Stephen of Ripon

Stephen of Ripon was the author of the eighth-century hagiographic text Vita Sancti Wilfrithi ("Life of Saint Wilfrid").

[3][1] Stephen's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi is the only documentary source on Saint Wilfrid, aside from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

[4] However, unlike many early medieval hagiographies which consisted of strings of miracles attributed to saints, Stephen's Vita takes the form of a chronological narrative and includes specific names and events.

It is unknown what Stephen hoped to accomplish in writing the Vita Sancti Wilfrithi, but scholars have several theories.

It has been argued that Stephen's use of lines from Vita Sancti Cuthberti was a way of outdoing the cult based around Cuthbert and replacing him with Wilfrid.

Stephen's goal in writing could simply have been to describe the community's feelings on the holiness and goodness of the life of Wilfrid, whom they had known personally.