Honorius of Canterbury
| Honorius | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
| Appointed | 627 |
| Term ended | 30 September 653 |
| Predecessor | Justus |
| Successor | Deusdedit |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 627 by Paulinus of York |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rome |
| Died | 30 September 653 |
| Buried | St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 30 September |
| Venerated in |
Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Shrines | St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |
Honorius (died 30 September 653) was a member of the Gregorian mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism in 597 AD who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. During his archiepiscopate, he consecrated the first native English bishop of Rochester as well as helping the missionary efforts of Felix among the East Anglians. Honorius was the last to die among the Gregorian missionaries.
A Roman by birth, Honorius may have been one of those chosen by Pope Gregory the Great for the Gregorian mission to England, although it seems more likely that he was a member of the second party of missionaries, sent in 601. It is not known if his name was given to him at birth or if he chose it when he became archbishop.
In 627, Honorius was consecrated as archbishop by Paulinus of York at Lincoln. Honorius wrote to Pope Honorius I asking the pope to raise the see of York to an archbishopric, so that when one archbishop in England died, the other would be able to consecrate the deceased bishop's successor. The pope agreed, and sent a pallium for Paulinus, but by this time, Paulinus had already been forced to flee from Northumbria. When Paulinus, after the death of King Edwin of Northumbria in October 633, fled Northumbria, he was received by Honorius and appointed to the bishopric of Rochester. The papal letter is dated to June 634, and implies that news of Edwin's death had not reached the pope. This evidence may mean that the traditional date of Edwin's death may need to be moved to October 634. The papal letter may also mean that the traditional date of consecration for Honorius may need re-dating, as the long gap between 627, when he is said to have been consecrated, and 634, when he finally received a pallium, is much longer than usually found. It may be that Honorius was consecrated closer to 634. The papal letter to Honorius is given in the Ecclesiastical History of the medieval writer Bede.
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