Ælfwold II (bishop of Sherborne)

For other people with the same name, see Ælfwald.

Ælfwold II^[a] (died 1058) was a Bishop of Sherborne in Dorset. He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Ælfwold II
Bishop of Sherborne
Appointed	1045
Term ended	1058
Predecessor	Brithwine II
Successor	Herman
Orders
Consecration	1045
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	1058
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sainthood
Feast day	25 March
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Eastern Orthodox Church
Shrines	Sherborne Abbey, Dorset (destroyed)

Life

Little is known of Ælfwold apart from the information given by William of Malmesbury. He was at first a monk of Winchester,^[1] then was consecrated Bishop of Sherborne in 1045,^[2] succeeding his own brother Brithwine. His frugality of life served as a powerful contrast to the contemporary custom of riotous banqueting after the example of the Danish monarchs.

Ælfwold showed great devotion to Saint Swithun, his old patron of Winchester, and also to Saint Cuthbert, to whose shrine at Durham he made a pilgrimage. He died while singing the antiphon of Saint Cuthbert. He was in a sense the last Bishop of Sherborne, as after his death the see of Sherborne was united to that of Ramsbury in Wiltshire.

Ælfwold died in 1058.^[2] He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and by some Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox.^[3]

Notes

1. Latin: Ælfwoldus, Ælfvoldus, or Alfvoldus