Archbishop Thurstan. Saint Or No Saint ?

15th-Century Calendar from Pontefract Priory, now at King’s College, Cambridge, showing 6 February as the Feast Day 

of Saint Thurstan (near the top, under the word “Agathe”.

Illustration: THE TELEGRAPH

The following Text, unless stated otherwise, is from the excellent Blog ONCE I WAS A CLEVER BOY

6 February should be, it would appear, the Feast Day of Saint Thurstan, Archbishop of York 1114-1140, who, having just resigned his See, died on that day in 1140. 

Thurstan is usually, and rightly, remembered as a great Archbishop, but not as a Saint. That may be about to change.

Thurstan was born about 1070 in Bayeux, France, and came to England early in the reign of King Henry I. Promoted from being a Royal Clerk to the Archbishopric of York, at the King’s behest in 1114, it was not until 1119, after a dispute with the Archbishop of Canterbury over their respective rights, and in consequence falling out of the King’s favour, that he occupied the See of York. 

Fountains Abbey.

A Cistercian Abbey in Yorkshire, England.

Founded by Archbishop Thurstan in 1132.

Photo: 24 October 2016.

Source: http://www.wyrdlight.com

Attribution must say: WyrdLight.com

Author: Antony McCallum

(Wikimedia Commons)

There he proved himself a conscientious leader in both ecclesiastical and secular matters. This is set out in the Wikipedia biography at Thurstan.

In addition to the extensive bibliography attached to that, there is a useful 1960s biography of the Archbishop by Donald Nicoll.

As a young man, Thurstan had vowed to become a Cluniac Monk when that Community was at the height of its influence. Finally, in old age, he felt able to relinquish his responsibilities as Archbishop of York and entered the Cluniac Priory at Pontefract, Yorkshire, one of the two priories of that Order in his Diocese.

On 15 August 1114, Thurstan became Archbishop of York.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Towards the end of 1139, the aged Archbishop Thurstan, who in his youth had made a vow that he would ally himself to the Cluniac Order of Monks, decided to fulfil his vow. 

In extreme old age, he bade solemn farewell to the Clergy at York, and entered Pontefract Priory, taking the Monastic vows there on 25 January 1140. 

He did not, however, long outlive this step. On 5 February 1140, he died. Just before his death, he recited the Office of the Dead, and chanted the Dies Irae, and then “whilst the rest were kneeling and Praying around him, he passed away, to await in the land of silence the coming of that Day of Wrath, so terrible to all, of which he had just spoken.”

A statue of Archbishop Thurstan, who is widely recognised 

as one of Mediæval England’s most influential figures.

Illustration: THE TELEGRAPH

When, some years afterwards, his grave was opened, the Archbishop’s remains were said [by John of Hexham]to be found “sweet-smelling and undecayed”.

From VCH Yorkshire iii Houses of Cluniac Monks: Priory of Pontefract

Thurstan was buried in a place of honour before The High Altar of the Priory Church.

Recently, the Guardian newspaper reported that a 15th-Century Calendar from Pontefract Priory, now at King’s College, Cambridge, listed 6 February as Thurstan’s Feast Day as a Saint. The account of the discovery can be read at “Unambiguous Proof”: Mediæval Archbishop revealed as lost English Saint.

The Mail Online and The Daily Telegraph also have shorter and very similar accounts at New evidence shows 12th-Century Archbishop did achieve Sainthood and at Britain’s lost Saint discovered in ancient Manuscript.

The last recognised non-Papal Canonisation was in 1153, and the privilege of declaring Saints was, in 1170, reserved by the great Canonist Pope Alexander III to The Holy See. 

Popular devotion of course led to others being esteemed as Saints and led to not a few Mediæval Pilgrimages, but this was not of itself the formal approbation of a Cultus.

That said, it is perhaps surprising that the Cult of Saint Thurstan did not spread beyond the Priory which held his bones. The troubles of “The Anarchy” [Editor: The Anarchy was a Civil War in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153] might account for that, but the return of political stability in 1154 might have provided a suitable context for its dissemination.

Indeed, the evidence we have at present does rather suggest it did not extend beyond the Priory and perhaps the Churches in its patronage.

The Priory buildings at Pontefract were damaged in the fighting during The Anarchy and, in 1153, many of the community appear to have been based at Broughton, near Skipton, Yorkshire. However, by 1159, the Priory was again occupied and was Consecrated by Thurstan’s successor but two, Archbishop Roger of Pont l’Evêque.

Thurstan’s tomb may well have remained in situ, but the entire Presbytery was to be rebuilt twice around it - once apparently in the later 12th-Century and again in the 14th-Century. 

There is no tradition of a Shrine or Pilgrimages for Saint Thurstan; such a feature did not appear at Pontefract until the spectacular rise of the Cult of Saint Thomas of Lancaster at the Priory after 1322.

The excavations of the Monastic site from 1957 onwards until the 1970s, did not, so far as I am aware, identify the Archbishop’s grave.