Oswald of Worcester

Saint Oswald of Worcester was a monk at Fleury, then bishop of Worcester (from 961) and archbishop of York from 972 until his repose on 29 February 992. He was one of the leaders of the monastic reform in tenth-⁠century England. His feast is on 28 February (29 in leap years); the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates him on the third Sunday after Pentecost, at the Synaxis of the Saints of the British Isles and Ireland.

He was of Danish descent, but was brought up by his uncle Oda, archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him to France, to the abbey of Fleury, to become a monk. He was taught by the Frankish scholar Frithegod, was dean of Winchester, and entered Fleury around 950, where he was ordained in 959; there he met Osgar of Abingdon and Germanus of Winchester. The influence of Fleury was seen later, in the Regularis Concordia, the English monastic code of 970. After some years, in 958, he returned to England at his uncle's request, but Oda had died before he arrived. Without a patron, he turned to Oskytel, recently archbishop of York. His work for Oskytel drew the notice of Archbishop Dunstan, who made him bishop of Worcester, consecrated in 961. Soon after his consecration he urged Germanus to return to England and made him head of a small community near Westbury-⁠on-⁠Trym. Worried that his successors might disrupt the community, being on land of the see of Worcester, he accepted from Æthelwine, son of Æthelstan Half-⁠King, the site for Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.

In 972 he was raised to the see of York, keeping Worcester as well. As bishop and archbishop he was a supporter and one of the chief promoters (with Æthelwold) of Dunstan's reforms, among them the monastic ones. He founded several monasteries, among them Ramsey, and reformed seven others, among them Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and Pershore and Evesham in Worcestershire. He changed the chapter of Worcester cathedral from secular clergy to monks. As archbishop he brought the scholar Abbo of Fleury to teach in England, where he spent two years, mostly at Ramsey. He fell asleep in 992, while washing the feet of the poor. A life was written shortly after his death, and he was soon honoured as a saint.