SAINT ALFWOLD

St. Alfwold

Alfwold of Sherborne
Feast day: March 25
Death: 1058/1075
ormerly March 26

Bishop and ascetic, a companion of St. Swithin and a devotee of St. Cuthbert. Little is known of Alfwold except for the biographical material gathered by William of Malmesbury. Alfwold was a monk in Winchester, England,

 Saint Alfwold, a monk of Winchester, was chosen to be bishop of Sherborne in 1045. He was known for his great devotion to Saints Cuthbert and Swithun, whose cults he propagated. He set up Swithun's image in his church and often visited Cuthbert's shrine. William of Malmesbury recorded the reminiscences of a priest from his diocese who knew Bishop Alfwold. Unlike most members of the episcopacy, he used only common wood eating utensils and was known for his habitual abstinence at a time when self-indulgence was the rule. He quarrelled at least once with Earl Godwin of Wessex, who was suddenly stricken ill and recovered only after the saint pardoned him. After Alfwold's death his see in Dorset and that of Ramsbury were reunited to become the diocese of Salisbury