This Sunday, 16th November we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Edmund of Abingdon (1175 – 1240), the secondary patron of our Diocese of Portsmouth. Happy Feastday!
Born in Berkshire on 30th November 1175, Edmund was the eldest son of the wealthy merchant Reginald Rich. Even from an early age, Edmund was renowned for his piety. Educated at the universities of Oxford and Paris, he returned after graduation to teach art and mathematics at Oxford. Ordained after receiving his doctorate in theology, he went on to teach and soon became known for his preaching and personal holiness. He became the Chancellor of the University. In 1222 he was appointed Canon and treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, then in process of construction. Five years later, Pope Gregory XI commissioned him to preach throughout England in favour of the Sixth Crusade against the Saracens and shortly afterwards appointed him the Archbishop of Canterbury.
As Archbishop, Edmund became an adviser to King Henry III and successfully performed several diplomatic missions including arbitration between the king and his nobles, averting a civil war. He did not greatly enjoy administration and diplomacy, but he threw himself wholeheartedly into the task of ecclesiastical reform. He gathered together some capable helpers such as Richard of Chichester and resisted the intrusion of court politics into the running of the Church. He protested loudly against Henry’s appointment of a papal legate for England and this brought him into conflict with the monastic chapter of Canterbury, who, supported by King Henry, resisted his authority. Further disputes arose between Edmund and the king. The Archbishop condemned the king’s practice of leaving sees vacant whilst collecting their revenues for the crown.
In 1240 he left England for Rome but died at Soissy near the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny, where he was buried. Despite his troubled rule, Edmund’s personal goodness and holiness was never doubted, nor his good intentions. He left behind a simple but comprehensive programme for spiritual growth called the Speculum Ecclesiae, which was originally written for monks but which gained much popularity among the laity in the following centuries. He was canonised in 1246 and his cult spread across southern England, as exemplified by the dedication of St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford in the late thirteenth century.
On Sunday, please pray for our beloved Diocese of Portsmouth and the graces needed for our ten-year mission plan.
