#stwulstan

19th January is the Feast Day of St Wulstan, the patron Saint of vegetarians and dieters. This is due to his being distracted at Mass one day by the smell of a cooking goose, after which event he swore never to eat meat again. This moment is depicted in a stained glass window here at Downside Abbey, shown below.

St Wulstan or Wulfstan, was Bishop of Worcester and was born c. 1008. He was the last pre-Norman Conquest Bishop to hold his position. He studied at monasteries in Evesham and Peterborough and was persuaded to join the priesthood, being ordained in 1038 and joining a community of Benedictine monks at Worcester.  

Whilst Prior of Worcester he restored its fortunes, and William I noted his dedication to pastoral care of his diocese, which was probably the reason he kept his position after 1066. St Wulstan was also a fierce opponent to the slave trade and helped to stop the transport of slaves from Bristol to Viking Ireland.

Professor David Knowles, one time monk of Downside wrote of St Wulstan, 'He is indeed a most attractive figure, too little known to his countrymen...; the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the early bishops of pure English blood and culture.' St Wulstan died in 1095 and was canonized in 1203 by Pope Innocent III.