Saint of the Day – 13 October – St Edward King and Confessor (c 1003-1066)

Saint of the Day – 13 October – St Edward King and Confessor (c 1003-1066) – born c 1003 at Islip, Oxfordshire, England and died on 5 January 1066 (aged 60–63) at London, England. The last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.   Confessor reflects his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom, as opposed to King Edward the Martyr.   Patronages – of difficult marriages, England (before 1347); English Royal Family; Kings.   St Edward was Canonised on 7 February 1161, Rome by Pope Alexander III. His major Shrine is in Westminster Abbey, which Cathedral he built. His body is incorrupt.

Saint Edward, son of King Ethelred, whose kingdom of England fell to the Danish invaders, was unexpectedly raised to the throne of England in 1041, at the age of forty years. God had shown Edward to a pious bishop in a vision, as England’s King, anointed by Saint Peter –  Behold the one who will be King through My favor; he will be cherished by heaven, agreeable to men, terrible to his enemies, loving to his subjects, very useful to the Church of God.

The English people, tired of being governed by a foreign domination, decided in 1041 to reinstate the surviving son of their legitimate sovereign, and under the leadership of three noblemen, succeeded in crowning Edward on Easter Sunday of the year 1042. Edward had spent twenty-seven years of his forty in exile in Normandy, in the palace of his maternal uncle.

When he was raised to the throne, the virtues of his earlier years, simplicity, gentleness, humility and a tender charity but above all his angelic purity, shone with new brightness.   By a rare inspiration of God, though he married to content his nobles and people, he preserved perfect chastity in the wedded state.   So little did he set his heart on riches, that three times when he saw a servant robbing his treasury, he let him escape, saying the poor man needed the gold more than he.   He loved to stand at his palace-gate, speaking kindly to the poor beggars and lepers who crowded about him, and many of whom he healed of their diseases.   The people rejoiced in having a Saint for their king.

Long wars had brought the kingdom to a sad state but Edward’s zeal and sanctity soon wrought a great change.  His reign of twenty-four years was one of almost unbroken peace.   He undertook only one war, which was victorious, to reinstate Malcolm, legitimate king of Scotland.   The country grew prosperous, the ruined churches rose again under his hand, the weak lived secure, and for ages afterwards men spoke with affection of the laws of good Saint Edward.   The holy king delighted in building and enriching churches – Westminster Abbey was his last and noblest work.

He had a particular devotion to the holy Apostles Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist and had made a promise never to refuse an alms asked in the name of the latter.

One day when he had no money with him, a poor man reached out his hand in the name of the Apostle and the king gave him a valuable ring he was wearing.   Some time later, Saint John appeared to two pilgrims returning from the Holy Land.   He gave them a ring and said:  Take it to the king; he gave it to me one day when I asked for an alms in the habit of a pilgrim.   Tell him that in six months I will visit him and take him with me, to follow the unblemished Lamb.   The King received it from them after hearing their telling of this incident and broke into tears.   And Edward did indeed die six months later, on 5 January 1066.

Unfortunately for his kingdom, Edward’s death left England in turmoil.   His vow of chastity meant that he died without an obvious heir.  The Saxon people rejected his promise of the throne to the Duke of Normandy.   Three contenders to the kingdom emerged – Edward’s brother-in-law, Harold Godwinson;  the Viking king, Harold Hardrede;  and William, Duke of Normandy.   Hardrede was defeated by Godwinson at Stamford Bridge.   Godwinson died at the Battle of Hastings, leaving William “the Conqueror” to succeed and start the Norman era.

In 1102 his body was exhumed and found intact and flexible, with its clothing perfectly preserved, appearing to be new.

Many miracles occurred at his tomb and King Henry III rebuilt a new and costly shrine in 1269.   St Edward was the Patron saint of England until 1415 (succeeded by St George).