Saint Wilfrid (c. 633–709) was a bishop of York in Anglo-Saxon England, educated at Lindisfarne and in Rome. At the Synod of Whitby in 664 he successfully championed the Roman practices, including the Roman dating of Easter, over Celtic customs. Despite repeated exiles and disputes over his see, he founded monasteries, promoted the Rule of Saint Benedict, and helped evangelize the pagan South Saxons.
Wilfrid spent much of his life misunderstood, displaced, and stripped of what he had built, yet he never let hardship turn him bitter — he simply kept serving wherever he landed. His steadfastness through exile reminds us that faithfulness matters more than comfort, and that God can use even our most unsettled seasons to bring others home to Him.
Saint Wilfrid, faithful shepherd through exile and trial, pray for us and for Ben, that we may hold fast to Christ in every season and trust that no hardship is wasted in God's hands. Amen.