Lily Crucifix, Church of St John the Baptist, Wellington

St John the Baptist's Church in Wellington has a rare lily crucifix.  Jesus is depicted being crucified on a cross budding into five lilies.  The five lilies represent the five wounds of Christ on the cross: nails in his hands & feet and a mark on his torso where a Roman centurion thrust in a spear.

Wellington's lily crucifix is located in the Lady Chapel at the east end of the south aisle.  It is carved into the central mullion of the east window.  It is small, high up and difficult to spot in daylight, which is probably how it managed to avoid being destroyed by the Puritans in the mid 17th century.  

The lily crucifix probably symbolises life in death and may be related to the medieval belief that Jesus was crucified on the same day as the Annunciation (25th March).  The lily symbolises the purity of the Virgin Mary.

There are only a few other lily crucifixes in English churches.  Nearly all of them date from the 14th to the 16th centuries and are found on a variety of items:

• Font (All Saints, Great Glemham, Suffolk) 
• Painted panel (e.g. St Helen's, Abingdon, Oxfordshire)
• Wall painting (All Saints, Godshill, Isle of Wight)
• Misericord (St Bartholomew's Church, Tong, Shropshire), 
• Stained glass windows (e.g. Holy Trinity, Long Melford, Suffolk; St Michael-at-the-North Gate, Oxford and St Mary the Virgin, Westwood, Wiltshire)
• Tomb (e.g. St Mary's Church, Nottingham and St Peter & St Paul, West Wittering, West Sussex)
• Miniature in the Llanbeblig Book of Hours

Lily Crucifix in St John's Church

Wulfric of Haselbury

Wulfric was born in around 1080-1090 in Compton Martin.  He became a priest and initially worked at Deverill in Wiltshire.  He spent much of his time there hunting and hawking, until a chance encounter with a beggar convinced him that he needed to lead a more spiritual life.  William FitzWalter, who was Lord of the Manor of Compton Martin, recalled him to that village and he became the parish priest there.  

In 1125 Wulfric moved to St Michael & All Angels Church in Haselbury Plucknett, where William FitzWalter was also Lord of the Manor.  Wulfric wanted to live alone in a cell adjacent to the church as an anchorite. His cell was located on the north side of the church where the vestry is now located.  He lived a very austere life and spent much of his time reading the Bible and praying.  He also worked as a bookbinder.  He received gifts of prophecy and healing from God and was involved in many miraculous happenings.  He had a personal servant who attended to his needs and the Cluniac monks of Montacute supplied him with food.  He was not the parish priest of Haselbury Plucknett.

People came to Wulfric for guidance and blessing.  He was visited by King Henry I and King Stephen.  Wulfric prophesied correctly that Henry I would die soon.  

Wulfric died in his cell on 20th February 1154. After his death there was a disagreement between the Cluniac monks of Montacute and the people of Haselbury as to who had a claim to Wulfric's mortal remains.  The local people saw off the monks.  Wulfric was initially buried in his cell by Robert of Lewes, the 1st Bishop of Bath and Wells.  However, his body was later moved twice and was eventually interred in a now unknown location to the west of the church.

It is not known whether Wulfric was ever formally canonised, but he has been portrayed as a saint down the ages.  

St Michael & All Angels Church, Haselbury Plucknett