Saint William of Rochester
- Also known as
- William of Perth
- Memorial
- 23 May;
sometimes listed as 22 April
- Profile
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William led a wild and misspent youth, but as an adult he had a complete conversion, devoting himself to God, caring especially for poor and neglected children.
He worked as a baker, and gave every tenth loaf to the poor.
He attended Mass daily, and one morning on his way to church he found an infant abandoned on the threshold.
He named the baby David, and adopted him, and taught him his trade.
Years later he and David set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands.
During a stopover in Rochester, England the boy David turned on William, clubbed him, cut his throat, robbed the body, and fled.
Because he was on a holy journey, and because of the miraculous cures later reported at his tomb, he is considered a martyr.
A local insane woman found William's body, and plaited a garland of honeysuckle flowers for it; she placed the garland on William, and then on herself whereupon her madness was cured.
Local monks, seeing this as a sign from God, interred William in the local cathedral and began work on his shrine.
His tomb and a chapel at his murder scene, called Palmersdene, soon became sites of pilgimage and donation, even by the crown.
Remains of the chapel can be seen near the present Saint William's Hospital.
- Born
- 12th century at Perth, Scotland
- Died
- throat cut in 1201 at Rochester, England;
interred in the cathedral at Rochester;
relics destroyed along with the cathedral in 1538
- Canonized
- 1256 by Pope Innocent IV;
his cause had been pursued by Lawrence de San Martino, bishop of Rochester
- Patronage
- adopted children
- Storefront
- Commercial Links related to Saint William
- Additional Information
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Google Directory
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Catholic Online
Catholic Encyclopedia, by John B Wainewright
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