An exciting discovery from Britain’s medieval era has been made: proof that one of the Archbishops of York, Thurstan, is indeed a saint.

In that era, conferring sainthood was not yet something that only the Pope could do, although local clergy were duty bound to prove that the candidate had led a holy life. Furthermore, in Britain, the dissolution of the monasteries caused important manuscripts to be destroyed or lost, the latter being true in Thurstan’s case.

It was reassuring to see so many newspapers and media outlets reporting about the proof of Thurstan’s sainthood: The Guardian, the BBC, the London Evening Standard and the York Press.

On Sunday, February 4, 2024, The Telegraph reported ‘Lost saint discovered in ancient monastic manuscript’ complete with a photo of the manuscript page and a statue of him (emphases mine):

English Heritage has uncovered evidence of a lost saint in a discovery historians have hailed as adding “an extra dimension to our understanding” of the medieval North.

The finding emerged from a previously overlooked entry in a 15th-century manuscript which provides key new evidence that one of medieval England’s most influential figures was, contrary to belief, a saint.

Thurstan, who served as Archbishop of York from 1114 to 1140, was thought to have been passed over for sainthood.

But an ancient service book from Pontefract Priory has now been found to list St Thurstan in a calendar of saints’ feast days observed at the monastery.

The discovery was made by Dr Michael Cater, senior properties historian at English Heritage, in the archives at King’s College Cambridge. The manuscript is written in Latin and its translated entry for Feb 6 reads: “Death of Saint Thurstan, archbishop of York, year of grace, 1140.’ It is also written in red ink – a sign of its importance and significance to the monks at that time.

Dr Cater said of his discovery: “Thurstan is well known among medieval historians and scholars as a figure of immense political and social significance during the early half of the 12th century, but all have denied that he ever achieved sainthood.

“The entry in this manuscript is unambiguous proof that Thurstan was indeed a saint and that his name should be seen alongside other religious contemporaries in Northern England, including St William and St Aelred of Rievaulx, St Waldef of Kirkham and Melrose and St Godric of Finchale.”

Thurstan died on February 6, 1140 — hence his feast day — and was buried before the high altar at Pontefract Priory.

The Norman Conquest took place in 1066, and Thurstan was very much a Norman in maintaining his connections in France and England.

In that era, priests could still marry. Encyclopedia.com tells us that Thurstan was born to a married priest and his wife in Condésur-Seulles, near Bayeux, France, around 1070. When his father was made a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Thurstan became a clerk to the King. His brother Audoen became Bishop of Evereux in 1113.

Thurstan served as a royal clerk under Kings William II (William Rufus) and Henry I of England. Under the latter, Thurstan also served as an almoner, dispensing charity to the poor.

Interestingly, when Henry I supported his candidature for the See of York in 1114 and secured him the election to that post in August that year, Thurstan was still a layman. He was ordained a deacon in December 1114 and as a priest on June 6, 1115, by the then-Bishop of Durham, Ranulf Flambard.

However, Thurstan could not take up his post because of a long-running conflict between Canterbury and York over their respective sees. It began in 1070 and revolved around the lack of suffragan bishops in and around York, making it a lesser see than Canterbury.

The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Ralph d’Escures, refused to consecrate Thurstan as Archbishop of York unless he made a profession of obedience to Canterbury, which he refused to do. The dispute involved not just the English Church but also Henry I and Pope Paschal II. Paschal II supported Thurstan’s position, but he died and the controversy continued during the tenures of his successors Gelasius II and Calixtus II.

On October 19, 1119, at Reims, Calixtus II consecrated Thurstan as Archbishop of York. However, he did not ask Henry I’s permission to do so, a promise upon which he reneged. Henry I was furious and refused to allow Thurstan to re-enter England. Thurstan remained in Europe with Calixtus II, travelling in France and in other Continental countries.

During that time, Thurstan befriended Adela of Blois, Henry I’s sister, who became his spiritual daughter. Around that time, Calixtus II issued two papal bulls. One released York from Canterbury’s supremacy forever and the other demanded that Thurstan be able to take up his position in York with the threat of an interdict on the Church in England if Henry refused to obey. Thurstan’s friends, including Adela, managed to reconcile him with the King and they met in Normandy. On Easter Day 1120, Thurstan escorted Adela to the monastery of Marcigny, where she entered religious life.

On 1121, Thurstan began his tenure as Archbishop of York, seven years later than planned. He immediately began to secure other English dioceses so that York could have suffragan bishops. This involved negotiation with the secular rulers as well as clergy, as happened with the Diocese of Galloway (Whithorn at the time) in 1125. Fergus was the lord of Galloway; he became the new suffragan bishop and left Wimund, the Bishop of the Isles, furious. Wimund had until that time controlled the Diocese of Galloway. Still, Thurstan prevailed. In 1133, with papal permission, he founded the See of Carlisle, giving him a second suffragan bishop.

However, even between those two historic appointments, Thurstan still had problems with Canterbury. When William de Corbeil became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1126, Thurstan refused to have anything to do with his consecration. Both archbishops made trips to Rome putting forth their respective cases. Pope Honorius II ruled in favour of York, saying that Canterbury’s supporting documents had been forged.

Later on, Thurstan also got involved with an important territorial dispute between Scots and Englishmen who lived along the border area. In 1138, he negotiated the truce at Roxburgh between England and Scotland. Also, in August that year, he mustered the English army that defeated the Scots at the Battle of the Standard near Northallerton. While Thurstan did not enter battle himself, he created the standard that gave the battle its name.

That said, Thurstan was above all a man who pursued piety and holiness. He helped to establish several English monasteries for both men and women respectively. Wikipedia also tells us:

He was a sincere reformer, and opposed to the election of unfit men to the episcopacy. When Pope Innocent II asked Thurstan’s opinion on the elevation of Anselm of St Saba, who was Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, to become Bishop of London, Thurstan replied “If we consider his life and reputation, it would be much more fitting to remove him from his abbacy than to promote him to be bishop of London.”^[31]Anselm was not confirmed as bishop.^[31]

Thurstan is described by the historian Edmund King as “a bishop like no other. Thurstan and the baronage of Yorkshire had been partners in a common enterprise, their security in this world and their salvation in the next, and to all aspects of his role he had shown a complete commitment.”

In 1140, Thurstan still had a lifelong dream, to become a Cluny monk. The Telegraph article says:

Thurstan was born in Normandy in 1070 and visited the Abbey of Cluny as a young man where he vowed to one day become a Cluniac monk.

On Jan 25 1140, aged nearly 70 and in failing health, he fulfilled this vow by resigning from his position as Archbishop of York and retiring to the Cluniac priory at Pontefract.

He died less than two weeks later on Feb 6, and, as befitted his status and importance, was buried before the high altar at Pontefract Priory.

As to his sainthood, the monks later made a remarkable discovery:

While Dr Carter’s research is the first proof of Thurstan’s sainthood, other sources give several indications of his sanctity.

A few days after his death, the archdeacon of Nottingham experienced a vision of Thurstan in a dream, confirming that he was in heaven among the saints.

Meanwhile several sources say that, after some time, the monks at Pontefract opened Thurstan’s tomb and found that neither his body nor the vestments in which he had been buried had decayed and that a sweet smell emanated from the grave.

An incorrupt body and the accompanying “odour of sanctity” were sure signs of sainthood in the medieval period.

What an amazing story. Thank goodness for Dr Michael Cater’s perseverance in finding official evidence of sainthood more than a millennium later.

St Thurstan’s feast day is tomorrow, Tuesday, February 6.