Justus | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
| Appointed | 624 |
| Term ended | 10 November, between 627 and 631 |
| Predecessor | Mellitus |
| Successor | Honorius |
| Other post(s) | Bishop of Rochester |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 604 by Augustine of Canterbury |
| Personal details | |
| Died | on 10 November between 627 and 631 |
| Buried | St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 10 November |
| Venerated in | |
| Canonized | Pre-congregation, prior to formal canonisation process |
| Attributes | archbishop carrying a Primatial cross[2] |
| Shrines | St Augustine's, Canterbury |
Justus[a] (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory the Great sent Justus from Italy to England on a mission to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism; he probably arrived with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601. Justus became the first bishop of Rochester in 604 and signed a letter to the Irish bishops urging the native Celtic church to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. He attended a church council in Paris in 614.
Following the death of King Æthelberht of Kent in 616, Justus was forced to flee to Gaul but was reinstated in his diocese the following year. In 624, he was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury, overseeing the despatch of missionaries to Northumbria. After his death, he was revered as a saint and had a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, to which his remains were translated in the 1090s.
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