Commontide
Proper 27
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The 21st Sunday after Trinity
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Archbishop of Utrecht and Missionary to Frisia
Anglican Commemoration
Willibrord was the Northumbrian monk who carried the gospel to the pagan Frisians and became the first archbishop of Utrecht. Trained at Ripon and for twelve years in Ireland, he crossed to Frisia in 690, was consecrated bishop at Rome by Pope Sergius, who gave him the name Clement, and made the monastery of Echternach his base and his burial place. He died in 739, an old man, after nearly fifty years among the people he had come to win. His feast is November 7.
Willibrord was born in Northumbria around 658. His father Wilgils placed him at the monastery of Ripon under Wilfrid at a young age. Around 678, Willibrord left for Ireland, where he spent twelve years studying at the monastery of Rathmelsigi under Egbert — a Northumbrian monk who had long planned a mission to the pagan peoples of the Continent.
In 690, Willibrord and eleven companions sailed to Frisia to begin missionary work. He immediately sought the support of Pippin II, the Frankish mayor of the palace, whose political expansion into Frisia provided the necessary secular framework for evangelization. Willibrord also traveled to Rome to receive papal authorization from Sergius I, who consecrated him Archbishop of the Frisians in 695, giving him the name Clement.
Willibrord established his episcopal seat at Utrecht and founded the monastery of Echternach in Luxembourg (698), which became his base and eventually his burial place. His mission was methodical: he destroyed pagan shrines, built churches on their sites, established schools, and trained local clergy. He also attempted missions to the Danes and to the Frisian king Radbod, with limited success.
His work suffered a severe setback when Radbod reconquered much of Frisia in 714, destroying churches and driving missionaries out. After Radbod's death in 719, Willibrord rebuilt the mission with the help of the young Boniface, who worked alongside him for three years before departing for his own German mission.
Willibrord continued active ministry into extreme old age, dying at Echternach on November 7, 739, at approximately eighty-one years old.
Alcuin's Life recounts several miracles: Willibrord destroyed a pagan idol on the island of Fositeland (Heligoland) and baptized converts in a sacred spring, surviving the expected divine retribution that the pagans predicted. He is also said to have turned water into wine and healed the sick.
The destruction of the Fositeland shrine is historically plausible — it fits the pattern of Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionary confrontation with pagan cult sites — but the miraculous elements follow standard hagiographic convention. Alcuin's Life was written to promote Echternach's patron and should be read with that institutional purpose in mind.