or Wilfrid of York
born 634, Northumbria, Eng.
died April 24, 709/710, monastery of Oundle, Mercia
English monk and bishop who established close relations between the Anglo-Saxon church and the papacy.
As abbot of the monastery at Ripon, he introduced the Benedictine Rule to the kingdom. At the Synod of Whitby , he successfully advocated the adoption of Roman over Celtic traditions. As bishop of York, he built a monastery at Hexham and traveled twice to Rome to defend the see of York in jurisdictional controversies with the see of Canterbury (679, 704). A quarrel over the division of his diocese obliged Wilfrid to take refuge in Sussex, where he Christianized the people and founded a monastery at Selsey; he later served as bishop of Lichfield in Mercia. Following his second dispute with Canterbury, Wilfrid became bishop of Hexham and spent his last years there and at his monastery in Ripon.