Edmund of Abingdon | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
.svg) Image of Edmund from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) | |
| Appointed | 1233 |
| Term ended | 1240 |
| Predecessor | John Blund |
| Successor | Boniface of Savoy |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 2 April 1234 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | perhaps 20 November c. 1174 St Edmund's Lane, Abingdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England |
| Died | 16 November 1240 Soisy-Bouy, Seine-et-Marne, France |
| Buried | Pontigny Abbey, Burgundy, France |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 16 November |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Title as Saint | Archbishop |
| Canonized | 16 December 1246 by Pope Innocent IV |
| Attributes | archbishop making a vow before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; embracing the Child Jesus; placing a ring on the finger of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; receiving a lamb from the Blessed Virgin Mary; with Saint Richard of Chichester; with Saint Thomas of Canterbury |
| Patronage | Abingdon, Oxfordshire; Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth; St Edmund's College, Cambridge; St Edmund Hall, Oxford ; St Edmund’s College, Ware. |
| Shrines | Pontigny Abbey, Pontigny, Yonne, France |
Edmund of Abingdon (also known as Edmund Rich, St Edmund of Canterbury, Edmund of Pontigny, French: St Edme; c. 1174 – 1240) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Canterbury. He became a respected lecturer in mathematics, dialectics and theology at the Universities of Paris and Oxford, promoting the study of Aristotle.
Having already an unsought reputation as an ascetic, he was ordained a priest, took a doctorate in divinity and soon became known not only for his lectures on theology but as a popular preacher, spending long years travelling within England, and engaging in 1227 preaching the Sixth Crusade.
Obliged to accept an appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Gregory IX, he combined a gentle personal temperament with a strong public stature and severity towards King Henry III in defence of Magna Carta and in general of good civil and Church government and justice. He also worked for strict observance in monastic life and negotiated peace with Llywelyn the Great.
His policies earned him hostility and jealousy from the king, and opposition from several monasteries and from the clergy of Canterbury Cathedral. He died in France at the beginning of a journey to Rome in 1240. He was canonised in 1246.