St.
Mellitus at St Mary The Virgin's Church, Prittlewell
Ritratto
di San Mellito nella vetrata della chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Essex
Saint Mellitus
Évêque de
Cantorbéry (+ 624)
ou Mellit.
Moine de Rome que le pape
saint Grégoire
le Grand envoya en Angleterre. Il fut sans doute le premier évêque de
Londres et fonda le monastère de Westminster. Dans cette époque encore troublée
par la lutte entre le christianisme naissant chez les Anglo-saxons et le
paganisme, saint Mellit dut se réfugier durant quelque temps en France. Il
revint en Angleterre et fut alors évêque de Cantorbery.
À Cantorbéry en
Angleterre, l’an 624, saint Mellit, évêque. Abbé à Rome, il fut envoyé en
Angleterre par le pape saint Grégoire le Grand avec d’autres moines pour
renforcer l’action de saint Augustin, qui l’ordonna évêque des Saxons de l’est
avec son siège à Londres, et après bien des tribulations, il accéda au siège de
Cantorbéry.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1030/Saint-Mellitus.html
Saint Mellit (ou
Mellitus ou Mélec)
Abbé à Rome puis évêque
de Cantorbéry
Mellit était abbé à Rome. En 601, le pape Grégoire le Grand l'envoya, avec d'autres moines, renforcer la mission auprès des Angles du premier archevêque de Cantorbéry, Augustin.
Une erreur de navigation
le fit arriver chez les Saxons. Augustin l'ordonna évêque des Saxons de l'Est
avec son siège à Londres.
En 616, Mellitus fut
chassé de Londres par les fils païens de Sæberth et se réfugia en Gaule. Le
successeur d'Augustin, Laurent, le rappela en Angleterre. En 619, Mellit lui
succéda comme troisième archevêque de Cantorbéry.
En 623, il sauva
miraculeusement la ville et l'église de Cantorbéry d'un feu naissant : conduit
au sein des flammes, il fit changer le vent de direction. Saint Bède le
Vénérable, dans son Histoire ecclésiastique du peuple anglais, loue l'esprit
sensé de Mellit.
Mellit mourut à Cantorbéry
en 624. Son culte en Bretagne, apporté sous le vocable de Mélec par des Bretons
revenus d'Angleterre en 937, serait à l'origine de la ville de Plumelec (qui
signifie « paroisse de Mélec »).
evangelizo.org ©Evangelizo.org
2001-2015
SOURCE : http://levangileauquotidien.org/main.php?language=FR&module=saintfeast&id=3575&fd=0
St
Mellitus, Church Road, London W7
St
Mellitus, Church Road, London W7 - Lady chapel
À notre fils bien-aimé
l’abbé Mellitus, dans le pays des Francs, Grégoire serviteur des
serviteurs de Dieu.
Après le départ de la
petite troupe rassemblée par nos soins, qui voyage avec toi, nous avons été
plongés dans une vive inquiétude, en l’absence de nouvelles sur le succès de
votre voyage. Une fois donc que Dieu tout-puissant vous aura menés auprès de
notre très révéré frère l’évêque Augustin, dites-lui ce que, après avoir
longuement médité au sujet des Angles, j’ai décidé : qu’il ne faut en
aucun cas détruire les temples des idoles (fana idolorum) chez le peuple en
question, mais seulement les idoles qui s’y trouvent ; que l’on bénisse de
l’eau et que les temples en question en soient aspergés ; enfin qu’on
bâtisse des autels et qu’on y dépose des reliques.
En effet, si les temples
dont nous parlons ont été bien construits, il faut impérativement qu’on les
transforme (commutari) pour qu’ils passent du culte des démons à l’observance
du vrai Dieu, afin que lorsque la population verra que ses temples justement ne
sont pas détruits, elle quitte son erreur et reconnaissant enfin et adorant le
vrai Dieu, elle accoure avec plus de confiance en ces temples auxquels elle est
habituée.
De même, comme ces
populations ont coutume de sacrifier de nombreux bœufs aux démons, il faut
transformer (inmutari) aussi cet usage en solennité chrétienne : le jour
où une église est dédiée à un saint ou bien pour l’anniversaire des martyrs,
dont les reliques y sont déposées, qu’ils se fassent des huttes de branchages
autour de ces anciens temples transformés en églises et qu’ils y célèbrent la
fête par des banquets religieux. Que ce ne soit plus au Diable qu’ils immolent
des animaux, mais que dorénavant ce soit à la gloire de Dieu qu’ils tuent les
animaux qu’ils mangent et qu’ils rendent grâce de leur satiété à Celui qui
donne tout, de sorte que par ces quelques joies extérieures qui leur sont
conservées, ils puissent consentir plus facilement aux joies intérieures.
Il ne fait aucun doute en
effet qu’il est impossible de faire brusquement table rase dans des esprits
obtus, car aussi celui qui veut escalader un sommet, ne s’élève pas par bonds
mais progressivement pas à pas. Ainsi, s’il est vrai que notre Seigneur se
révéla au peuple d’Israël en Égypte, il leur permit toutefois de conserver pour
son propre culte l’usage des sacrifices rendus jusque là au Diable, puisqu’Il
ordonna qu’on immolât des animaux dans les sacrifices qu’on Lui rendait, afin
qu’en changeant leurs cœurs, ils perdissent certains aspects du sacrifice mais
qu’ils en gardassent d’autres (Lev 7,2-7). De la sorte même si c’étaient les mêmes
animaux qu’ils avaient l’habitude de sacrifier, maintenant qu’ils les
sacrifiaient au vrai Dieu et non plus à des idoles, ce n’étaient plus les mêmes
sacrifices. Voilà ce qu’il faut, très cher, que tu dises à notre frère
Augustin, afin qu’il juge par lui-même, lui qui est présentement en place
là-bas, quelle est la meilleure façon de tout organiser. Que Dieu te garde, mon
fils bien-aimé.
Donnée le quinze des
calendes de juillet, en la dix-neuvième année du règne de notre souverain le
très pieux Auguste Maurice Tibère, la dix-huitième année après son consulat, en
la quatrième indiction.
Bède le Vénérable, Histoire
ecclésiastique du peuple anglais, livre I, ch. 30. Paris, Les Belles
Lettres, 1999. vol.1, pp. 65-67.
Banner
from St Paul's Cathedral. This side features St Mellitus,
who became Bishop of London in 604 AD, the first after
the Romans departed. It was designed to be hung with both sides visible. Treasures
of Gold and Silver Wire exhibition at Guildhall Art Gallery, London
Also
known as
Mellitus of London
Profile
Abbot of
Saint Andrew’s Abbey on
the Coelian Hill in Rome, Italy.
Sent by Pope Saint Gregory
the Great as a missionary to England in 601.
Worked for three years in Kent. Bishop of London, England in 604. Exiled to France for
refusing to give Communion to apostates.
Recalled to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury, England in 619.
24
April 624 of
natural causes
against
gout (he suffered from it, and pilgrims to Canterbury who
had it were directed to his tomb)
in England
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Mellitus of
Canterbury“. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 January 2024. Web. 31 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mellitus-of-canterbury/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mellitus-of-canterbury/
(Saint) Bishop (April 24)
(7th
century) A Roman monk, one of the band of missionaries sent
by Saint Gregory to
aid Saint Augustine in
the work he had begun some years before in Kent, and to further spread the
Gospel among the Anglo-Saxons. Saint Augustine consecrated
him Bishop of
the East Saxons, with his See in London.
Trouble with the Pagan Princes of
Essex drove him into exile into France;
but he soon forced his way back to his work, and on the death of Saint Laurence,
succeeded him in the Archbishopric of Canterbury.
He governed the nascent English Church with wonderful success, despite grave
bodily infirmities. He passed away A.D. 624.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Mellitus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
24 July 2015. Web. 31 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-mellitus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-mellitus/
St. Mellitus of
Canterbury
Feastday: April 24
Death: 624
Archbishop of Canterbury from
619. In 601, he was sent from St. Andrew’s Monastery, Rome, to England by Pope
St. Gregory I the Great. Mellitus spent three years as a missionary in Kent,
England, aiding St. Augustine. He also became the first bishop of
London and was responsible for converting the King of the East Saxons. The
Saxons, however, exiled him in 616 over some conflict, but Mellitus returned to
England and was named archbishop of
Canterbury, in succession to St. Lawrence. Tradition states that he saved Canterbury from
a disastrous fire with his prayers.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5070
St
Mellitus Catholic Church, Tollington Park, London Borough of Islington, Greater London
St
Mellitus Catholic Church, Tollington Park, London Borough of Islington, Greater London
Mellitus of Canterbury,
OSB B (RM)
Died at Canterbury,
England, on April 24, 624. Saint Mellitus was a Roman abbot, probably of Saint
Andrew's Monastery on the Coelian Hill. He is one of the second band of monks
sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to England in 601 in the wake of Saint Augustine.
Gregory sent him a famous letter that modified the pope's earlier ruling to
Augustine. Through Mellitus, Gregory told Augustine not to destroy the pagan
temples of the Saxons but only their idols. The temples, he said, should be
converted into churches and their feasts taken over and directed to Christian
purposes, such as dedications. This directive was important for the whole
direction of missionary activity.
In 604, after three years
of mission work in Kent, Mellitus was consecrated the first bishop of the East
Saxons, with his see in London. As bishop, Mellitus travelled to Rome to
consult with Pope Saint Boniface IV. While in Rome Mellitus participated in a
synod of Italian bishops concerning the life of monks and their relationship to
bishops. The decrees of the synod he carried back to England, together with
letters from the pope to Archbishop Saint Laurence of Canterbury and King
Ethelbert of Kent, who had built the first church of St. Paul in London.
Mellitus converted the
king of the East Saxons, Sabert (Sigebert or Saeberht). Unfortunately, his
royal sons did not follow suit. When Sabert died about 616, his three pagan
sons (Sexred, Seward, and Sigebert) succeeded him and drove Mellitus out; for
they had asked him to give them the "white bread" (the Eucharist),
and he had refused because they were not baptized (or had apostatized according
to some). Mellitus withdrew to Gaul for a year with Saint Justus of Rochester,
who had experienced a similar setback in Kent.
Laurence recalled them both.
Soon after Mellitus's return in 619 he was made archbishop of Canterbury, in
619, to succeed Saint Laurence. Bede says of him that he suffered from gout but
that in spirit he was healthy and active, ever reaching out to the things of
God: "Noble by birth, he was yet nobler in mind." Bede attributes the
change of wind that saved the church of the Four Crowned Martyrs in Canterbury
from incineration to Mellitus's being carried into the path of the flames to
pray. It was Saint Mellitus who built Saint Mary's church at Canterbury, of
which a fragment remains outside the east end of the foundations of the abbey
church of SS. Peter and Paul (now Saint Augustine's).
The feast of Saint
Mellitus was observed on numerous English calendars before and after the Norman
conquest. He is also mentioned in the commemoration of the dead in the Stowe
Missal, together with Laurence and Justus. His relics can be found near those
of Augustine in the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury
(Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
Saint Mellitus is
portrayed in art as Saint Peter brings him a salmon to present to the king
(Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0424.shtml
St. Mellitus
Bishop of London and
third Archbishop of Canterbury,
d. 24 April, 624. He was the leader of the second band of missionaries
whom St.
Gregory sent from Rome to
join St.
Augustine at Canterbury in
601. Venerable
Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, vii) describes him as of noble birth, and as he
is styled abbot by
the pope (Epp.
Gregorii, xi, 54, 59), it is thought he may have been Abbot of
the Monastery of St. Andrew on the Coelian Hill, to which both St.
Gregory and St.
Augustine belonged. Several commendatory epistles of the pope recommending
Mellitus and his companions to various Gallic bishops have
been preserved (Epp., xi, 54-62). With the band he sent also "all things
needed for divine worship and the Church's service,
viz. sacred
vessels and altar cloths, vestments for priests and clerics,
and also relics of
the holy apostles and martyrs,
with many books" (Bede, "Hist. Eccl.", I, 29).
The consecration of
Mellitus as bishop by
Augustine took place soon after his arrival in England,
and his first missionary efforts were among the East Saxons. Their king was
Sabert, nephew to Ethelbert, King of Kent, and by his support, Mellitus was
able to establish his see in London,
the East Saxon capital, and build there the church of
St. Paul. On the death of Sabert his sons, who had refused Christianity,
gave permission to their people to worship idols once more. Moreover, on seeing
Mellitus celebrating Mass one
day, the young princes demanded that he should give them also the white bread
which he had been wont to give their father. When the saint answered
them that this was impossible until they had received Christian
baptism, he was banished from the kingdom. Mellitus went to Kent, where
similar difficulties had ensued upon the death of Ethelbert, and thence retired
to Gaul about the year 616.
After an absence of about
a year, Mellitus was recalled to Kent by Laurentius, Augustine's successor
in the See
of Canterbury. Matters had improved in that kingdom owing to the conversion
of the new king Eadbald, but Mellitus was never able to regain possession of
his own See of London. In 619, Laurentius died, and Mellitus was chosen archbishop in
his stead. He appears never to have received the pallium,
though he retained the see for
five years-a fact which may account for his not consecrating any bishops.
During this time, he suffered constantly from ill-health. He consecrated a
church to the Blessed
Mother of God in the monastery of
SS. Peter and Paul at Canterbury,
and legend attributes to him the foundation of the Abbey of St. Peter at Westminster,
but this is almost certainly incorrect. Among the many miracles recorded
of him is the quelling of a great fire at Canterbury which
threatened to destroy the entire city. The saint, although too ill to move, had
himself carried to the spot where the fire was raging and, in answer to
his prayer,
a strong wind arose which bore the flames southwards away from the city.
Mellitus was buried in the monastery of
SS. Peter and Paul, afterwards St.
Augustine's, Canterbury. Some relics of
the saint were
preserved in London in
1298. The most reliable account of his life is that given by Bede in
"Hist. Eccl.", I, 29, 30; II, 3-7. Elmham in his "Historia
Monasterii S. Augustini Cantuar.", edited by Hardwick, gives many
additional details, but the authenticity of these is more than questionable.
His feast is
observed on April 24.
Sources
BEDE, Hist. Eccl.,
I, xxix, xxx; II, iii-vii, in P.L., XCV; Acta SS., April, III, 280;
BARONIUS, Ann. Eccl. (Rome, 1599), ad an. 624; CAPGRAVE, Nova
legenda Angliae (London, 1516), 228; HADDON AND STUBBS, Councils and
Eccl. Documents relating to Great Britain, III (Oxford, 1871), 62-71; HARDY, Descriptive
catalogue of MSS. relating to the history of Great Britain and Ireland, I
(Rolls Series, London, 1862), i, 219-220; MABILLON, Acta Sanctorum Bened.
(Paris, 1669), II, 90-94; STANTON, Menology of England and Wales (London,
1887), 178; CHALLONER, Britannia Sancta, I (London, 1745), 255-258.
Huddleston, Gilbert.
"St. Mellitus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1911. 23 Apr. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10168b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Kenneth M. Caldwell. Dedicated
to the memory of Most Rev. John R. Keating, Bishop of Arlington.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10168b.htm
Stone
marking the site of Mellitus's grave in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury
April 24
St. Mellitus, Archbishop
of Canterbury, Confessor
HE was a Roman abbot,
whom St. Gregory sent over hither in 601, at the head of a second colony of
missioners to assist St. Austin, by whom he was ordained the first bishop of
London, or of the East-Saxons; baptized Sebert the King, with a great part of his
nation: and by his liberality, in 604, laid the foundation of the cathedral
church of St. Paul’s, and, in 609, of the monastery of St. Peter, at Thorney,
which was rebuilt by King Edgar, and again most sumptuously by St. Edward the
Confessor, and is now called Westminster. This Christian and learned prince,
dying about 616, left his dominions to his three sons, Sexred, Seward, and
Sigebert, whom he had not been so happy as to recover from their idolatry,
though they had kept their heathenism private during their father’s life. After
his death they declared themselves Pagans, and gave their subjects the liberty
of returning to their former idolatrous worship. Yet when they saw our holy
bishop at the altar, and giving the blessed eucharist to the people, they would
not be satisfied unless he would give them some of that fine white bread, as
they called it, he was used to give their father. He told them their request
should be granted, on condition they would be baptized as their father was; but
this they would not hear of, alleging they had no need of baptism, but still
insisted on receiving the consecrated bread; and on the bishop’s refusal to
gratify them in their unreasonable request, they banished him their dominions.
These three princes, after a reign of six years, going on an expedition against
the West-Saxons, were all three slain in battle. But though the chief promoters
of Paganism were taken off, their people, being inured again to idolatry, did
not return to the faith before the year 628, according to the Saxon annals. St.
Mellitus passed over to France, but soon returned, and upon the death of St.
Laurence, in 619, was translated to the see of Canterbury, being the third
archbishop of that see. Whilst sick of the gout, he, by his prayers, stopped a furious
conflagration which had already laid no small part of that city in ashes, and
which no hands had been able to get under. He died April the 24th, 624. See
Bede, Le Neve’s Fasti, Goscelin, and Capgrave.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/242.html
The Story of St Mellitus
24 April is the
anniversary of the death in 624 of Mellitus, first Bishop of London in the
Anglo-Saxon period and third Archbishop of Canterbury. Mellitus arrived in
England in 601, as part of the second wave of missionaries sent by Pope Gregory
to support Augustine in his attempt to convert the Anglo-Saxons. With him came
Justus (about whom I wrote here)
and Paulinus (whose adventures in Northumbria you can read about here).
Mellitus seems to have been the most senior of the party, since he is the
addressee of the famous papal letter in which Gregory told the missionaries not
to destroy the Anglo-Saxons' pagan temples, customs and sacrifices, but to
replace them.
Thanks to Bede, we have a
detailed account of Mellitus' activities once he arrived in Kent, and of the
many trials and tribulations of the new church. Bede is always relevant, but
between the missionaries' attempts to reach out to Scotland, trouble between
church and state, and an argument about who can receive Communion, his story of
Christianity's earliest years in England has a particularly 'ripped from the
headlines' feeling this week...
We begin in Book II of
the Historia Ecclesiastica (quotations are taken from A History
of the English Church and People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price (Penguin, 1974),
ch.3-7):
In the year of our Lord
604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain, consecrated two bishops, Mellitus and
Justus. Mellitus was appointed to preach in the province of the East Saxons,
which is separated from Kent by the river Thames, and bounded on the east by
the sea. Its capital is the city of London, which stands on the banks of the
Thames, and is a trading centre for many nations who visit it by land and sea. At
this time Sabert,
Ethelbert's nephew through his sister Ricula, ruled the province under the
suzerainty of Ethelbert, who, as already stated, governed all the English
peoples as far north as the Humber. When this province too had received the
faith through the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built a church
dedicated to the holy Apostle Paul in the city of London, which he appointed as
the episcopal see of Mellitus and his successors.
Augustine also
consecrated Justus as bishop of a Kentish city which the English call
Hrofescaestir after an early chieftain named Hrof. This lies nearly twenty-four
miles west of Canterbury, and a church in honour of St. Andrew the Apostle was
built here by King Ethelbert, who made many gifts to the bishops of both these
churches as well as to Canterbury; he later added lands and property for the
maintenance of the bishop's household.
So far, so good for the
new church, with Augustine established in Canterbury, Mellitus in London and
Justus in Rochester. The church founded for Mellitus has since been rebuilt
many times over, of course, but it still bears the name by which its first
bishop knew it: St Paul's.
Augustine died in 604 and
was buried at what is now St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury:
He was succeeded by
Laurence, a member of the original Augustinian mission, who not only sought to
consolidate the new faith's position in England but also tried to extend it to
Scotland, writing to the bishops of the British church to urge them to
'maintain the unity of the universal church' by following Roman practice. ('The
present state of affairs shows how little he succeeded', says Bede.) But the
new church in England was not secure, and was dangerously dependent on the
personal support of King Ethelbert - which became a problem when Ethelbert died
in 616:
The death of Ethelbert
and the accession of his son Eadbald proved to be a severe setback to the
growth of the young church; for not only did [Eadbald] refuse to accept the
faith of Christ, but he was also guilty of such fornication as the Apostle Paul
mentions as being unheard of even among the heathen, in that he took his
father's wife as his own. His immorality was an incentive to those who, either
out of fear or favour to the king his father, had submitted to the discipline
of faith and chastity, to revert to their former uncleanness. However, this
apostate king did not escape the scourge of God's punishment, for he was
subject to frequent fits of insanity and possessed by an evil spirit.
The death of the
Christian King Sabert of the East Saxons aggravated the upheaval; for when he
departed for the heavenly kingdom he left three sons, all pagans, to inherit
his earthly kingdom. These were quick to profess idolatry, which they had
pretended to abandon during the lifetime of their father, and encouraged the
people to return to the old gods. It is told that when they saw Bishop Mellitus
offering solemn Mass in church, they said with barbarous presumption: "Why
do you not offer us the white bread which you used to give to our father Saba
(for so they used to call him), while you continue to give it to the people in
church?" The bishop answered, "If you will be washed in the waters of
salvation as your father was, you may share in the consecrated bread, as he
did; but so long as you reject the water of life, you are quite unfit to
receive the Bread of Life." They retorted, "We refuse to enter that
font and see no need for it; but we want to be strengthened with this
bread." The bishop then carefully and repeatedly explained that this was
forbidden, and that no one was admitted to receive the most holy communion
without the most holy cleansing of baptism. At last they grew very angry, and
said, "If you will not oblige us by granting such an easy request, you
shall no longer remain in our kingdom." And they drove him into exile, and
ordered all his followers to leave their borders.
This is interesting, and
not only because it provides what may be the first recorded instance of an
Anglo-Saxon nickname ('Saba' for 'Sæberht')! For all that Bede calls the sons'
demand 'barbarous presumption', it's not surprising that they would struggle to
understand Mellitus' refusal to give them the 'white bread' he gave their
father, with its apparently magical 'strengthening' power.
After his expulsion,
Mellitus came to Kent to consult with his fellow-bishops Laurence and Justus on
the best course of action; and they decided it would be better for all of them
to return to their own country and serve God in freedom, rather than to remain
impotently among heathens who had rejected the faith. Mellitus and Justus left
first and settled in Gaul to await the outcome of events. But the kings who had
driven out the herald of truth did not remain long unpunished for their worship
of demons, for they and their army fell in battle against the West Saxons.
Nevertheless, the fate of the instigators did not cause their people to abandon
their evil practices, or to return to the simple faith and love to be found in
Christ alone.
This was a tipping-point
for the new church, and could have been the end of Augustine's mission - but
for a miraculous dream:
On the very night before
Laurence too was to follow Mellitus and Justus from Britain, he ordered his bed
to be placed in the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, of which we
have spoken several times. Here after long and fervent prayers for the sadly
afflicted church he lay down and fell asleep. At dead of night, blessed Peter,
Prince of the Apostles, appeared to him, and set about him for a long time with
a heavy scourge, demanding with apostolic sternness why he was abandoning the
flock entrusted to his care, and to which of the shepherds he would commit
Christ's sheep left among the wolves when he fled. "Have you forgotten my
example?" asked Peter. "For the sake of the little ones whom Christ
entrusted to me as proof of his love, I suffered chains, blows, imprisonment,
and pain. Finally I endured death, the death of crucifixion, at the hands of
unbelievers and enemies of Christ, so that at last I might be crowned with
him." Deeply moved by the words and scourging of blessed Peter, Christ's
servant Laurence sought audience with the king [Eadbald] early next morning,
and removing his garment, showed him the marks of the lash. The king was astounded,
and enquired who had dared to scourge so eminent a man; and when he learned
that it was for his own salvation that the archbishop had suffered so severely
at the hands of Christ's own Apostle, he was greatly alarmed. He renounced
idolatry, gave up his unlawful wife, accepted the Christian faith, and was
baptised, henceforward promoting the welfare of the church with every means at
his disposal.
The king also sent to
Gaul and recalled Mellitus and Justus, giving them free permission to return
and set their churches in order; so, the year after they left, they returned.
Justus came back to his own city of Rochester, but the people of London
preferred their own idolatrous priests, and refused to accept Mellitus as
bishop. And since the king's authority in the realm was not so effective as
that of his father, he was powerless to restore the bishop to his see against
the refusal and resistance of the pagans.
Bede makes it clear that
the new church could do nothing without the support of the king, and that where
the king's authority stopped, there was nothing the bishops could do. Laurence
died in 619 and was buried near Augustine, and Mellitus, unable to return to
London, succeeded him as Archbishop of Canterbury. Bede tells us:
Although Mellitus became
crippled with the gout, his sound and ardent mind overcame his troublesome
infirmity, ever reaching above earthly things to those that are heavenly in
love and devotion. Noble by birth, he was even nobler in mind.
I record one among many
instances of his virtue. One day the city of Canterbury was set on fire through
carelessness, and the spreading flames threatened to destroy it. Water
failed to extinguish the fire, and already a considerable area of the city was
destroyed. As the raging flames were sweeping rapidly towards his
residence, the bishop, trusting in the help of God where man's help had failed,
ordered himself to be carried into the path of its leaping and darting advance.
In the place where the flames were pressing most fiercely stood the church of
the Four Crowned Martyrs. Hither the bishop was borne by his attendants, and
here by his prayers this infirm man averted the danger which all the efforts of
strong men had been powerless to check. For the southerly wind, which had been
spreading the flames throughout the city, suddenly veered to the north, thus
saving the places that lay in their path; then it dropped altogether, so that
the fires burned out and died. Thus Mellitus, the man of God, afire with love
for him, because it had been his practice by constant prayers and teaching to
fend off storms of spiritual evil from himself and his people, was deservedly
empowered to save them from material winds and flames.
The site of this lost
'church of the Four Crowned Martyrs' in Canterbury isn't known, but if it was
near the Archbishop's Palace it was probably close to the site of the
present-day St Alphege's Church:
Bede concludes:
Having ruled the church
five years, Mellitus likewise departed to the heavenly kingdom in the reign of
King Eadbald, and was laid to rest with his predecessors in the same monastery
church of the holy Apostle Peter on the twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord 624.
Along with Augustine and
his other companions, Mellitus came to be venerated as a saint, at least at St
Augustine's Abbey.
SOURCE : http://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-story-of-st-mellitus.html
San Mellito di Canterbury Arcivescovo
Martirologio Romano: A
Canterbury in Inghilterra, san Mellíto, vescovo, che, mandato dal papa san
Gregorio Magno in Inghilterra come abate e ordinato poi da sant’Agostino come
vescovo dei Sassoni orientali, giunse, dopo molte avversità, alla illustre sede
di Canterbury.
Nella primavera del 601, in risposta ad un appello di Agostino, il capo della missione inviata da papa Gregorio Magno in Inghilterra, Mellito fu mandato in quella nazione unitamente a Giusto, Paolino e Rufiniano. Egli era alla testa dei nuovi missionari e portò con sé il pallio per Agostino e tutto ciò che era necessario al servizio della Chiesa, compresi i libri.
Non si sa quanto tempo impiegarono per raggiungere l’Inghilterra, ma il 17 giugno 601 a Roma, Gregorio era preoccupato di non avere ancora ricevuto loro notizie. Scrivendo all’abate Mellitus (probabilmente ex-abate di sant'Andrea a Roma) in questa data, il papa dava ulteriori istruzioni per Agostino a Canterbury; Gregorio era convinto che i metodi adottati dai missionari dovevano tenere conto del culto pagano profondamente radicato in Inghilterra e adattarsi ad esso e chiedeva, quindi, ad Agostino di «distruggere gli idoli, ma che i templi fossero aspersi d’acqua benedetta, che fossero innalzati altari e che in essi si ponessero reliquie».
Cinque giorni dopo il papa scriveva allo stesso Agostino chiedendogli di
consacrare in Inghilterra dodici vescovi: il primo fra questi fa Mellito.
Qualche tempo prima del 24 maggio 604, data della morte di Agostino, Mellito
divenne primo vescovo dei Sassoni Orientali, la cui capitale era Londra. Più
tardi, quando Mellito ne ebbe convertita la popolazione con le sue preghiere,
il re Etelberto del Kent costruì la chiesa di san Paolo a Londra, eleggendola
sede episcopale di Mellito e dei suoi successori.
Una cosa che colpì particolarmente i missionari gregoriani in Inghilterra fu il
rilevare che le chiese britanniche e celtiche si discostavano dagli usi romani
sotto molti aspetti. Agostino, Lorenzo, probabilmente Mellito ed i nuovi
arrivati avevano potuto osservare da vicino la Chiesa inglese a Bangor, nel
Galles settentrionale, nel 602 o 603, durante il grande convegno che qui
discusse le differenze tra gli usi celtici e quelli romani. Poco prima della
morte di Agostino, l’intransigenza della Chiesa celtica li costrinse a prendere
contatti con Colombano in Gallia (non si sa come e quando) e soprattutto con il
vescovo Dagano Lugid di Ath-Dagàin (contea di Wicklow, Irlanda).
Dagano, che essi probabilmente incontrarono quando era di passaggio per
l’Inghilterra durante il suo viaggio a Roma intrapreso nell'estate del 603 per
portare a Gregorio la Regola di san Molua, infatti, li trattò con non comune
inciviltà. Ciò risulta da una lettera alla Chiesa celtica che Lorenzo,
successore di Agostino, Mellito e Giusto (allora vescovo di Rochester), scrissero
nel 605 circa, (tra il 607 e il 610-12, secondo Grosjean), nel tentativo di
persuaderla ad accettare gli usi della chiesa universale: «Dominis carissimis
episcopis vel abbatibus per universam Scottiam, Laurentius, Mellitus et Iustus
episcopi, servi servorum Dei. Quando secondo le sue abitudini, la Sede
Apostolica ci inviò nelle regioni occidentali a predicare il Vangelo alle
popolazioni pagane, noi giungemmo nell’isola di Britannia. Prima di renderci
conto della reale situazione, avevamo alto rispetto per la devozione dei
Bretoni e degli Scoti credendo che essi seguissero gli usi della Chiesa
universale; ma attraverso un'ulteriore conoscenza dei Bretoni, abbiamo
immaginato che gli Scoti fossero migliori. Abbiamo ora appreso, tuttavia, dalla
visita nell’isola del vescovo Dagano e dall’abate Colombano in Gallia che gli
Scoti non sono diversi dai Brettoni. Quando, infatti, il vescovo Dagano ci ha
fatto visita, non solo si è rifiutato di mangiare con noi, ma anche di prendere
i suoi pasti nella stessa casa».
Non sappiamo quale fu l’effetto immediato di questa lettera: la controversia
non aveva ancora raggiunto tutta la sua asprezza e si sarebbe sviluppata in
tutta la sua gravità solo qualche anno dopo la morte di Lorenzo, Mellito e
Giusto e, forse, dello stesso Dagano.
All’inizio del 609 Mellito lasciò Londra per Roma per render conto al papa Bonifacio IV dei progressi della Chiesa in Inghilterra. A Roma prese parte al concilio dei vescovi d’Italia qui tenutosi il 27 febbraio 610, dedicato al regolamento della vita e della disciplina monastiche. Tornato in Inghilterra comunicò le decisioni del concilio alla Chiesa inglese "per accettazione e promulgazione" e presentò le lettere di papa Bonifacio a Lorenzo e al re Etelberto del Kent.
Etelberto, che aveva regnato per cinquantasei anni, morì il 27 febbraio 616 e
gli successe il suo debole e dissoluto figlio Eadbaldo. Ulteriori turbamenti
alla giovane missione portò la morte nello stesso anno del re dei Sassoni
Orientali, Saberto, che Mellito aveva convertito alla fede. Gli succedettero i
suoi tre figli pagani, i quali, oltretutto, accampavano delle pretese su
Mellito. Un giorno, ad esempio, mentre il vescovo celebrava la Messa, essi
chiesero fosse loro dato il «bianco pane» (l’Eucaristia) che erano abituati a
veder amministrato al loro padre. Avendo Mellito rifiutato, ordinarono
immediatamente a lui ed ai suoi seguaci di abbandonare i confini del loro
regno. Mellito allora raggiunse Giusto e Lorenzo nel Kent e fu deciso che
«sarebbe stato meglio per tutti ritornare nei propri paesi e servire Dio nella
libertà piuttosto che restare in mezzo a pagani che avevano respinto la
fede. Mellito e Giusto abbandonarono il paese insieme e si stabilirono in
Gallia per attendere gli eventi.
L’arcivescovo Lorenzo rimase ancora per qualche tempo, ma si apprestava ad
andarsene nel 616 quando apparendogli in sogno, san Pietro lo accusò di
codardia e lo flagellò. In seguito, a questo avvenimento Eadbaldo del Kent si
convertì avendogli Lorenzo mostrato i segni della sferza; quindi, nel 619,
furono richiamati Mellito e Giusto. Quest'ultimo poté nuovamente occupare
la sede di Rochester (Kent), mentre Mellito dovette rilevare che malgrado la
morte dei tre figli di Saberto nel 616 o 617, i Sassoni Orientali di Londra non
desideravano riaverlo come vescovo; essi, infatti, durante la sua permanenza in
Gallia erano completamente ritornati alle pratiche pagane. Fu anche vano un
appello al re Eadbaldo del Kent poiché il debole sovrano non aveva nulla di ciò
che i Sassoni avevano amato in suo padre Etelberto.
Il problema fu in parte risolto personalmente da Mellito quando, alla morte di
Lorenzo, il 2 febbraio 619, divenne terzo arcivescovo di Canterbury. Ma egli
non era più giovane e fu ben presto colpito dalla gotta. Qualche tempo dopo,
nello stesso anno, scoppiò un incendio a Canterbury e l’anziano arcivescovo si
fece portare nella chiesa dei santi Quattro Coronati dove le fiamme erano più
violente; le sue preghiere fecero sì che un improvviso cambiamento del vento
allontanasse l’incendio.
Cinque anni più tardi, il 24 aprile 624, Mellito moriva e fu sepolto con
Agostino e Lorenzo nella chiesa del monastero dedicata ai santi Pietro e Paolo,
dove egli stesso aveva consacrato alla Madre di Dio una cappella dono del re
Eadbaldo. La sua festa è celebrata il 24 aprile nelle diocesi d Westminster,
Southwark e Brentwood. È infine interessante notare che nella lista dei vescovi
commemorati nello Stowe Missal (circa 800), prima del Nobis quoque
peccatoribus, si trovano i nomi di Lorenzo, Mellito, Giusto e Dagano.
Autore: Léonard Boyle
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/50670
MELLITO, santo
di Gian Luca
Borghese
Dizionario Biografico
degli Italiani - Volume 73 (2009)
MELLITO, santo. – Nacque
nella seconda metà del VI secolo. Non si hanno notizie sulla sua famiglia, a
parte una fugace allusione ai suoi nobili natali contenuta nella Historia
ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum di Beda il Venerabile. Forse di origini
romane, fu abate di un monastero a Roma, probabilmente quello di S. Andrea ad
Clivum Scauri. Il suo nome è citato per la prima volta in una lettera in data
22 giugno 601 indirizzata da papa Gregorio I Magno ad Agostino, primo vescovo
di Canterbury, per informarlo dell’invio di alcuni emissari, primo dei quali
appunto M., per sostenerlo e coadiuvarlo nella sua opera di evangelizzazione
dell’Inghilterra.
Agli inviati fu inoltre
dato incarico di recare ad Agostino il pallium, elemento fondamentale del
vestiario episcopale per le cerimonie più importanti, oltre a una quantità di
suppellettili e testi utili alle celebrazioni liturgiche.
Poco più tardi, il 18
luglio, il papa indirizzò una lettera direttamente a M., incaricandolo di
riferire ad Agostino alcune direttive di carattere generale cui l’opera
missionaria in Inghilterra avrebbe dovuto conformarsi, in particolare
sull’opportunità di riadattare i templi pagani al culto cristiano piuttosto che
distruggerli, e in genere raccomandava una certa moderazione nel modo di
procedere, per non ingenerare reazioni negative presso gente che solo
recentissimamente e spesso superficialmente aveva iniziato a convertirsi.
Secondo quanto racconta
Beda, nel 604 Agostino di Canterbury, poco prima di morire, ordinò M. vescovo e
lo inviò nell’Essex per evangelizzare i Sassoni orientali. Questi erano sotto
la sovranità del re del Kent Etelberto, che li governava attraverso il proprio
nipote Saebert, e la loro capitale era Londra. Avendo avuto buon esito la
predicazione di M., Etelberto ordinò la costruzione a Londra di una chiesa, poi
dedicata a s. Paolo apostolo, quale sede di M., suo primo vescovo, e dei suoi
successori. Un diploma dello stesso re (conservato nell’Archivio della
cattedrale di St. Paul ma caratterizzato da successive interpolazioni)
rappresenterebbe l’atto originario di concessione della tenuta di Tillingham
nell’Essex a M. e alla sua Chiesa.
Il semplice fatto che M.
fosse stato il primo vescovo londinese fece sì che cronisti più tardi gli
attribuissero, senza solido fondamento, la fondazione della chiesa, poi
divenuta abbazia, di Westminster, suggerendo fra l’altro che il viaggio di M. a
Roma, nel 610, avesse avuto anche lo scopo di preparare la consacrazione della
chiesa stessa.
Intorno al 605 secondo
alcuni (Boyle), tra il 610 e il 612 secondo altri (Grosjean), unitamente a
Lorenzo e Giusto, giunti come lui in Inghilterra da Roma e divenuti anch’essi
vescovi, rispettivamente, di Canterbury e di Rochester, M. inviò una lettera ai
rappresentanti della Chiesa irlandese per sollecitarla, con molto tatto, a
celebrare la Pasqua secondo il calendario della Chiesa di Roma. In effetti il
clero irlandese e gallese, nonché una parte almeno di quello inglese,
influenzato dalla Chiesa celtica, guardava con sospetto ai missionari inviati
da Roma, vantando una presenza sul territorio precedente all’opera di
evangelizzazione voluta da Gregorio Magno. Proprio per discutere di tali
questioni e rinsaldare i contatti con la Sede apostolica, retta allora da papa
Bonifacio IV, nel 609 M. si mise in viaggio per Roma, dove il 27 febbr. 610,
secondo la testimonianza di Beda, prese parte a un sinodo riunito per discutere
in merito al regolamento della vita monastica. Tornato in Inghilterra, M.
presentò il contenuto degli atti del sinodo a Lorenzo, arcivescovo di
Canterbury, e ne diede applicazione nella propria diocesi.
Solo pochi anni più
tardi, nel 616, alla morte del re Etelberto del Kent e del nipote Saebert
dell’Essex, entrambi aderenti al cristianesimo, divenne evidente quanto fosse
precaria la posizione del clero di origine «gregoriana» in Inghilterra, stretto
tra l’ostilità della Chiesa celtica e l’opposizione della religione politeista
tradizionale. I figli e successori di Saebert non si erano convertiti al
cristianesimo e un giorno, sempre secondo la testimonianza di Beda, si
presentarono a M. per fare la comunione con il pane consacrato come faceva il
loro padre, quasi fosse un atto dovuto alla loro autorità. M., avendo
rifiutato, fu scacciato dall’Essex, raggiunse l’arcivescovo di Canterbury,
Lorenzo, e il vescovo Giusto di Rochester e decise con quest’ultimo di lasciare
l’Inghilterra per la Gallia. Lorenzo invece, che pure non era in ottimi
rapporti con il successore pagano di Etelberto, dopo qualche esitazione rimase,
finendo anche per convertire il nuovo sovrano. Nel 619 Giusto e M. tornarono,
ma mentre il primo poté rioccupare la sua sede, a M. non fu possibile andare a
Londra perché gli abitanti della sua diocesi in sua assenza erano tornati al
politeismo tradizionale. Ma egli non rimase per questo a lungo senza cattedra,
perché nel febbraio dello stesso 619 Lorenzo, morendo, gli lasciò il suo posto,
cosicché M. divenne il terzo arcivescovo di Canterbury.
Ormai anziano e
gravemente affetto dalla gotta, resse comunque per cinque anni l’arcidiocesi.
Morì il 24 apr. 624 e, secondo Beda (II.7), fu sepolto nella chiesa dedicata ai
santi Pietro e Paolo a Canterbury.
Fonti e Bibl.: A.W.
Haddan - W. Stubbs, Councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to
Great Britain and Ireland, III, Oxford 1871, pp. 62-71; Gregorius I papa, Lettere,
IV, a cura di V. Recchia, Roma 1999, XI, 56, pp. 160 s.; 34, pp. 106-108; 41,
pp. 128-130; 48, pp. 140-142; 51, pp. 146-148; Beda Venerabilis, Historia
ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, a cura di A. Crépin et al., I, Paris 2005,
I, 29, 1; 30, 2; II, 3, 1; 4, 2-3; 5, 5; 6, 1-2; 7, 1-3; III, 22, 1; V, 24, 1;
L. d’Achery - J. Mabillon, Acta sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, II,
Lutetiae Parisiorum 1669, pp. 90-94; P. Grosjean, Recherches sur les
débuts de la controverse pascale chez les Celtes, 6, Date de la lettre des
Ss. Laurent, Mellitus et Justus aux Irlandais, in Analecta Bollandiana, LXIV
(1946), pp. 231-240; F.M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford 1947, pp.
109-112; H. Mayr-Harting, The coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon
England, London 1972; W. Stubbs, Mellitus, in Dictionary of christian
biography, a cura di W. Smith - H. Wace, III, London 1882, pp. 900 s.; G.
Spitzbart, Mellitus, in Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, VII,
Freiburg i.Br. 2006, col. 91; Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina, II, pp.
861 s.; Vies des saints, VI, Paris 1946, pp. 614 s.; E. Romanelli, Mellito,
in Enciclopedia cattolica, VIII, Roma 1952, col. 649; L. Boyle, Mellito,
in Bibliotheca sanctorum, IX, Roma 1967, coll. 310-312; Catholicisme,
VIII, Paris 1979, col. 1132.
G.L. Borghese
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-mellito_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
Saint Mellit, premier évêque de Londres, puis archevêque de Cantorbéry : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/mellit.pdf
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