EDMONDO RICH, saint. — Archbishop of Canterbury, born ca. 1180, died 16 Nov. 1240. He was also called E. of Abingdon, after the place of his birth in the county of Berks, or of Pontigny, after that of his final residence (whereas the name R. seems to be late and suspect: cf. Anal. Bolland., 46 [1928], p. 437). He was the son of a merchant named Edward or Reynold, who later, with the consent of his wife Mabel, withdrew to the monastic life in the monastery of Eynsham. Brought up as a Christian by his mother, at a very young age (about 15) he was sent with his brother Robert to study in Paris, where he became a master in the arts, which he taught for ca. 6 years, subsequently returning to England, to Oxford.
He later returned once again to Paris (the Vita maintain that this occurred following a vision of his deceased mother, who urged him to devote himself to the study of sacred matters rather than to the profane sciences), where he studied theology and was ordained a priest. It seems certain that he taught theology in Paris. Having returned to Oxford after serving as chancellor of the Church of York, in 1222 he was made treasurer of the Church of Salisbury and later Gregory IX commissioned him to preach the Crusade in England. In defense of the rights of ecclesiastical freedom, he had to sustain long struggles, especially against King Henry III and the great men of the kingdom. As a result of these struggles, in the last years of his life he was forced to leave England and went to the Continent, to the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, and then to Soisy, where he died a holy death.
An intense love of chastity, defended through harsh penances and mortifications from his childhood onward, characterized his life; in this connection it is related that he consecrated his virginity to the Madonna. During his lifetime he was favored with the gift of miracles and had frequent communications with the supernatural world. On 11 Jan. 1247 he was canonized by Innocent IV, and a few months later (7 June) the translation of his relics took place.
He also left some writings: Speculum Ecclesiae (Bibliotheca Patrum, V, Paris 1624, p. 765), which bears witness to his episcopal activity; there also remain the Constitutiones Provinciales V. Edmundi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi circa an. 1236 (Macai, XXIII, 416–28), and an unpublished Summa Abendoniensis. Other works, produced especially during his years of teaching, have been lost.