy See vindicated him, but in a compromise made him Bishop of Hexham residing at the Ripon abbey, and making St. John of Beverley the Bishop of York. By then, Wilfred was in his 70s. He seems to have lived his final years quietly.