Wulfric was born at Compton Martin (Somerset) eight miles from Bristol. The
lord of the manor was William Fitzwalter, who was lord of Haselbury.
Wulfric trained to be a priest and first exercised his ministry at Deverill,
near Warminster.
As a young man he was much addicted to hunting with hawks and dogs, but was
converted to a more austere life in the early 1120s, reputedly through a
chance conversation with a beggar.
He then ministered at Compton Martin as parish priest until 1125, when he
settled as an anchorite at Haselbury Plucknett twenty miles from Exeter, in
a cell on the north side of the chancel of the parish church.
His penitential regime included rigorous fasting with prostration's, the
wearing of chainmail and frequent immersion in cold water. The gift of
prophecy and second sight further increased his reputation for holiness.
Among the visitors to his cell, in which he was permanently enclosed,
included Kings Henry l and Stephen. In 1130 Henry and Queen Adela obtained
from him the healing of the knight Drago de Munci from paralysis. In 1133
Wulfric prophesied the death of the king which took place in 1135. Stephen
visited him with his brother Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester; when
Wulfric greeted him as king even before his disputed assession.
Wulfric continued working at copying books and making other articles for the
service of the church. He persevered in his chosen calling until his death.
His feast day is the 20th February.
Written and contributed by Phillip Lloyd.
