William of Perth

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William of Perth, picture window in Rochester Cathedral, late 19th century

William of Perth or William of Rochester , lat.Guillelmus de Pertha , Willelmus de Roffia (* in Perth (Scotland) ; † perhaps 1201 in Rochester (Kent) ) was a martyr who had worked in Rochester Cathedral since the early 13th century venerated as a saint and canonized in 1256 . His vita is only known from the Nova Legenda Angliae , which John Capgrave († 1464) compiled from unidentified older sources. There is no clue for the approximate chronological classification of the story.

Legend

The Nova Legenda Angliae says that William, born in Perth and by profession a baker, lived dissolute as a young man, but then converted to a strictly religious life. He attended holy mass every day and distributed a tenth of his pastries to those in need. One day he found an abandoned child at the church door; he accepted the boy like his own child and taught him the bakery trade. Later he was the grown-up adopted son to a votive - pilgrimage to Jerusalem broken. After a stopover in Rochester, the young man systematically led him astray and murdered him out of greed in a lonely place. A deranged woman found the dead man and adorned his bloody head with a wreath of flowers; later she put the wreath on herself and in the same instant came to her mind again.

Bishop Laurence of St. Martin achieved the canonization of Williams by Pope Alexander IV in 1256. Since William had perished as a pilgrim to Jerusalem, he was considered a martyr. His shrine in Rochester Cathedral, endowed with indulgence privileges , became one of the most visited pilgrimage destinations in England and was the site of many miraculous healings. The financial sacrifices of the pilgrims, including King Edward I , enabled the cathedral to be richly decorated. With the English Reformation the pilgrimage came to a standstill. The shrine no longer exists. When the cathedral was redesigned at the turn of the 20th century, however, a new picture window with a portrayal of Williams as a pilgrim was installed above its former location in the northeast transept.

Web links

Commons : William of Perth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gottfried Henschen and Daniel Papebroch : Acta Sanctorum. Maii Tomus Quintus . Paris-Rom 1866, p. 271 : “Sed neque de tempore quo res contigerit ulla verosimilis conjectura se offert”.
personal data
SURNAME William of Perth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES William of Rochester; Guillelmus de Pertha; Willelmus de Roffia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Local saint in Rochester, largely legendary martyr
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 12th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Perth (Scotland)
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 1201
Place of death Rochester (Kent)