Willibrord came to Frisia, as the northern Netherlands were called at the time, 1300 years ago, in 690. He died, in his monastery at Echternach, Luxembourg, in 739. That was 1250 years ago last November. To capture both anniversaries, Dutch churches have proclaimed a Willibrord year, which runs from November 1989 to November 1990. Conferences and con­ventions have been organized and large numbers of books and articles are be­ing published in memory of this Anglo-Saxon monk and missionary.

An Early European Community⤒🔗

Commemorations are indeed called for, for Willibrord played an impor­tant role in the history of European civilization. When celebrating his an­niversaries we think first of all of the fact that he planted the church in the Netherlands. He is also to be remem­bered, however, as one of the first in a long line of Anglo-Saxons, who brought the gospel to much of the rest of western Europe, and who did so at a time when the Christian church was in danger of being engulfed by the on­rush of Mohammedanism. In the same period that Christianity was all but destroyed in North Africa and the Near East, the place of its origin, it ex­panded into western Europe, and much of this eighth- and ninth-century work of church building and expansion was done by Anglo-Saxon missionaries.

These same missionaries not only planted churches, they also greatly in­fluenced the ecclesiastical as well as the cultural life of early-medieval Europe. In doing this they supplemented a work that had been begun by the Irish. We have a case of international cooperation here, at the very dawn of our civil­ization, that invites comparison with the present attempts at European in­tegration. In these early Middle Ages the initiative came from the west: from Celtic Ireland and from Anglo-Saxon England, and for close to a century and a half after Willibrord's arrival the continent continued to be at the receiv­ing end. Celts and Anglo-Saxons still played a major role in the Carolingian renaissance of the ninth century, when men like the Northumbrian Alcuin (a relative and biographer of Willibrord), the Irish philosopher John Scotus Eri­gena, the various other churchmen-scholars formed the bridge between the Irish-Anglo-Saxon golden ages and the continental, Carolingian one.

Celtic and Anglo-Saxon influence began to wane in the course of this ninth century, largely as a result of the Viking invasions. But by that time Christianity had become well-estab­lished in western Europe, and when around 900 Alfred the Great began the work of restoration in England, he was able to call upon continental church­men to help him, and so to satisfy a debt of honor to England.

The Northumbrian Background←⤒🔗

Several of the early Anglo-Saxon missionaries, including Willibrord him­self, were natives of Northumbria. This was the country of king Edwin who in 627 had embraced the Christian faith upon the preaching of the Italian monk Paulinus, the missionary Greg­ory the Great had sent to England a few decades earlier. It was not first of all the Roman mission, however, that planted the church in Northumbria. In the 630s Edwin's successor had invited Irish monks from the island of Iona to work in his country, and it was these Celtic Christians who completed the conversion of Northumbria and put their stamp on the Northumbrian church. The relationship between the Northumbrian and the Celtic Chris­tians remained close, also after the Synod of Whitby of 663 had estab­lished the supremacy of the Roman system over the Celtic one.

By the second half of the seventh century Northumbria had become the leading Christian kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England. Its missionaries worked in various parts of the country, and its monasteries were famous for their missionary zeal and their learn­ing. Best known among these mon­asteries were Lindisfarne, which had been established by monks from Iona, and Wearmouth-Jarrow. It was in the latter that the Venerable Bede spent his days, teaching and producing his many writings, including the Ecclesiastical History of England.

While still a child, Willibrord, who was born in 658, was placed in the Northumbrian monastery of Ripon. The abbot here was Wilfred, who at one time, while on his way to Rome, was thrown upon the Frisian coast and used the opportunity to preach the gospel in Frisia (during the winter of 677/78). It was Wilfred therefore, rath­er than Willibrord, who was the first missionary of the Frisians. His work in Frisia had no permanent effect, and neither did that of his successor, the monk Wictbert. But they did start the tradition, and their example undoub­tedly inspired Willibrord.

When Wilfred was on his travels on the continent, Willibrord, who was then twenty years old, did what many Anglo-Saxons and even continentals liked to do at the time: he went to Ire­land, the country that was still famous throughout western Europe for its pie­ty, its culture, and its scholarship. While there he made the acquaintance of Wictbert and joined the monastic community of the Anglo-Saxon abbot Egbert, another Northumbrian who had dreamt of doing missionary work in Frisia. Willibrord stayed in Ireland for twelve years. In 690, when he had reached age 32, he had made up his mind that he would dedicate his life to the work of foreign mission, and like Wilfred and Wictbert he chose Frisia as his base. It was Egbert who helped prepare Willibrord and his eleven com­panions for their work overseas.

Irish Influences←⤒🔗

When Wilfred and Wictbert start­ed the Anglo-Saxon tradition of for­eign mission, Northumbria itself had first heard the gospel barely half a cen­tury earlier, and many rural areas in England were still pagan. Nor was En­gland fully Christianized when Willi­brord, Boniface, and their companions and successors crossed North Sea and Channel to bring the gospel to the Eu­ropean continent. What inspired these men and women — for there were also many nuns among the mission workers — to leave their own country and brave the dangers and rigors of mis­sionary work in a barbarian world, at a time when there was still much work to be done in England itself?

One explanation is the Irish influ­ence which, as we have seen, was espe­cially strong in Northumbria. Like Bri­tain's original inhabitants — the ones who had been destroyed, enslaved, or driven into exile by the Anglo-Saxon invaders — the Irish belonged to the Celtic race, and the Celts had always been known for their Wanderlust, their love of travel and adventure. When Ireland was converted to Christianity, its people did not lose their fondness for visiting foreign parts. Monks and nuns now started wandering "for the love of Christ." Often such voluntary exile — frequently for life — was con­sidered meritorious, and several of the Irish pilgrims did not go abroad pri­marily to preach the gospel (although this was usually the result of their wan­derings) but as an exercise in asceticism.

Among the Irish Christians, there was also, however, much genuine mis­sionary zeal, and a century or so after Patrick's death large-scale missionary work was begun both in Scotland and on the continent. Well-known among the early Irish missionaries were Col­umba and Columban. Columban, a contemporary of Gregory the Great, worked in Burgundy, Switzerland, and Italy. His followers would spread the gospel also in southern Germany and the Danube area. Columba in 563 es­tablished the famous monastic com­munity of Iona (an island off the West coast of Scotland). From here the gos­pel was preached in Scotland and in the northern parts of Anglo-Saxon En­gland, including Northumbria. Many of the Anglo-Saxon converts would catch the Celtic spirit of missionary zeal and love of travel in the service of the gospel. As a Northumbrian, and also as one who had spent twelve years in an Irish monastery, Willibrord too was very much influenced by that spirit.

Anglo-Saxon Missionary Goals←⤒🔗

If the Irish spread the gospel wher­ever their wanderings led them, the Anglo-Saxons tended to select their missionary field quite carefully. Their goal was the conversion of the conti­nental Germanic tribes, whom they still recognized as their kinsmen, their "flesh and blood," and whose lan­guage was probably still familiar to them. Nor was it the goal of a select group of missionaries only. The con­tinental mission was the concern of the home front as well. In the course of the eighth and ninth centuries the work among the Germanic tribes virtually became a national enterprise. Many English volunteers, both men and women, joined the missionaries, and prayer groups were organized at home on behalf of the work of foreign mis­sion.

Franks and Frisians←⤒🔗

The mission among the Frisians was considered an introduction to the much larger project of evangelizing all the Germanic tribes in northwestern Europe, including the Saxons and Scandinavians. That work was diffi­cult, more difficult than the Anglo-Saxons may have expected. Their own regions had officially become Christian less than a century after Gregory the Great had sent Augustine, and in many cases the decision had been made with­in a few decades. In some areas of northern Europe, including Frisia, it would take more than a century, and even then the adoption of Christianity was sometimes forced upon the people. A major reason for the difference was that on the continent Christianity was associated with the realm of the Franks, whose rulers had introduced Chris­tianity as early as the year 500. Already under the Pippins and Charles Martel in the eighth century, and certainly under Charlemagne (768-814), the Franks showed themselves an imperi­alistic race that attempted to extend its sway both northward and eastward. With the Franks the gospel followed the flag (or the sword), and any tribal chieftain or barbarian king who felt threatened by the Franks would op­pose their religion as well.

In the early Middle Ages the sup­port of these rulers was very impor­tant, however, for the success of the missionaries' work. Once the rulers had accepted the faith, churches could be established and monasteries built, so that the real work of mission could begin: the instruction and conversion of the inhabitants. This had been true for Anglo-Saxon England, and it was equally true for the continent. Both Willibrord and Boniface experienced it.

Willibrord in the Netherlands←⤒🔗

When Willibrord and his compa­nions arrived at the Rhine mouth, the central and southern parts of the pres­ent-day Netherlands were under the control of the Frankish leader Pippin of Herestal, who was (like most of his predecessors) at least nominally a Christian, and who supported the En­glish missionaries especially for polit­ical reasons. He was engaged in con­stant battle with Radbod, the redoubt­able king of the pagan Frisians in the north. The very fact that the conver­sion of the Netherlands would benefit the Franks strengthened Radbod's op­position to Christianity. Although he was to work on the continent for al­most half a century, Willibrord was unable to break the opposition of Rad­bod and his successors.

His work in the Frankish parts of the Netherlands was more successful. As Bede tells us, Willibrord and his companions, assured of Pippin's help and "aided by God's grace," succeed­ed in converting "many people in a short while from idolatry to belief in Christ." Yet even the work in these Frankish parts was threatened by the Frisians, and in addition to Utrecht, the place that Pippin had given him as his see, Willibrord also received the more southerly and therefore safer bases of Antwerp and Echternach. A real catastrophe took place in 714, when Pippin died and a conflict about the succession temporarily weakened the Frankish position. Radbod was able to take the offensive and for a short period the Frankish Netherlands reverted to Frisian rule and to pagan­ism. Churches and monasteries were destroyed and Willibrord was forced to retire to his monastery at Echternach. It was in 719, after the accession of Charles Martel (the one who would earn undying fame in 732 by defeating the Muslim invaders), that the Frisians were forced back.

Willibrord then returned to Utrecht and resumed his work among the south­erners, but Frisia proper remained un­converted. The work of his successor Boniface, who in 754 would be mar­tyred by the Frisians, also had only limited success. It was not until the time of Charlemagne that Frisian resistance was finally broken and the area became officially Christian. The Saxons, too, were then forced to join the Christian fold. This happened more than a century after Willibrord's ar­rival in the Netherlands.

Nevertheless, the early Anglo-Saxon missionaries and their followers helped prepare the way for Charle­magne's work. They won some Frisians, Saxons, and even Danes for the gospel, and in the course of the ninth century, when the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon mis­sions were ending, native Christians were able to take over their work. This native missionary work was important throughout the areas conquered by Charlemagne, where outward "conver­sion" (sometimes at the point of the sword) still had to be followed by the peaceful work of preaching and teach­ing.

Willibrord's Place in Church History←⤒🔗

Mention has already been made of Willibrord's place in the long line of Anglo-Saxon missionaries who were to change the face of the continent. What are we to say of his personal achievements? Some historians, while admit­ting that he brought the gospel to the Frankish part of the Netherlands, have found fault with his reliance upon the secular arm and also with his eagerness to submit himself to the papacy in Rome. He did both. To restrict our­selves to the latter charge, Willibrord indeed strove hard to extend papal dominion. So did the other Anglo-Saxons, including Boniface. They were children of their times and heirs of a strongly romanist Anglo-Saxon tradi­tion. It nevertheless remains true that they turned Franks and Frisians, Danes and Saxons, "from idolatry to belief in Christ." And it is because of this that their efforts bore fruit, and that the fruit remained. Thirteen centuries after Willibrord's landing in Frankish Frisia there are still Christians, in the Neth­erlands, in the rest of western Europe and indeed throughout the world, who owe thanks to God for what He gave to their ancestors, and so also to them, in these missionaries from Anglo-Saxon England.