Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/October 10 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Paulinus (born c. 584; died 10 October 644) was the first Bishop of York and Bishop of Rochester in England.

Paulinus was a monk at St Andrew's Monastery in Rome, when, in 601, Pope Gregory I sent him to join Mellitus and others in the second group of missionaries to England. Writing in 731, Bede described Paulinus as "a tall figure, slightly bent, with black hair, a thin hooked nose, and an emaciated face." He was in Kent until 625, when he was consecrated as bishop by Justus on July 21. He then accompanied Æthelburg, the sister of King Eadbald of Kent, to Northumbria where she was to marry King Edwin.

According to Bede, Paulinus eventually convinced Edwin to convert to Christianity, baptizing him and many of his followers at York in 627. Gregory desired York to be England's second metropolitan see. So Paulinus built a small wooden church there and, with the support of Edwin, he greatly expanded the church throughout Northumbria.

When Edwin was defeated and killed in battle in 633, Paulinus took the queen and her children to Kent, where he spent the remainder of his life as Bishop of Rochester. He died on 10 October 644 at Rochester. Edwin's defeat led immediately to a sharp decline of Christianity in Northumbria. Although Paulinus' deacon, James, remained in the North and struggled to rebuild the Roman mission, it was monks from the rival Celtic tradition who eventually re-established Christianity in the region, York eventually becoming a mere bishopric.

Attributes: An archbishop holding a model of a small wooden church; baptizing Edwin of Northumbria
Patronage: York; Rochester; those displaced from office
Prayer: