Early saints and celebrations at Rochester

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Mary P. Richards investigates the cults of Saint Paulinus and Ithamar. Featured in The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1997-1998.

The 1988 Friends Report contained an interesting and well researched article, The Shrine of St Paulinus at Rochester. It was written by Mrs Anneliese Arnold, wife of the then dean. In the article Mrs Arnold discusses references to the St. Paulinus shrine in both medieval and post reformation documents. She also speculates on the all probable position of the shrine.

Cults of five saints associated with Rochester flourished during the Middle Ages. Although the evidence before A.D. 1540, the date of the formal dissolution of the Benedictine priory, is relatively slight, it demonstrates the importance these saintly men carried for Rochester. The outstanding figure is St. Paulinus, who, despite his connections with York, finished his career as bishop of Rochester and was buried there in 644. Two Rochester charters from the Anglo-Saxon period indicate an English cult of St. Paulinus by the end of the eighth century.

These are the earliest records of commemorations for a local saint. Other surviving materials from histories, documents, hagiographies, and calendars help to fill out the picture of Rochester's medieval saints.

We begin, as always, with Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, the earliest source for our knowledge of the first bishops of Rochester - Justus, Romanus, Paulinus, and thamar. Although Bede himself does not call them saints, these four came to he celebrated as such at Rochester through his writing.' According to Bede, Justus and Paulinus arrived in a group of Roman missionaries sent by Gregory the Great to support the work of St. Augustine. (i. 29) In 604 Augustine, by then archbishop of Britain, consecrated Justus the first bishop of Rochester. (it. 3)

About 617 Justus and Mellitus, bishop of London, retreated to Gaul for a year during a resurgence of paganism in Kent and the East Saxon kingdom. By 624, however, Mellitus, who had become archbishop after their return, died and Justus was appointed his successor. Justus in turn consecrated as the new bishop of Rochester. (ii. 8) The next year, Justus appointed Paulinus bishop of York. (ii. 9) As Bede is a primary source for later hagiographers, it is worth pausing at this point to consider what he reports about Justus and Romanus - and the answer is, very little. Although he mentions Justus several times, the only noteworthy accomplishment cited is his appointment of Paulinus. Romanus fares even less well. In an aside (ii. 20) while reviewing the career of Paulinus, Bede mentions that Romanus drowned in the Italian sea while on a mission from Justus to Pope Honorius.

The explanation for the disparity between the accounts of Justus and Romanus, on the one hand, and Bede's promotion of Paulinus, whose cult most definitely benefited from this early account of his life and works, may be as simple as the availability of sources. Whereas Bede had to rely on sparse materials from Canterbury provided by Nothelm for his account of the Gregorian missions, for Paulinus he could draw upon local history and written recollections of eyewitnesses to the bishop's accomplishments in Northumbria.? In addition to legends about Paulinus' powers of conversion, Bede could even provide a physical description of his subject: "tall, with a slight stoop, black hair, a thin face, land] a slender aquiline nose." (i. 16)

The most famous story from Paulinus' career as Bishop of York concerns the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria who, for the following six years until his death became, as Bede says, a soldier for Christ. (il. 13) Edwin died, however, in an uprising led by Cadwalla, who was no friend to the Christian religion, and the subsequent disarray led Paulinus to flee Northumbria for Kent.

Paulinus brought with him the queen Athelburgh and a number of the royal household. (il. 20) The Northumbrian disaster, then, led to Paulinus' availability for the vacancy at Rochester, to which Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald appointed him. Bede says that Paulinus conveyed much of King Edwin's treasure to Canterbury and that he left his pallium from the pope in Rome to Rochester. Although Paulinus served as Bishop of Rochester for more than nineteen years, Bede has nothing further to tell us about that period as once again, unfortunately, his sources failed him. He adds only that Paulinus died in 644 and was buried in the church of St. Andrew. This paucity of information concerning Rochester extends, as we might expect, to Paulinus' successor Ithamar, whom Bede describes as "a man of Kentish extraction but the equal of his predecessors in learning and holiness of life." (ii. 14) Bede otherwise mentions Ithamar only as being in attendance at the consecration of Deusdedit as sixth archbishop of Canterbury. Gi. 20)

These four bishops, plus the martyred young William of Perth (d. 1201), comprise the local saints venerated at Rochester during the Middle Ages.

Among them, only Paulinus, who was well known in Northumbria, had celebrations beyond the Rochester diocese. The earliest surviving mention of Paulinus in Rochester materials appears in a document from the cartulary of the Textus Roffensis, an early twelfth-century copy of an original dated 788. In this seemingly authentic record of a grant from King Offa of Mercia to St. Andrew's and the bishopric, Rochester is described as "bi beatus Paulinus pausat." Another charter, probably forged, from the same cartulary and dated 823 states in reference to St. Andrew's "et beati Paulini archiepiscopi cuius corpus in predicta ecclesia requiescit." Whoever composed the latter document must have used Paulinus as a means of authentication. A two-day fair held on the feast of St. Paulinus is mentioned in diplomas of King Henry I (1123 × 1135) and King Henry II (1174 × 1189).5

Turning to Rochester chronicles, the two survivors from our period rely on Bede for their information about the first century of the Rochester see. London, British Library, MS. Cotton Vespasian A. xxii contains a set of Latin annals copied in the early thirteenth century but augmented later through 1341. London, British Library, MS. Cotton Nero D. ii, on the other hand, preserves a Latin history through 1377 copied in the fourteenth century, with events concerning Rochester written in red and/or highlighted with marginal statements and drawings. In the annals, the entry for A.D. 631 calls Justus saint (Sanctus Justus) on the occasion of his death. Likewise, Paulinus is called saint at his death in 644, while his successor Ithamar receives the notation "natione anglis." (fol. 18r.) Romanus appears only in the entry for 633 as the bishop whom Paulinus succeeds at Rochester. Ithamar's death in 655 is noted without the designation of saint. From the terse statements in the annals, which also include a reference to the martyrdom of St. William in 1201, one could infer that only three of the five individuals mentioned were the subjects of cults. That number would be reduced to two in the history, both marginal references to SS. Paulinus and William (fols. 53r-v and 124r, respectively), though each of these saints is given special attention in the manuscript. The story from Bede (il. 9) about Paulinus accompanying King Athelberht's daughter Athelburh for her marriage with King Edwin of Northumbria is added in the bottom margin of fol. 53r. It is written in the main hand and could be an inadvertent omission from the copy text, though no such indication is visible in the version I have examined.

Regarding a comment to his quotation “When William was buried in Rochester nent," this phrase implies the only new piece of the history

Meanwhile, compiled and copied, various new accounts of the Rocheste its appeared partly in response to the post-Conquest interest in English Rochester this may have been motivated by Gundulf's building projects which resulted in the translation of the remains of SS. Paulinus and Ithamar.

The earliest surviving literary evidence occurs in a fragmentary piece on Paulinus added to a collection of Alfrie's Catholic Homilies (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. 342, fol. 202b),* Copied just prior to the Conquest, the text summarizes Bede's account of Paulinus in rather poor Old English prose. Subsequent to the Conquest new hagiographic materials were written in Latin but, sad to say, no full account of Paulinus survives. C. 1085-90, Paulinus was translated to a silver shrine at the expense of Archbishop Lanfrane of Canterbury, with Bishop Gundulf of Rochester presiding." The vita in John of Tynmouth's collection from the fourteenth century is a composite of information from Bede and from the Vita Gundulfi along with some miracles reported at the shrine of Paulinus, This is ironic since St. Paulinus is the only Rochester saint named in the eleventh-century tract on the Resting-Places of the Saints in England. A Latin translation of this tract even appears in a twelfth century Rochester manuscript of Bede's history," Furthermore, Paulinus' feast day (October 10) appears in a wide range of pre-and post-Conquest calendars."

The 1202 catalogue of Rochester Cathedral library contains one item - miracula sancti paulini et sancti ythamari - that suggests a longer account of Paulinus did exist." It may have been the source of the miracles related in John of Tynmouth's version described above. Such is the case for a treatise on the miracles of Ithamar that survives in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 161, a twelfth-century collection of materials concerning English saints." Amazingly, considering the extent of their reputations outside Rochester, Ithamar is the subject of three additional items in the Rochester library catalogue, a separate copy of the Miracles, and two copies of his Life.' Only the Miracles of St. Ithamar survive, however, and these rely on Bede for information about the saint and then recount posthumous miracles associated with healing the eyes, The text informs us that recognition of his power twice resulted in Ithamar's bones being moved to a better shrine. This material serves as the basis for John of Tynemouth's excerpted account of St. Ithamar.

St. Justus also is recognised with a vita in Tynmouth's collection which is drawn from a life by Goscelin of Canterbury. '* Goscelin's text occurs in a series treating early Archbishops of Canterbury copied into two twelfth-century collections from St. Augustine's, Canterbury: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Vespasian

B. XX, fols. 21 4r-217, 1. 7 and MS. Harley 105, fols. 242г-244v, 1. 4. Whereas the facts about Justus are basically those provided by Bede, Goscelin also quotes from letters of Popes Gregory I and Boniface V regarding the sanctity of those who assisted St. A

from St. Augustine's, Canterbury: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Vespasian

B. XX, fols. 214-217г, 1. 7 and MS. Harley 105, fols. 242r-244v, 1. 4. Whereas the facts about Justus are basically those provided by Bede, Goscelin also quotes from letters of Popes Gregory I and Boniface V regarding the sanctity of those who assisted St. Augustine with his mission." This work, plus his service as Archbishop of Canterbury, earned Justus his sainthood as related by his biographer. Paulinus, on the other hand, is given little recognition in this account, considerably less than SS. Mellitus and Leonard, whose connections with Canterbury obviously weighed in their favour.

Other than the brief mentions in the annals and history of Rochester, no further material on St. Romanus, the third bishop of Rochester, seems to have survived.

Something of a cult must have existed, however, as evidenced by his appearance in some Augustinian calendars for Rochester diocese. Before moving to the calendars, the only ones known for Rochester, we should consider the cult of St. William of Perth, martyred outside Rochester's walls in 1201. William was a baker from Scotland who was murdered on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.18 The monks of Rochester enshrined him in the cathedral church, and his cult resulted in substantial offerings to the church. In addition to citations of his martyrdom in the annals and history relating to Rochester, only one account of St. William is known to survive in a brief vita added to Tinmouth's collection in the first printed edition.' The author has little information to tell us about William, as evidenced by the fact that he spends time elucidating the names of Rochester and of Canterbury, William's destination when he was murdered. Although William's sanctity was evident from the time of death, the author cites only one miracle, that of a woman freed from insanity after finding the martyred body. Nothing is known of the circumstances surrounding the composition of this vita, though presumably it was written at Rochester.

Turning to medieval calendars of feast days, a group of at least eight Augustinian calendars associated with Rochester diocese survives, though none for the Cathedral and its Benedictine priory. One of the calendars dates from the early thirteenth century, while the remainder are from the first half of the fifteenth century. Both Augustinian priories in the Rochester diocese, Lesnes and Tonbridge, are represented by a calendar. Beyond these, no specific provenance can be assigned to the remaining calendars. We know from records that hospitals at Sevenoaks and St. Nicholas, Strood, an almshouse al Sevenoaks, and a foundation of Knights Hospitallers at West Peckham probably followed the Augustinian rule. But the Augustinians were a relatively unstructured order, and evidence is sparse for chapels, parish churches, and cells attached to these foundations."' The calendars, which occur mainly in Books of Hours, show the expected Sarum feasts and a predominance of Augustinian over Benedictine celebrations," Three Rochester saints appear:

Romanus at 30th March; Ithamar at 10th June; and Paulinus at 10th October.

Although, as we have seen, Romanus was not generally known as a saint, the fact that he is designated episcopus in the calendars, on a date unknown for any other Romanus, leads to the identification with the second bishop of Rochester.

Paulinus is accorded a red-letter day in six of the calendars, a further link to Rochester. It happens that the fifteenth-century calendars are roughly contemporary with the term of the first and only Augustinian Bishop of Rochester, John Lowe, who served from 1444-67, and therefore may have created a demand for such devotional materials." Interestingly, there is no mention of St. William in these calendars.

From the time of Bede, then the saintly bishops of Rochester were recognised for their contributions to the progress of Christianizing England, especially Kent.

Today we lack the kind of documentation that better-known English saints enjoy, but we can see that, within the Rochester diocese, celebrations of the early Rochester saints remained active through the Middle Ages. Like many foundations, post-Conquest Rochester designated memorials to its saints in the process of re-building, and further took advantage of a martyrdom to offer a shrine for pilgrims. It is a bit surprising that Bishop Gundulf, who helped to establish the Benedictine foundation, made numerous donations to the Cathedral priory, and undertook a major building program, never achieved the status of saint. He is the subject of a vita and of a poem/eulogy in the Rochester history (fol. 110r) but he seems never to have achieved sainthood even in the popular mind. Lesser known but legendary figures associated with St.

Augustine's mission and Rochester's early history, together with a local martyr, comprise the sum of Rochester's local saints during the Middle Ages.

Mary P. Richards

Notes

  1. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Bertram Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969). References are to book and chapter numbers.

  2. See, for example, the note to it. 9 in J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), p. 65.

  3. Charters of Rochester, ed. A. Campbell (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 12.

  4. Ibid., p. 21.

  5. David A.E. Pelteret, Catalogue of English Post-Conquest Vernacular Documents Woodbridge:

Boydell Press, 1990), pp. 75 and 81.

6. "...et in ecclesia cathedrale Roffense sepelitur miraculis deruscando."

7. Our sources for this information are the Vita Gundulfi edited by Rodney Thomson in The Life of Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 7 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1977), pp. 41-42, and the prologue to the Miracles of St. Ithamar published by Denis Bethell in "The Miracles of St. Ithamar," Analecta Bollandiana 89 (1971): 421-37, at 429

According to the latter source, Ithamar's remains were translated again by Bishop John I (1125-37) after his eyes were healed by the saint, pp. 431-32.

21

8.See

N.R.

4. Sco NI. Ker Catalogue, * Ma, useries Containing. Anglo Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1957), p. 366; Kenneth Sisam, "MSS. Bodley 340 and 342: AElfric's Catholic Homilies," as reprinted in his Studies in Old English Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), pp. 152-52; and Died Scrags, "The Corpus of Anonymous Lives and Their Manuscript Context, p. 212, in Holy Men an Holy Women: Old English Prose Sains" Lives and Their Contexts, ed. Paul E. Szarmach (Albany

State University of New York Press, 1996).

  1. Richard Sharpe, "The Setting of St. Augustine's Translation," pp. 10-11, in Canterbury and the Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars 1066-1109, ed. Richard Eales and Richard Sharpe (London: Hambledon Press, 1995).

  2. Tynmouth's collection is published as Nova Legenda Anglie, ed. Carl Horstman (Oxford.

Clarendon Press, 1901), two volumes, hereafter abbreviated as N L A. The vita of Paulinus appears on pp. 312-15.

  1. See Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. Iviii, for a brief description of the manuscript (London, British Library, MS. Harley 3680). The tract is printed by F. Liebermann in Die Heiligen Englands (Hannover: Hahn'sche Buchhandlung, 1889), with the reference to Paulinus on p. 16. The Rochester copy is fragmentary, however, and now breaks off prior to Paulinus.

  2. These are printed in Francis Wormald's English Kalendars Before A.D. 1100 (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1934), vol. 72, and English Benedictine Kalendars After A.D. 1100 (London:

Henry Bradshaw Society, 1938 and 1933-34) as vols. 77 and 81.

  1. See Mary P. Richards, Texts and Their Traditions in the Medieval Library of Rochester Cathedral Priory (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1988). Transactions vol. 78, pt. 3, p. 37, item #148.

  2. The treatise on Ithamar is published in Bethell. For a full description of the contents of the manuscript, see M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912), pp. 358-63. No other

  3. Rochester saints appear in the collection.

  4. Richards, pp. 37-38, items #147 and #169.

  5. N LA, p. 95.

  6. N LA, pp. 96-97.

  7. Anne Oakley, "Rochester Priory, 1185-1540," p. 38, in Faith and Fabric: A History of Rochester Cathedral 604-1994, ed. Nigel Yates and Paul A. Welsby (Woodbridge: Boydell Press and Friends of Rochester Cathedral, 1996).

  8. N LA, pp. 457-59.

  9. Mary P. Richards, "Some Fifteenth-Century Calendars for Rochester Diocese," Archaelogia Cantiana 102 (1985): 71-85.

  10. Ibid., p. 72.

  11. Ibid., p. 74.

  12. Ibid., p. 75-76.