IS this the country's youngest bishop? Five year-old Rosie Wilson, of Selside, became a Bairn Bishop at the Evening Prayer service at Horton-in-Ribblesdale Church - and, last week, handed out gold coins to all the children in Horton School. Bairn, or more usually boy, bishops were elected to rule from the Feast of St Nicholas on December 6 until Childermass on the 28th. Before the Reformation, they travelled on horseback to various parishes, wore robes specially made for them and delivered sermons. They declared holidays, and, like St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, handed out gifts to the poor and needy. The tradition gradually petered out following an edict from Henry VIII, but has been revived by many cathedrals and parish churches.
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