The Three Choirs: A Handbook to the Cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester: A Complete Description of the Buildings, a History of Each Diocese and Biographical Notices of the BishopsKing, R. J. (Richard John)
Religion
The Three Choirs: A Handbook to the Cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester: A Complete Description of the Buildings, a History of Each Diocese and Biographical Notices of the Bishops
I. The chief authorities for the architectural history of Worcester
Cathedral are--the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, and the _Annales
Ecclesiæ Wygorniensis_, compiled by a monk of Worcester at the beginning
of the fourteenth century[59]. From these it appears that in the year
1084 Bishop WULFSTAN “began the work of the Minster;” into which the
monks entered four years afterwards; and in 1092 Wulfstan held a synod
in the crypt, which he had “built from the foundations, and by the mercy
of God had dedicated[60].” Wulfstan died in 1095. In 1113 the city of
Worcester, with the cathedral church and the castle, were greatly
injured by fire. In 1175 the “new tower”--probably the central tower of
the cathedral--fell, as many other Norman towers had fallen; and in 1189
another great fire destroyed nearly the whole of Worcester. On this
occasion the cathedral escaped; but in 1202, at Eastertide, it was
burnt, (_igne conflagravit alieno_,) together with all the buildings and
offices attached to it. During the whole of the year before, however,
great miracles had been manifested at the tomb of St. Wulfstan, and many
sick persons were said to be cured there daily. Accordingly, on St.
Giles’s Day, (Sept. 1,) 1202, Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury,
came to Worcester with other bishops to enquire into the truth of the
reported miracles. Certain monks of Worcester took his favourable
judgment to Rome; and in the following year, 1203, St. Wulfstan was
canonized by Pope Innocent III., who so far honoured the new English
saint as to compose a prayer for his Office.
From this time offerings poured in daily at the tomb of St. Wulfstan;
and it was no doubt with the wealth thus acquired by the monastery that
the cathedral was restored. In 1207 King John visited Worcester; and
after praying at Wulfstan’s tomb, gave three hundred marks for the
repair of the cathedral. He was interred in the church in the year 1216,
(see § IX.); and in 1218 the cathedral was dedicated “in honour of the
Blessed Virgin and St. Peter, and of the holy confessors Oswald and
Wulfstan.” The young King, Henry III., was present, with a great company
of bishops, abbots, and nobles; and after the dedication the body of St.
Wulfstan was translated to its shrine near the high altar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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