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| Saint with a scythe |
Medieval pilgrims in Britain most famously went to Canterbury Cathedral to see where the
Archbishop Thomas got cut down by Henry II's thugs. In
The Canterbury Tales,
Geoffrey Chaucer depicts a large group of such pilgrims, most of whom
were less-holy-than-thou, though some more of course holier.
Pilgrims
seeking a less traveled road, or perhaps imploring a patron more
directly connected to their livelihoods, opted for Bawburgh. Yes, that
is a real place. It is near Norwich, East Anglia, in the United
Kingdom. There, they viewed the relics and enlisted the support of
Saint Walstan. As the patron saint of farmers, he naturally drew an
agricultural crowd, whereas that Becket feller apparently brought in
pardoners, summoners, nun's (and their chaplains), knights, millers, and
wives from Bath.
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| Pilgrims at Walstan's Well |
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| Saint with shovel and manure |
Walstan had been the son of a wealthy farmer, of royal stock, perhaps. Precocious for a twelve year old, he took
Luke 14:33
to heart. He renounced his patrimony and took off down the road,
becoming a field hand for family in Taverham. He worked very hard and
gave whatever he earned to the poor. I can imagine that the family he
worked for must have been frustrated by his generosity, since it must
have appeared that they paid him too little. When he gave away his
shoes, the farmer's wife lost her patience and ordered him to clear our
the thistles and briars. She expected that his feet would be stripped
raw by the thorns, teaching him to keep the necessities that he was
given. Instead, the plants softened and gave off a sweet fragrance as
he trod upon them and pulled them up.
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| Our Lady & Saint Walstan |
The repentant farmer and wife asked Walstan's
forgiveness, even offered to make him their heir, but he would only
accept the offspring of a gravid cow. She bore twin oxen, which would
one day pull the cart that bore Walstan to his grave. They stopped
three times en route, and at each stop a spring gushed forth. He was
interred where the oxen finally stopped, and a chapel was built in the
saint's honor. Today, the Catholic Church of Our Lady and Saint Walstan
remains, as does one of the holy wells to which pilgrims flocked.
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