28/05/2025
As we approach the feast day of St Walstan, it may be helpful to remind ourselves of his hagiography:
The Hagiography of Righteous Walstan, Confessor of the Faith.
In c. A. D. 975, a child was born in the Village of Bawburgh (a few miles to the west of Norwich in Norfolk) to noble parents called Benedict and Bliðe, who had their son baptized with the name Walstan.
Following the example of his parents, who possessed a Bible, Walstan studied the scriptures, but even at such a young age, the boy was troubled by the meaning and implication of a verse in the Gospel of Saint Luke (14:33): 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' At the age of seven, Walstan received instruction in the Christian faith from Bishop Þeodred Ist. of Elmham with the assistance of Ælred, the parish priest of Bawburgh. Even at this early age, Walstan pledged to renounce all for the love of God, asking not for an earthly crown, but for a crown of thorns and an eternal reward, and vowed to devote himself to God in humility and anonymity, forsaking the emotional and material security of his family and home.
Shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Walstan told his parents that he must now leave their home, and although forewarned of their son's renunciation in a dream, Benedict and Bliðe were reluctant to let their son depart, but eventually, they realised that this was God's will and they consented to his wish.
Walstan left his parent’s home and took to the road, where he met two beggars to whom he gave his rich garments and then walked on northwards, clad in the poorest of clothes, with no outward sign of wealth. Within an hour or so the path had taken him to the Village of Taverham, only a few miles north of Bawburgh, where a landed peasant called Nalga saw him and, in need of a labourer, made him an offer of work, which Walstan accepted.
Walstan soon gained a reputation for hard work and piety, as well as displaying an affinity with the poor by giving them his food and clothing, and he would often be seen carrying out his work barefoot, having even given away his boots. Once, Nalga's wife seeing him thus, gave him new boots and extra food, but within a short time Walstan had given all away to two passing beggars, one of them barefoot. When Nalga and his wife heard this, they were angry with him, but Walstan answered that the men had been sent providentially by God to find out whether he, Walstan, loved God more than himself: 'I shod Christ in the poor man' he said. Nalga's wife sneered at this and ordered Walstan to take a cart to the forest to fetch a load of briars, but when treading down the thorns with his unshod feet, Walstan remained uninjured and the briars underfoot gave out a sweet fragrance. Seeing this, Nalga and his wife fell at Walstan's feet and begged forgiveness and thus did Walstan 'Forsake all' to be a disciple of Christ and win a 'Crown of thorns'.
Over the years Walstan became widely known and loved for his prayer and fasting, hard work, chastity, and love for all. As a sign of His approval, God allowed miracles to occur through Walstan, with animals being brought to him to be healed and people claiming cures through his prayers and ministrations. All the while he continued to live in poverty, keeping his identity a secret and giving away the money he earned. Such was the secret of his anonymity that even his parents, only a few miles away at Bawburgh, never came to suspect that the good-hearted labourer at Taverham, of whom they must have heard, could be their son.
Nalga and his wife, having no children of their own, grew to love Walstan and wanted to make him their heir, but true to his self-denial in accordance with the gospels, he refused and continued to labour on the land for thirty years of unbroken service, although, finally, he did accept from Nalga, the gift of two white calves and a small wagon.
Then in A. D. 1016, at the start of hay making, Walstan was mowing with another labourer when an angel appeared to him saying: 'Brother Walstan, on the third day after this, thou shalt depart this life in peace and enter Paradise.' and at once Walstan put down his scythe and went in search of the village priest to be shriven.
Three days later, on 30th May, the village priest came to Walstan to celebrate the Mass, however, upon arrival he realised that he had no water to wash his hands, so Walstan knelt in prayer and at once a spring gushed up before him. Having received the Eucharist, Walstan told those gathered that after his repose, they were to place his body on the wagon and yoke it to the two white calves, but no-one should lead them, but let them go where they pleased. He then besought of God that every sick labourer and beast might obtain healing of their infirmities, if they asked, or were bought with devotion. A short while later, a voice was said to be heard from Heaven saying: 'O Holy Walstan: that which thou hast asked is granted. Come from thy labours and rest.' and with that Walstan died.
As directed, Nalga and the people of Taverham laid Walstan's body on the wagon and hitched the calves to it, then they proceeded through a wood and along the banks of the River Wensum to a crossing point and passed over dry shod, with those who followed passing along dry wheel tracks and hoof prints. Eventually, the white calves came to Costessey Wood, which was nearby, and stopped to rest, and here a second spring came forth. The procession, gaining in numbers, then continued, crossing marsh and mire, until they came to Walstan's birthplace, Bawburgh, here again the calves paused, and a third spring gushed forth. The calves then mounted the steep hill to the Church of Saint Mary, where they finally stopped, and remained until Bishop Ælfgar of Elmham came with a retinue of monks to conduct the funeral service.
The bishop, knowing from his predecessor, Þeodred Ist., something of Walstan's childhood, listened attentively and diligently to Nalga and the local people as they told him of the many wonders of Walstan. Over the next three years, Bishop Ælfgar’s successor, Ælfwine, also made private enquiries as to the truth, then, being satisfied, he allowed Walstan’s corporeal remains to be venerated as saintly relics and sent notice to that effect to all the neighbouring churches.
Walstan was interred in a chapel in the north transept of Saint Mary’s Church in Bawburgh with the bishop's blessing, and in a short time, his tomb became a place of pilgrimage. Through Walstan's intercessions, it was believed that God bestowed miracles of healing on man and beast alike, and those who sought healing at the three springs were sometimes rewarded with a cure. The possessed were exorcised, the deaf and dumb were healed and those with troubled eyesight had it restored by bathing their eyes in the water from the springs. In A. D. 1047 the reordered church and its enhanced shrine chapel was rededicated by Bishop Aðelmær of Elmham to ‘Saint Mary, Mother of God, and Saint Walstan’.
The veneration of Saint Walstan survived the first wave of the Henrician Reformation of the English Church, for the 'Old Faith' continued for a little while longer in Norfolk. Saint Walstan was portrayed in several medieval churches with other saints, thus, at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk, he may be seen with Saint Felix, Saint Audrey, and Saint Wihtburh. At Fritton on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, he is portrayed together with Saint Felix, Saint Fursey, Saint Audrey, and Saint Wihtburh. At Foxearth on the Essex-Suffolk border he is shown on a screen together with Saint Alban, Saint Felix and Saint Edmund, and his portraits depict him with a scythe and a crown or sceptre, at times with the two white calves in the background. Saint Walstan was particularly beloved of East Anglian farmers and farm workers, and his shrine continued as a site of pilgrimage until the second wave of Henry VIII’s church reforms, when Saint Walstan’s relics were burned and the chapel housing his shrine destroyed in the year 1538.
However, local veneration has continued right up to the present time and people have continued to bathe in the springs, place moss from the wells on their eyes and giving the waters to sick animals. At Taverham one may still find Walstanham Plantation (the reputed site of Nalga's farm and the saint's repose) and in the nineteenth century, locals were still known to baptise their sons with the name Walstan. Annual pilgrimages were revived at the beginning of the twentieth century (c. 1912) and have continued regularly ever since, with intermittent reports of miracles occurring. Saint Walstan's Well at Costessey, is still a pilgrimage site for those seeking his intercession for the cure of fevers, palsy, lameness, and blindness. Latterly, in the year 1989, Saint Walstan was declared to be the patron saint of 'British Food and Farming'.
