St Willibrord of York

Saint Willibrordborn 658?, Northumbria, probably near York, Eng.died Nov. 7, 739, Echternach, Austrasia; feast day November 7
also called Willibrord of Utrecht , Willibrord also spelled Wilbrord Anglo-Saxon bishop and missionary, apostle of Friesland, and patron saint of Holland.
The son of the hermit St. Wilgis, Willibrord was sent by him to the Benedictine monastery of Ripon, Eng., under Abbot St. Wilfrid of York. After Wilfrid was deposed and exiled in 677/678, Willibrord also went into…

I haven't included the above because I wanted to concentrate today on St Willibrord but because his feast day reminds me, as one ordained to the priesthood at Ripon and now living in the York diocese, of the saintly and missionary area of the catholic church with which I am associated.

The Bishop of Rochester, whose father converted from Islam, is in the news this week eloquently expressing his concerns about the weakening in recent years of the Christian foundations of our nation. Quite rightly, in my view, he is seeking to remind us that if those foundations are neglected or forgotten - or compromised in attempts to promote some kind of secularism or multi-culturism - we are in grave danger of undermining who we are as a nation and many of the virtues and values which enable us to make a good and effective contribution to the good of the world.

Thank God for such good and effective "defenders of the faith".