Paulinus (died 10 October 644) was a Roman missionary and the first
Bishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
. A member of the
Gregorian mission
The Gregorian missionJones "Gregorian Mission" ''Speculum'' p. 335 or Augustinian missionMcGowan "Introduction to the Corpus" ''Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature'' p. 17 was a Christian mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to conver ...
sent in 601 by
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...
to
Christianize
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
from their native
Anglo-Saxon paganism, Paulinus arrived in England by 604 with the second missionary group. Little is known of Paulinus's activities in the following two decades.
After some years spent in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, perhaps in 625, Paulinus was
consecrated
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
a bishop. He accompanied
Æthelburg of Kent, sister of King
Eadbald of Kent, on her journey to
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
to marry King
Edwin of Northumbria, and eventually succeeded in converting Edwin to Christianity. Paulinus also converted many of Edwin's subjects and built some churches. One of the women Paulinus
baptised was a future saint,
Hilda of Whitby.
Following Edwin's death in 633, Paulinus and Æthelburg fled Northumbria, leaving behind a member of Paulinus's clergy,
James the Deacon
James the Deacon (died after 671) was a Roman deacon who accompanied Paulinus of York on his mission to Northumbria. He was a member of the Gregorian mission, which went to England to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxo ...
. Paulinus returned to Kent, where he became
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.
The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...
. He received a
pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...
from the pope, symbolizing his appointment as Archbishop of York, but too late to be effective. After his death in 644, Paulinus was canonized as a saint and is now venerated in the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, and
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
Churches.
Early life
Paulinus was a monk from Rome sent to the
Kingdom of Kent by Pope Gregory I in 601, along with
Mellitus and others, as part of the second group of missionaries sent to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He was probably an Italian by birth.
[Costambeys "Paulinus (St Paulinus)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] The second group of missionaries arrived in Kent by 604, but little is known of Paulinus's further activities until he went to Northumbria.
[
Paulinus remained in Kent until 625, when he was consecrated as bishop by ]Justus
Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism, probably arrivin ...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, on 21 July.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 224] He then accompanied Æthelburg, the sister of King Eadbald of Kent, to Northumbria where she was to marry King Edwin of Northumbria. A condition of the marriage was that Edwin had promised that he would allow Æthelburg to remain a Christian and worship as she chose. Bede
Bede ( ; ang, BÇŁda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, writing in the early 8th century, reports that Paulinus wished to convert the Northumbrians, as well as provide religious services to the new queen.[
There is some difficulty with Bede's chronology on the date of Æthelburh's marriage, as surviving papal letters to Edwin urging him to convert imply that Eadbald only recently had become a Christian, which conflicts with Bede's chronology. The historian D. P. Kirby argues that Paulinus and Æthelburh must therefore have gone to Northumbria earlier than 624, and that Paulinus went north, not as a bishop, but as a priest, returning later to be consecrated.][ The historian Henry Mayr-Harting agrees with Kirby's reasoning.][Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 66] Another historian, Peter Hunter Blair, argues that Æthelburh and Edwin were married before 625, but that she did not go to Northumbria until 625.[Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 33–34] If Kirby's arguments are accepted, then the date of Paulinus's consecration needs to be changed by a year, to 21 July 626.[Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 206 footnote 2]
Bede describes Paulinus as "a man tall of stature, a little stooping, with black hair and a thin face, a hooked and thin nose, his aspect both venerable and awe-inspiring".[Quoted in Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 95]
Bishop of York
Bede relates that Paulinus told Edwin that the birth of his and Æthelburg's daughter at Easter 626 was because of Paulinus's prayers. The birth coincided with a foiled assassination attempt on the king by a group of West Saxons from Wessex. Edwin promised to convert to Christianity and allow his new daughter Eanflæd to be baptised if he won a victory over Wessex. He did not fulfill his promise immediately after his subsequent military success against the West Saxons however, only converting after Paulinus had revealed the details of a dream the king had before he took the throne, during his exile at the court of King Rædwald of East Anglia. In this dream, according to Bede, a stranger told Edwin that power would be his in the future when someone laid a hand on his head. As Paulinus was revealing the dream to Edwin, he laid his hand on the king's head, which was the proof Edwin needed. A late seventh-century hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
of Pope Gregory I claims that Paulinus was the stranger in the vision;[ if true, it might suggest that Paulinus spent some time at Rædwald's court,][Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 28] although Bede does not mention any such visit.[
It is unlikely that it was supernatural affairs and Paulinus's persuasion alone that caused Edwin to convert. The Northumbrian nobles seem to have been willing and the king also received letters from Pope ]Boniface V
Pope Boniface V ( la, Bonifatius V; died 25 October 625) was the bishop of Rome from 23 December 619 to his death. He did much for the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, and enacted the decree by which churches became places of sanctuary.
...
urging his conversion.[ Eventually convinced, Edwin and many of his followers were baptised at ]York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
in 627.[Lapidge "Paulinus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''] One story relates that during a stay with Edwin and Æthelburg at their palace in Yeavering, Paulinus spent 36 days baptising new converts.[ Paulinus also was an active missionary in ]Lindsey Lindsey may refer to :
Places Canada
* Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia
England
* Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974
** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, a ...
,[Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 115–116] and his missionary activities help show the limits of Edwin's royal authority.[Williams ''Kingship and Government'' p. 17]
Pope Gregory's plan had been that York would be England's second metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
see
See or SEE may refer to:
* Sight - seeing
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Music:
** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals
*** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See''
** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho
* Television
* ...
, so Paulinus established his church there.[ Although built of stone, no trace of it has been found.][ Paulinus also built a number of churches on royal estates.][Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 161] His church in Lincoln has been identified with the earliest building phase of the church of St Paul in the Bail.[
Among those baptised by Paulinus were Hilda, later the founding abbess of Whitby Abbey,][Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 147] and Hilda's successor, Eanflæd, Edwin's daughter.[Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 149] As the only Roman bishop in England, Paulinus also consecrated another Gregorian missionary, Honorius, as Archbishop of Canterbury after Justus' death, some time between 628 and 631.[
]
Bishop of Rochester
Edwin was defeated by an alliance of Gwynedd Welsh and Mercian Angles, being killed at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, on a date traditionally given as 12 October 633.[ One problem with the dating of the battle is that Pope Honorius I wrote in June 634 to Paulinus and Archbishop Honorius saying that he was sending a ]pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...
, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, to each of them.[ The pope's letter shows no hint that news of Edwin's death had reached Rome, almost nine months after the supposed date of the battle. The historian D. P. Kirby argues that this lack of awareness makes it more likely that the battle occurred in 634.][Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 56]
Edwin's defeat and death caused his kingdom to fragment into at least two parts.[ It also led to a sharp decline in Christianity in Northumbria][ when Edwin's immediate successors reverted to paganism.][ Widowed queen Æthelburg fled to her brother Eadbald's Kent kingdom. Paulinus went with her, along with Edwin and Æthelburg's son, daughter, and grandson. The two boys went to the continent for safety, to the court of King Dagobert I. Æthelburg, Eanflæd, and Paulinus remained in Kent, where Paulinus was offered the see, or bishopric, of Rochester, which he held until his death. Because the pallium did not reach Paulinus until after he had left York, it was of no use to him.][ Paulinus's deputy, ]James the Deacon
James the Deacon (died after 671) was a Roman deacon who accompanied Paulinus of York on his mission to Northumbria. He was a member of the Gregorian mission, which went to England to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxo ...
, remained in the north and struggled to rebuild the Roman mission.[Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 116]
Death and veneration
Paulinus died on 10 October 644 at Rochester,[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 221] where he was buried in the sacristy
A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.
The sacristy is usually located ...
of the church.[Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 97–98] His successor at Rochester was Ithamar, the first Englishman consecrated to a Gregorian missionary see.[Sharpe "Naming of Bishop Ithamar" ''English Historical Journal'' p. 889] After Paulinus's death, Paulinus was revered as a saint, with a feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
on 10 October. When a new church was constructed at Rochester in the 1080s his relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s, or remains, were translated
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
(ritually moved) to a new shrine.[ There also were shrines to Paulinus at Canterbury, and at least five churches were dedicated to him.][Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 418] Although Rochester held some of Paulinus's relics, the promotion of his cult there appears to have occurred after the Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
.[Rollason "Shrines of Saints" ''Archaeology Data Services''] He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, the Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
, and the Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
.[Holford-Stevens and Blackburn ''Oxford Book of Days'' p. 409][Walsh ''Dictionary of Saints'' p. 475]
Paulinus's missionary efforts are difficult to evaluate. Bede implies that the mission in Northumbria was successful, but there is little supporting evidence, and it is more likely that Paulinus's missionary efforts there were relatively ineffectual. Although Osric Osric is an Anglo-Saxon name and may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People Anglo-Saxon kings
* Osric of Deira, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira in the 630s
* Osric of Northumbria, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in the 720s
* Osric of S ...
, one of Edwin's successors, was converted to Christianity by Paulinus, he returned to paganism after Edwin's death. Hilda, however, remained a Christian, and eventually went on to become abbess of the influential Whitby Abbey.[ Northumbria's conversion to Christianity was mainly achieved by Irish missionaries brought into the region by Edwin's eventual successor, Oswald.][Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 68]
See also
* List of members of the Gregorian mission
Notes
Citations
References
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Further reading
*
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External links
* – listing of most contemporary and close to contemporary mentions of Paulinus in the primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
s. Includes some spurious charter listings.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulinus Of York
644 deaths
7th-century English bishops
7th-century Christian saints
Bishops of York
Bishops of Rochester
Burials at Rochester Cathedral
Gregorian mission
History of Northumberland
Northumbrian saints
Year of birth unknown
Yorkshire saints