Saint Dunstan

Life story

Dunstan was born around 909 near Glastonbury, in the kingdom of Wessex. He was educated at Glastonbury, where he met Irish books and learned various crafts. He later entered the Wessex court but was slandered and had to leave. He was ordained a priest, took up the monastic life, and King Edmund appointed him abbot of Glastonbury.

At Glastonbury he restored monastic life under the Rule of St Benedict and rebuilt the church and the monastery. After Edmund's death he was for a time exiled to Flanders by Eadwig, where he saw the reformed monasteries of the continent. Under King Edgar he became bishop of Worcester, then bishop of London, and in 959 archbishop of Canterbury. With the bishops Æthelwold and Oswald he drove the monastic reform movement while serving as a key adviser to the kings. In 973 he devised the coronation rite for King Edgar, which forms the basis of the English royal coronation service.

Dunstan died on 19 May 988 at Canterbury. He was also remembered for his skill in crafts, especially metalwork and music, and goldsmiths and blacksmiths later took him as patron. He was canonised in 1029. The Church keeps his feast on 19 May. Early lives of Dunstan were written within a few decades of his death, though they include legends, such as the tale of him seizing the devil's nose with tongs, which belong to later folklore rather than to history.

Works and witness

• Abbot of Glastonbury, restoring Benedictine monastic life
• Bishop of Worcester, then of London
• Archbishop of Canterbury from 959
• Devised the coronation rite for King Edgar in 973
• Canonised in 1029

Patron of

Goldsmiths, Blacksmiths

Saints from the same country

Saint Thomas Becket, Saint Thomas More, Saint Carlo Acutis, Saint Bede the Venerable

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• Vita sancti Dunstani (B.)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.