St Edmund of Abingdon

Edmund
Archbishop of Canterbury
Image of Edmund from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)
Appointed	1233
Term ended	1240
Predecessor	John Blund
Successor	Boniface of Savoy
Orders
Consecration	2 April 1234
Personal details
Born	20 November c. 1175 St Edmund's Lane, Abingdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England
Died	16 November 1240(1240-11-16) Soisy-Bouy, Seine-et-Marne, France
Buried	Pontigny Abbey, Burgundy, France
Sainthood
Feast day	16 November
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion
Title as Saint	Archbishop
Canonized	16 December 1246 by Pope Innocent IV
Attributes	archbishop making a vow before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; embracing the Child Jesus; placing a ring on the finger of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; receiving a lamb from the Blessed Virgin Mary; with Saint Richard of Chichester; with Saint Thomas of Canterbury
Patronage	Abingdon, Oxfordshire; Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth; St Edmund's College, Cambridge; St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Shrines	Pontigny Abbey, Pontigny, Yonne, France

Edmund of Abingdon (circa 1174 – 1240) was a 13th-century Archbishop of Canterbury in England. Today he is remembered for his connection to St Edmund Hall, Oxford; St Edmund's College, Cambridge; St Edmund's School, Canterbury; and St Edmund's College, Ware.

Edmund was born circa 1174, possibly on 20 November (the feast of Edmund the Martyr), in Abingdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), 7 miles south of Oxford, England. He was the oldest of four children.

"Rich" was an epithet sometimes given to his wealthy merchant father. It was never applied to Edmund or his siblings in their lifetimes. Edmund may have been educated at the monastic school in Abingdon. His early studies were in England, but he completed his higher learning in France at the University of Paris. About 1195, in company with his brother Richard, he was sent to the schools of Paris. He studied at the universities of Oxford and Paris and became a teacher about 1200, or a little earlier. For six years he lectured on mathematics and dialectics, apparently dividing his time between Oxford and Paris, and helped introduce the study of Aristotle.

Edmund became one of Oxford's first lecturers with a Master of Arts, but was not Oxford's first Doctor of Divinity. Long hours at night spent in prayer had the result that he often 'nodded off' during his lectures. There is a long-established tradition that he utilised his lecture-fees to build the Lady Chapel of St Peter's in the East at Oxford. The site where he lived and taught was formed into a mediaeval academic hall in his name and later incorporated as the college of St Edmund Hall. His mother influenced him towards self-denial and austerity, and this led to his taking up the study of theology.