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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
4. How Bishop Dalfinus Received Saint Wilfrid Kindly
Blessed be God who defends and protects His servants and is also wont to give help through the services of good men! Now in this same city was Archbishop Dalfinus of saintly memory, who was favourably impressed with Wilfrid the gentle servant of God, and received him and his companions with generous hospitality, seeing his saintly mind imaged in his peaceful countenance. For this reason he provided them bountifully with all the necessities of life as if they were his own kinsmen; he even wished to adopt Wilfrid as his own son. “If you will stay with me in all confidence,” he said, “I will give you a good part of Gaul over which you shall be permanent governor, and you shall have for your wife a maiden who is my niece; I will adopt you as my son and you shall have me as a father to help you faithfully in all your affairs.” But Saint Wilfrid the servant of God was wise in his reply, and answered as he had been taught, “My vows have been rendered to the Lord and I will fulfil them, leaving my kin and my father’s house as Abraham did, to visit the Apostolic See, and to learn the rules of ecclesiastical discipline, so that our nation may grow in the service of God. My desire is to receive from God the reward He has promised to those who love Him, saying, ‘Everyone that hath forsaken father or mother and so forth shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life.’ But now if life abides with me, and God helps me, if I live, I say, I will return and see your face again.”
When the holy bishop heard him say such things as these, he realized that Wilfrid was a true servant of God and filled with the Holy Spirit. So, when the bishop had provided him with what he required, he sent him forth to the Apostolic See according to his wish, in the peace of Christ, with guides and supplies for the journey.