Our Patron Saint
St Dunstan, the son of Heorstan, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a pious woman named Cynethryth, was born at the start of the 10th century near Glastonbury. This was an unsettled period in British history, as Northern Europe and the British Isles had been subject to numerous Viking invasions over a period of several centuries and many coastal communities and monasteries had been destroyed.
As a young boy, Dunstan was introduced to the Irish scholars who visited the sanctuary at Glastonbury. After recovering from a near fatal illness, believed to be leprosy, he pursued his studies with a zeal for both intellectual knowledge and manual skills.
He became well known for his religious devotion and was summoned by his uncle Athelm, first Bishop of Wells, then Archbishop of Canterbury, to enter his service.
He soon became a favourite of King Aethelstan, which aroused the envy of the royal court. Dunstan was accused of studying magic and heathen literature and his enemies bound and gagged him, and threw him into a filthy pit. He escaped to Winchester and entered the service of the Bishop, another uncle, St Alphege ‘the Bald’. Following an illness caused by his treatment at court, he was persuaded by Alphege to become a monk.
Following his ordination by his uncle in 934, he returned to Glastonbury and built a cell alongside the church of St. Mary. This cell was tiny: only 5 ft (150 cm) long by 2 ft 6 ins (75 cm) wide. One recounts that during this period, the devil tempted him, but St Dunstan seized Satan’s face with his smith’s tongs. If you see a depiction of a bishop-saint with smith’s tongs, there’s a good chance it is St Dunstan, and this is true for our statue of him in the church Narthex.
In 940, following the death of King Aethelstan, Dunstan was summoned by the new king, Eadmund, and made his counsellor, but once again was driven from the court by jealous courtiers. Around 942, after narrowly escaping death while hunting above Cheddar Gorge, King Eadmund remembered the harsh treatment that Dunstan had received and hurried to Glastonbury, where he took Dunstan by the hand, gave him a kiss of peace and led him to the abbot’s throne.
As Abbot of Glastonbury, Dunstan set about reforming monastic life and rebuilding the abbey. He rebuilt the church of St Peter, the cloister, and reestablished the monastic enclosure. Two short years later, King Eadmund was assassinated and was succeeded by Eadred. As Abbot of Glastonbury, Dunstan was appointed guardian of the royal treasure. The new king encouraged the spread of regular Christian observance and the expulsion of heathendom. Dunstan became deeply involved in secular politics and incurred the enmity of the West Saxon nobles for denouncing their immorality and for urging peace with the Danes.
In 955, Eadred died and was succeeded by Eadwig. Eadwig was very different from his predecessor and under the influence of two unprincipled women. After the coronation Dunstan discovered the young king with his two harlots and was again forced to flee from the court. This time he took refuge at a Benedictine monastery in Ghent. He stayed there for a year, during which time his vision of Benedictine perfection was influenced by reformed continental monasticism.
In 957, the nobles drove King Eadwig out, unable to endure his excesses. His successor, King Eadgar, asked Dunstan to return and appointed him Archbishop of Winchester. He received the pallium from Pope John XII in Rome in 960.
With his authority as Archbishop, Dunstan pushed forward reforms of Church and State, to maintain order and respect for the law, and rebuilt many of the monasteries destroyed by the Danish invaders. Priests were required to live chastely, teach their parishioners the Catholic faith and handicrafts. The kindgom prospered under a peace that few had experienced before.
King Eadgar died in 975 and was succeeded by his eldest son Eadward. His stepmother disputed the succession, preferring her son Æthelred to take the throne, and the shadow of civil war stalked the kingdom. King Eadward was assasinated at Corfe Castle and his step brother Æthelred ‘the Unready’ became king. At his coronation, Dunstan gave him a solemn warning of the misfortunes which were to befall his reign.
Dunstan’s influence under the new monarch began to wane and he retired to Canterbury to teach at the cathedral school. He died on Sunday 19 May 988, three days after the Ascension Day Vigil. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his shrine was destroyed during the Reformation.
St Dunstan was a noted musician: he played the harp and composed several hymns, notably Kyrie Rex splendens. He was a skilled metal worker, and also illuminated manuscripts. He is the patron of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewellers. At the Synod of Winchester in 1029, St Dunstan’s Feast was ordered to be kept solemnly throughout England on 19 May.
(Catholic Encyclopaedia)