30
September 653 A.D. 5th
of 105 Senior Pastors of Canterbury, Honorius, Dies
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. Honorious was the
last to die among the Gregorian missionaries.
Contents
Early life
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.[2][3] It is not known if
his name was given to him at birth or if he chose it when he became archbishop.[4]
Archbishop
In 627, Honorius was consecrated as
archbishop by Paulinus of York
at Lincoln.[5] 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.[6] 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.[5] 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.[7] 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.[8] The papal letter
to Honorius is given in the Ecclesistical
History of the medieval writer Bede.[9]
Honorius consolidated the work of
converting the English by sending Felix, a Burgundian, to Dunwich[10] after Felix came
to the archbishop and made known his desire to go to East
Anglia as a missionary.[2] Honorius may have
consecrated Felix as the first bishop
of East Anglia[11] or Felix may have
already have been consecrated on the continent.[10][12] The dating of this
episode is unclear, but it is probably close to 631.[8] It is possible
that King Sigeberht of East
Anglia, who converted to Christianity while he was in exile on
the continent, had already met Felix and was behind Felix's journey to
Honorius. As well as his help to Felix, Honorius consecrated the first Anglo-Saxon
bishop, Ithamar of Rochester,[10] and his successor
was also a native of England.[2]
Honorius had few conflicts with the Irish missionary efforts, and admired Aidan,
one of the leading Irish clergy.[13]
Death and legacy
Honorius died on 30 September 653,[14] the last of the
Gregorian missionaries.[4] He was buried at
the Church of St. Augustine's in Canterbury.[6] He was later
revered as a saint, with his feast day being 30 September.[11] His relics were
translated to a new tomb in 1091, and around that same time a haigiography of
his life was written by Goscelin.[15] In the 1120s his
relics were still being venerated at St Augustine's.[16]
See also
Citations
References
- Blair, John (2002). "A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints". In Thacker, Aland and Sharpe, Richard. Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 495–565. ISBN 0-19-820394-2.
- Blair, Peter Hunter (1990). The World of Bede (Reprint of 1970 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39819-3.
- Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
- Farmer, David Hugh (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0.
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
- Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-1738-5.
- Hayward, Paul Antony (2003). "An Absent Father: Eadmer, Goscelin and the Cult of St Peter, the First Abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury". Journal of Medieval History 29 (3): 201–218. doi:10.1016/S0304-4181(03)00030-7.
- Hunt, William (2004). "Honorius (St Honorius) (d. 653)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. revised by N. P. Brooks (October 2005 revised ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13664. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
- Kirby, D. P. (2000). The Earliest English Kings. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24211-8.
- Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00769-9.
- Sharpe, R. (September 2002). "The Naming of Bishop Ithamar". The English Historical Review 117 (473): 889–894. doi:10.1093/ehr/117.473.889.
- Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
- Walsh, Michael J. (2007). A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oats. ISBN 0-86012-438-X.
- Wright, J. Robert (2008). A Companion to Bede: A Reader's Commentary on The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-6309-6.
External links
- Entry for Honorius at Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England project
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