St Dunstan
| Dunstan | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
 |
|
| Installed | unknown |
| Term ended | 988 |
| Predecessor | Byrhthelm |
| Successor | Æthelgar |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 959 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | possibly 909 or slightly earlier Baltonsborough |
| Died | 19 May 988, age around 79 Canterbury |
| Buried | Canterbury Cathedral |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 19 May |
| Venerated in |
Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | 1029 |
| Attributes | man holding a pair of smith's tongs; with a dove hovering near him; with a troop of angels before him |
| Patronage | blacksmiths; Charlottetown, Canada; goldsmiths; locksmiths; musicians; silversmiths |
| Shrines | Canterbury Cathedral (but also claimed by Glastonbury Abbey), both destroyed |
Dunstan (Latin: Dunstanus; 909 – 19 May 988 AD) was an Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, a Bishop of Worcester, a Bishop of London, and an Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th-century biographer, Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was skilled in "making a picture and forming letters", as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank.
Dunstan served as an important minister of state to several English kings. He was the most popular saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many stories of his greatness, not least among which were those concerning his famed cunning in defeating the devil.
Dunstan was born in Baltonsborough, Somerset. He was the son of Heorstan, a noble of Wessex. Heorstan was the brother of Athelm the bishop of Wells and of the Bishop of Winchester. It is recorded that his mother, Cynethryth, was a pious woman. Osbern's life of Dunstan relates that a messenger miraculously told her of the saintly child she would give birth to:
She was in the church of St Mary on Candleday, when all the lights were suddenly extinguished. Then the candle held by Cynethryth was as suddenly relighted, and all present lit their candles at this miraculous flame, thus foreshadowing that the boy "would be the minister of eternal light" to the Church of England.
The anonymous author of the earliest Life places Dunstan's birth during the reign of Athelstan, while Osbern fixed it at "the first year of the reign of King Æthelstan", 924 or 925. This date, however, cannot be reconciled with other known dates of Dunstan's life and creates many obvious anachronisms. Historians therefore assume that Dunstan was born around 910 or earlier.
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