A Bishop Who Would Be the Worst Nightmare of Pro-abort Catholics
To live on terms of great friendship with the royal family was no easy task for a bishop who wished also to witness to the demands of the Christian Gospel, for Canute's successor, King Sweyn Estridsen, in spite of many good qualities, was a headstrong, willful man who several times greatly offended against Christian virtue.
William managed to rebuke the king--once risking his own life in doing so--and to remain in the end the king's good friend. Sweyn Estridsen stoned to death a number of men who, whether guilty or not, should have been granted first a fair trial. To add to his sin, Sweyn had done this in a church, violating its sanctuary. Saint William decreed that a person who had shed blood unjustly could receive no sacrament of the church until he had done public penance.
King Sweyn came to the saint's cathedral with armed men. William stood at the door, armed only with his crozier, and refused the king entry. The armed men drew their swords, at which the saint offered them his neck, ready to sacrifice himself for the Christian faith. Sweyn asked forgiveness, offering property to the church as a token of his great shame.
In his private life the king infringed the moral laws of the church by marrying his own stepdaughter. Repeatedly William remonstrated. He sought and received the public support of the archbishop of Hamburg. But only after both pope and Holy Roman Emperor had also censured the king did Sweyn put aside his unlawful wife.
Yet the two men clearly loved each other, in spite of differences. Sweyn died first (1070). As his body was being carried to Roskilde cathedral from its first buried site in Ringsted Abbey, the saint, clearly heart-broken, met the cortege and himself fell dead. The bodies of both men were then buried together in Roskilde cathedral
3 Comments:
At 3/9/10 3:57 AM , Left-footer said...
Great post! These forgotten Saints are a treasure of the Church, and should be remembered and prayed to.
Thank you.
At 3/9/10 10:54 PM , TH2 said...
We could use a St. William up here as well.
At 4/9/10 12:32 AM , Al said...
Reading his story the other day i thought to myself, can you imagine Archbishop Wuerl showing up at the Mass Biden, etc went to & standing at the door with his crozier blocking their entrance?
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