Saint of the Month

Saint Dunstan

By Berkeley Strobel

May 19 is set aside as the feast day celebrating Saint Dunstan, who died this day in 988AD.

Some wonder why we concern ourselves with people and events that date back a thousand years or more. One of the reasons is that we learn from good, well-researched, honest history that we face nothing that has not been faced many times before. So it was in Dunstan’s day.

Dunstan was born an Anglo-Saxonof Wessex, about 909 AD. Wessex was that area of England from London west and north to Wales and the river Avon, and south to the Channel. Dunstan was born near Glastonbury of aristocratic family. His father was a thegn, which was a class of freemen, attendant to the king, and as such part of the royal court. Dunstan was educated by Irish clerics, and as a young man was received into the court of King Athelstan, and pursued a public life. He was adept at politics of the day, but was ordained by Alphege at Winchester, and became a hermit for a time. About 940, King Edmund appointed him abbot of Glastonbury. With his many talents, including music, scholarship, and administration, the monastery expanded, and talented men were drawn to join the monks.

When Edmund was stabbed to death he was succeeded by Edred (946-955), and Dunstan, for all practical purposes, became the ruler of England. During those years Wessex sought political unification, establishment of royal authority, and extensive religious reforms. Great strides were made in all these areas. When Edred died in 955, his successor, his nephew Edwyg, with whom Dunstan soon had a falling out. The story is recounted differently in different sources, but they agree that Edwyg nearly missed his own coronation feast because he was cavorting with a young woman named Ethelgifu. Dunstan dragged Edwyg back to the feast, which Edwyg did not appreciate Within days Dunstan was proclaimed outlaw by the king, and had to flee the country. He spent the next four years in a monastery in France, where he followed the Rule of Benedict, which, in addition to vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, conducted divine office seven times each day, and included six hours of physical labor and four hours of study each day.

Upon the death of Edwyg, the new king, Edgar (959-975), recalled Dunstan, who resumed his work. He introduced the Rule of Benedict to the English monasteries, and added special considerations for the English customs and climate, including prayers for the king at the services. Under Dunstan, the relationship between Church and Crown became closer, and the monastic life moved toward conformity with the rest of Europe. Edgar was known for the continuous peace during his reign. His successor, Edward reigned only three years before he was murdered, and chaos soon returned to the throne. Dunstan retired to his monastery, where he continued to be of enormous influence in the life of the Church. He died May 19th, 988AD.

So what is to be gained by reading about saints and their challenges and struggles a thousand years ago? They possessed in abundance patience, commitment, constancy, and courage. They are not dead, but are the Church Expectant, awaiting with us the final judgment. Every time we pray, every time we read scripture, every time we come together, even, in the best of cases, every desire or thought, is to be guided by a certain fellow who claimed to be “The Holy One”, the “Only Begotten of the Father,” over two thousand years ago and still lives. The saints likewise live on in that blest community.

Blessed Dunstan, pray for us.