St. William of Rochester

  Posted on May 23, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 12th century at Perth, Scotland 

Died: throat cut in 1201 at Rochester, England, interred in the cathedral at Rochester 

Canonized: 1256 by Pope Innocent IV 

Patronage: adopted children 

William led a wild and misspent youth, but as an adult he had a complete conversion, devoting himself to God, caring especially for poor and neglected children. He worked as a baker, and gave every tenth loaf to the poor. He attended Mass daily, and one morning on his way to church he found an infant abandoned on the threshold. He named the baby David, and adopted him, and taught him his trade. 

Years later he and David set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands. During a stop-over in Rochester, England the boy David turned on William, clubbed him, cut his throat, robbed the body, and fled. Because he was on a holy journey, and because of the miraculous cures later reported at his tomb, he is considered a martyr. 

A local insane woman found William’s body, and plaited a garland of honeysuckle flowers for it; she placed the garland on William, and then on herself whereupon her madness was cured. Local monks, seeing this as a sign from God, interred William in the local cathedral and began work on his shrine. His tomb and a chapel at his murder scene, called Palmersdene, soon became sites of pilgimage and donation, even by the crown. Remains of the chapel can be seen near the present Saint William’s Hospital.