JUSTUS OF CANTERBURY, Saint. - Very probably of Roman origin and a Benedictine monk in the monastery of the Caelian, he died at Canterbury on 10 November 630. Together with Abbot Mellitus, Paulinus and Rufinianus, he was part of the second mission sent by St. Gregory the Great in 601 to England to assist St. Augustine, who had been preaching there since 597.

In 604, by the same St. Augustine, at Canterbury, he was consecrated bishop of the new see of Rochester in Kent, whose cathedral of St. Andrew was endowed by King Ethelbert with territorial grants. The death of Ethelbert (616) and the restoration of paganism promoted by Eadbald forced J. to withdraw from Rochester and flee among the Franks (618). He was recalled the following year and in 624 succeeded Mellitus as fourth bishop of Canterbury; the same year he received the pallium from Pope Boniface V, together with a letter of congratulation for the work accomplished. Feast day 10 November.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Novembris, IV, Brussels 1925, pp. 532-37; W. F. Hook, Lives of the archbishops of Canterbury, I, London 1861, pp. 100-10; A. W. Haddon-W. Stubbs, Ecclesiastical documents, III, ibid. 1878, pp. 72-81; Fliche-Martin-Frutz, V, pp. 297, 303; P. Grosjean, Le faux de 600 provins et de Canterbury? Date de la lettre des ss. Laurent, Mellitus et Justus aux Irlandais, in Analecta Bollandiana, 64 (1946), pp. 231-44; Martyr, Romanum, p. 509.

Stanislao Majarelli

@incollection{ec6_giusto_di_canterbury_santo, author = {Majarelli, Stanislao}, title = {Giusto di Canterbury, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {860}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giusto-di-canterbury-santo} }

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Justus of Canterbury, Saint

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