Feast day: May 19

St. Dunstan

Archbishop · c. 909–988

Patron of Goldsmiths, blacksmiths

A monk, craftsman, and statesman who as archbishop of Canterbury revived English monastic life and counseled a line of Saxon kings.

Dunstan was the towering figure of the tenth-century English Church, born about 909 near Glastonbury and raised in its ancient monastery. A man of extraordinary and varied gifts — scholar, musician, painter, and a skilled worker in metals, which made him the patron of goldsmiths and blacksmiths — he was equally at home in the cloister and at the royal court.

After a period of disgrace and exile from court, he became abbot of Glastonbury and turned it into the centre of a great revival of English monastic life, restoring the strict Rule of St. Benedict. Recalled to royal service, he became the chief adviser of a succession of kings.

In 960 he was made archbishop of Canterbury, and from that seat he led, with his fellow bishops Ethelwold and Oswald, the sweeping reform that renewed the monasteries, disciplined the clergy, and strengthened the Church throughout England. His firmness shaped both Church and kingdom; he is said to have rebuked and disciplined even kings for their sins.

Under his guidance England enjoyed a rare period of peace, good order, and religious renewal. He died in 988, the most celebrated English saint until the murder of Thomas Becket nearly two centuries later.

A skilled metalworker, he is patron of goldsmiths and blacksmiths — and legend says he once seized the devil by the nose with his red-hot tongs.

Image: Dunstan (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/05199a.htm