St William of York

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. William of York who lived a very exciting but tragic life. However, during every trial he faced he continued to place his trust in God.

St. William was born into a powerful and rich family during the 12th-century in England. Ever since a very young age St. William seemed like he was going to achieve great things and he did but not the way he was expected to. His uncle was next in line for the English throne however, a bunch of very difficult things had occurred during that time. Which ended up making St. William having to deal with an internal Church feud.

Despite all of the difficult challenges that St. William had to encounter and overcome, he was able to be nominated as archbishop of York during the year 1140.

However, many of the local clergymen were not pleased at this decision, and the Archbishop of Canterbury even refused to consecrate St. William. Eventually, three years later a neighboring bishop decided to perform the consecration, but the consecration had lacked the approval needed from Pope Innocent II, whose successors had actually withheld approval. St. William was later deposed, and a new election was ordered.

It was not until the year 1154 which was 14 years after St. William was first nominated that St. William was finally able to become the archbishop of York.

When St. William had entered into the city that spring after spending a few years of exile, he was received with a very enthusiastic welcome. However, within two months of that day he was killed, he is believed to have been poisoned. His administrative assistant was actually a very big suspect, however, no formal ruling was ever made.

Despite all the trouble that had happened to him during his life, St. William did not show any sign of hatred or resentment towards his opponents. After his death had occurred, many miracles were attributed to him. St. William was canonized 73 years after his death.

St. William died on June 8, 1154 and his feast day is celebrated on June 8.

Prayer to St. William

St. William intercede that we may be able to forgive all of our enemies for doing wrong to us, help us to find the peace in our hearts that we need so that we may be able to continue to pray for all of those who may do wrong to us or hurt us.

Amen

St. William pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works Cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan Media. "Saint William of York. ”Saint William of York | Franciscan Media. Accessed 8, June 2021.

Images:

Saint William of York. June 8, 2021. Saint William of York - Google Search.