PAOLINO, bishop of YORK, saint. - He was the apostle of the Saxon heptarchy; the year of his birth is uncertain; he died at Rochester on 10 Oct. 644. From the monastery of S. Andrea on the Caelian Hill, where he resided, he was sent by Pope St. Gregory to England in 601 to bring the pallium to the monk St. Augustine, primate of Canterbury.
He exercised his apostolate in Kent from 615 to 625, when he went to the court of Northumbria to accompany Etelberga, promised bride of King Edwin, whom he succeeded in converting to Christianity and baptized on 12 Apr. 627. Consecrated bishop, he established his see at York, carrying out fruitful activity at Yeavering, Carrick Bridge, Dewsbury, and Southwell. After Edwin’s defeat by King Penda of Mercia (933), he escorted the widow Etelberga and her children back to safety in Kent. In 634 he received the pallium as archbishop of York, but, owing to the hostility of King Penda, his activity was carried on especially at Rochester, where he died and was buried, and where his body remained until the time of the Protestant Reformation. Feast on 10 Oct.