Saint Dunstan
Archevêque de Cantorbery (✝ 988)
abbé bénédictin, il devint évêque de Worchester et de Londres, puis archevêque de Cantorbery. Durant ce siècle de fer, il ranima la ferveur monastique en Grande-Bretagne. C'était un homme assez extraordinaire. On dit de lui qu'il n'était pas seulement théologien, mais aussi orfèvre, peintre, fondeur, architecte. L'Église anglicane en conserve la mémoire.
À Cantorbéry en Angleterre, l’an 988, saint Dunstan, évêque. D’abord abbé de Glastonbury, il y restaura la vie monastique et la propagea au-delà. Sur le siège épiscopal de Worcester, puis de Londres et enfin de Cantorbéry, il travailla à promouvoir une règle commune pour les moines et les moniales.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/6992/Saint-Dunstan.html
DUNSTAN DE CANTORBÉRY
Évêque, Saint
+ 988
S. Dunstan, issu d'une
famille illustre, naquit à Glastenbury. Il eut pour maîtres dans les sciences
certains moines irlandais qui avaient beaucoup de réputation, et qui s'étaient
établis dans le lieu de sa naissance. La ville de Glastenbury se trouvait
alors, par une suite des ravages de la guerre, dans un état de désolation.
Dunstan se distingua de
tous ses compagnons d'étude par la rapidité de ses progrès; Athelnie, son
oncle, archevêque de Cantorbéry, avec lequel il vécut quelque temps, le mena à
la cour avec lui, et le fit connaître au roi Athelstan. Ce prince, qui aimait
la vertu et qui protégeait les talents, conçut pour lui une grande estime, le
retint auprès de lui, et lui donna plus de marques de bienveillance qu'à tous
ceux qui approchaient de sa personne. Mais l'envie, qui ne peut souffrir les
distinctions du mérite, chercha les moyens de le mettre mal dans l'esprit du
roi, et elle vint à bout d'y réussir. Dunstan comprit alors mieux que jamais
combien peu l'on doit compter sur la faveur des grands. Il avait reçu dans sa
jeunesse la tonsure et les ordres mineurs; toujours il avait vécu d'une manière
conforme à l'Evangile ; et quoiqu'il eût pratiqué toutes les vertus
chrétiennes, il s'était spécialement rendu recommandable par son humilité, sa
modestie et la pureté de ses mœurs.
Lorsqu'il eut quitté la
cour, il prit l'habit monastique, de l'avis d'Elphège, son oncle, évêque de
Winchester, qui peu de temps après l'éleva au sacerdoce. S'étant parfaitement
affermi dans la connaissance et la pratique des devoirs de sa profession, il
fut envoyé à Glastenbury pour en desservir l'église. Il s'y bâtit une petite
cellule qui n'avait que cinq pieds de long sur deux pieds et demi de large. Il
s'y bâtit aussi un oratoire attenant à la muraille de la grande église dédiée
sous l'invocation de la Mère de Dieu. Dans cet ermitage, il joignait le jeûne à
la prière. Il avait aussi des heures marquées pour le travail des mains. Par là
il se proposait d'éviter l'oisiveté, et de s'entretenir dans l'esprit de
pénitence. Son travail consistait à faire des croix, des vases, des encensoirs
et autres choses destinées au culte divin. D'autres fois, il s'occupait à
peindre ou à copier des livres,
Le roi Athelstan étant
mort en 900, après avoir régné seize ans avec beaucoup de gloire, Edmond, son
frère, monta sur le trône. Comme ce prince allait souvent par dévotion à
l'église de Glastenbury , qui n'était qu'à neuf milles de son palais de
Chedder, il eut occasion de connaître par lui-même la sainteté de Dunstan.
Il i crut ne pouvoir mieux faire que de lui donner le gouvernement du
monastère. Dunstan fut le dix-neuvième abbé de Glastenbury, à compter de S.
Brithwald, le premier Anglais qui avait eu la même dignité deux cent
soixante-dix ans auparavant. Edmond fut massacré après un règne de six ans et
demi. On enterra son corps à Glastenbury. Ses fils Edwi et Edgar étant trop
jeunes pour gouverner, on plaça sur le trône Edred, leur oncle. Ce prince
religieux se conduisit toujours par les conseils de S. Dunstan. Il mourut en
955, et la couronne retourna à Edwi dont les mœurs étaient fort déréglées. En
voici un exemple : le jour de son sacre, il quitta brusquement la table où
était rassemblée toute la noblesse, pour aller se livrer à d'infâmes plaisirs.
S. Dunstan le suivit et lui représenta avec une généreuse liberté ce qu'il
devait à Dieu et aux hommes. L'exil fut la récompense de son zèle. Edwi
persécuta les moines de son royaume, et ruina toutes les abbayes qui avaient
échappé aux déprédations des Danois. Il n'épargna que celles de Glastenbury et
d'Abbington.
S. Dunstan, exilé, se
retira en Flandre, où il passa un an. Il y répandit de toutes parts la
bonne odeur de Jésus-Christ, par l'exemple de ses vertus et par la force de ses
discours.
Cependant les Merciens et
les peuples du nord de l'Angleterre accablés sous la pesanteur du joug qu'ils
portaient, ôtèrent la couronne à Edwi, pour la mettre sur la tête d'Edgar, son
frère. Le nouveau roi rappela S. Dunstan, et lui donna une place distinguée
parmi ceux qui composaient son conseil. En 957, il le nomma évêque de
Worcester. La cérémonie de son sacre fut faite par S. Odon, archevêque de
Cantorbéry. Le siège de Loudvet étant venu à vaquer peu de temps après, Dunstan
fut obligé d'en prendre le gouvernement malgré lui. C'était l'homme qui
paraissait le plus en état de rétablir dans cette église et la discipline et la
pureté des mœurs.
Edwi, qui s'était
toujours maintenu dans la souveraineté des provinces du midi, termina, en 958,
une vie souillée de crimes, par une mort malheureuse. Edgar réunit alors en sa
personne toute la monarchie anglaise, qu'il gouverna toujours avec beaucoup de
sagesse et de gloire, il continua de donner à notre saint des marques de son
estime et de sa confiance.
S. Odon, archevêque de
Cantorbéry, étant mort en 961, Duns tan fut élu pour lui succéder. Il employa
toutes sortes de moyens pour ne pas accepter cette dignité; mais il lui fut
impossible de réussir. Le pape Jean XII, qui l'estimait singulièrement, le fit
légat du saint Siège. Dunstan, revêtu de cette autorité, ne pensa plus qu'à
rétablir partout la discipline ecclésiastique, qui avait beaucoup souffert des
incursions des Danois et des troubles occasionnés par la tyrannie d'Edwi. Il
avait la consolation de se voir puissamment protégé par le roi Edgar. Il
recevait aussi de grands secours de deux de ses disciples, de S. Ethelwold,
évêque de Winchester, et de S. Oswald, évêque de Worcester et archevêque d'Yorck.
Les trois prélats commencèrent par la réformation des monastères; et afin
d'entretenir partout l'uniformité de discipline, S. Dunstan publia la
Concorde des règles, qui était un recueil des anciennes constitutions
monastiques, combinées avec celles de l'ordre de Saint-Benoît. La réformation
des moines fut suivie de celle des clercs. Le saint fit aussi, pour l'usage de
ces derniers, de sages règlements connus sous le titre de Canons publiés
sous le roi Edgar. Quelques clercs étaient tombés par le malheur du temps dans
plusieurs désordres; ils avaient même osé se marier, contre Va disposition des
anciens canons. Le saint les chassa des églises et des monastères dont ils
s'étaient emparés, et mit en leur place des religieux fervents. C'était une
espèce de restitution que l'on faisait à ceux-ci, puisque, avant les guerres
des Danois, ils avaient été en possession des églises et des monastères dont il
s'agissait.
S. Ethelwoid, voyant que
les chanoines de sa cathédrale menaient une vie scandaleuse, leur substitua
aussi des moines. Les coupables appelèrent de la sentence rendue contre eux. Il
se tint pour cet effet un synode à Winchester, en 968. On rapporte qu'une voix,
paraissant sortir d'un crucifix qui était dans le lieu de l'assemblée, fit
entendre ces paroles : « Dieu défend de réformer ce qui a été fait. On a bien
jugé, ce serait un mal que de juger autrement. » Le synode confirma la
sentence de S. Ethelwold, et le roi Edouard, le Martyr, fit de ce
décret une loi de l'État.
L'archevêque de
Cantorbéry montra aussi beaucoup de zèle contre les laïques, violateurs de la
discipline ecclésiastique. Il n'y avait point de considération qui pût le faire
mollir, lorsqu'il s'agissait de maintenir le bon ordre. Les pécheurs scandaleux
surtout, de quelque rang qu'ils fussent, redoutaient sa fermeté, et étaient
obligés de se soumettre aux règles de la pénitence canonique. Nous allons en
citer un exemple.
Le roi Edgard, maîtrisé
par une passion honteuse, abusa d'une vierge qui résistait depuis longtemps à
ses désirs, et qui, pour mettre son honneur en sûreté, avait pris le voile de
religieuse, sans toutefois faire profession. Cette dernière circonstance
ajoutait un nouveau degré d'énormité au crime du roi. S. Dunstan fut informé de
ce qui s'était passé. Il se rendit aussitôt à la cour, et comme un autre
Nathan, il dit au prince, avec un zèle mêlé de 'respect, qu'il avait offensé le
Seigneur. Edgar, agité de salutaires remords, s'avoua coupable, témoigna son
repentir par ses larmes, et demanda une pénitence proportionnée à son crime. Le
saint lui en imposa une de sept ans, qui consistait à ne point porter la
couronne durant tout ce temps-là, à jeûner deux fois la semaine, et à faire
d'abondantes aumônes. Il lui enjoignit en outre, pour expier son crime d'une
manière plus spéciale, de fonder un monastère où plusieurs vierges pussent se
consacrer à Jésus-Christ. Edgar accomplit fidèlement tous les articles de sa
pénitence, et fonda le monastère de Shaftsbury. Les sept ans écoulés,
c'est-à-dire en 973, le saint archevêque lui remit la couronne sur la tête,
dans une assemblée composée des évêques et des seigneurs de la nation.
Edgar étant mort dans la
seizième année de son règne, et la trente-deuxième de son âge, Édouard, son
fils aîné, lui succéda. Ce prince avait beaucoup de piété, et donnait de
grandes espérances. Mais il périt bientôt par la trahison d'Elfride, sa
belle-mère. C'est lui que l'on appelle Edouard le Martyr. Sa mort
tragique causa une vive douleur à S. Dunstan ; et lorsqu'il couronna son jeune
frère, en 979, il lui prédit tous les malheurs qui devaient arriver sous son
règne.
Le saint sacra Gaeon,
évêque de Landaff, vers l'an 983. Les évêques du pays de Galles avaient été
soumis jusque là à l'archevêque de Saint-David. Ce prélat perdit alors la
juridiction de métropolitain, sans qu'on puisse précisément en assigner la
raison. S. Dunstan faisait souvent la visite des différentes églises du
royaume. Partout il prêchait et instruisait les fidèles. Ses discours étaient
si touchants et si persuasifs, que les cœurs les plus insensibles ne pouvaient
s'empêcher de se rendre. Ses revenus étaient employés au soulagement des
pauvres. Il conciliait les différends, réfutait les erreurs, et s'appliquait
continuellement à extirper les vices et à corriger les abus. Malgré les soins
qu'il était obligé de donner à son diocèse, aux églises du royaume, et souvent
aux affaires de l'État, il trouvait encore du temps pour vaquer aux exercices
de piété ; il consacrait à la prière une bonne partie de la nuit. Quelquefois
il se retirait à Glastenbury, afin de converser avec Dieu plus librement. Étant
à Cantorbéry, il visitait, dans la saison même la plus rigoureuse, l'église de
Saint-Augustin, située hors les murs, et celle de la Mère de Dieu, qui était
attenante.
Ce fut dans cette ville
qu'il tomba malade. Il se prépara à sa dernière heure par un redoublement de
ferveur dans tous ses exercices. Le jour de l'Ascension, il prêcha trois fois
sur la fête, pour exhorter les fidèles à suivre leur chef en esprit, et par la
k vivacité de leurs désirs. Pendant qu'il parlait, son visage paraissait tout
rayonnant de gloire. A la fin de son troisième discours, il se recommanda aux
prières de son auditoire, et dit à son troupeau qu'il ne tarderait pas à être
séparé de lui. A ces dernières paroles, tout le monde fondit en larmes. Après
midi, le saint retourna à l'église, et indiqua le lieu où il voulait être
enterré. Il se mit ensuite au lit; puis, ayant reçu le saint viatique le samedi
suivant,
II est assez probable que
ce fut par un effet de la grande puissance d'Edgar, qui par là voulait
commencer à unir les Gallois avec les Anglais.
Dunstan passa de cette
vie à l'immortalité bienheureuse. Sa mort arriva le 19 mai 988. Il vécut
soixante-quatre ans, et en gouverna dix-sept l'église de Cantorbéry. Son corps fut
enterré dans la cathédrale, à l'endroit qu'il avait lui-même marqué.
SOURCE : Alban Butler : Vie
des Pères, Martyrs et autres principaux Saints… – Traduction :
Jean-François Godescard.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/dunstan_de_cantorbery.htm
DUNSTAN saint
(909-988)
Né près de Glastonbury,
en Angleterre, Dunstan fut élevé dans l'abbaye de ce nom, où l'on ne suivait
plus aucune règle monastique, mais où l'on avait conservé la précieuse
bibliothèque. Il pensait à se marier quand il fut atteint d'une grave maladie
dont il devait souffrir toute sa vie. Il se rendit alors à Winchester, où
l'évêque, son oncle, lui imposa la consécration monastique et l'ordonna prêtre.
En 943, le roi Edmond le nomma abbé de Glastonbury.
D'après ce que ses
lectures lui avaient appris, Dunstan essaya d'y rétablir l'observance de la
règle de saint Benoît. Exilé en 955 par le roi Edwig, Dunstan se réfugia au
Mont-Blandin, près de Gand, où, pour la première fois de sa vie, il rencontra
des moines. Rappelé en 957 par le roi Edgar, il devint évêque de Worcester,
puis de Londres et,
dès 959, archevêque de Cantorbéry. Primat d'Angleterre, conseiller et ami des
rois, réformateur de l'Église et du clergé, organisateur de la vie monastique,
initiateur d'un vaste mouvement artistique, créateur de l'unité anglaise,
Dunstan eut, jusqu'à la mort du roi Edgar (975), un rôle prépondérant. Durant
ses dernières années, il se cantonna dans sa charge pastorale, mais son œuvre
se prolongea après lui. À sa mort, il laissa une telle renommée qu'il fut le
saint le plus populaire d'Angleterre jusqu'au martyre de son successeur Thomas
Becket (mort en 1170).
Jacques DUBOIS,
« DUNSTAN saint (909-988) », Encyclopædia Universalis [en
ligne], consulté le 19 mai 2015. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/dunstan/
SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/dunstan/
Saint Dunstan de
Canterbury,
Abbé de Glastonbury,
26ième archévêque de Canterbury
Né à Baltonsborough près de Glastonbury, Angleterre, vers 909; mort en 988.
Dunstan, né d'une noble famille Anglo-Saxonne apparentée à la maison dirigeante
du Wessex, fut une des grandes figures de l'Histoire Anglaise. Il reçut sa
prime éducation des moines Irlandais à Glastonbury. Pendant qu'il était jeune,
il fut envoyé comme page auprès de la cour d'Athelstan.
Il avait déjà reçu la tonsure, et son oncle, l'évêque Saint Alphege le Chauve
(12 mars) de Winchester, l'encouragea à s'engager dans la vie religieuse.
Dunstan hésita quelque temps et faillit même se marier, mais après avoir été
sauvé d'une maladie de peau qu'il pensait être la lèpre, il reçut l'habit (en
934) et les saints ordres de son oncle le même jour que Saint Ethelwold (1er
Août) vers 939.
Il retourna à Glastonbury et on pense qu'il s'y construisit une petite cellule
près de la vieille église, où il entama une vie de prière, d'étude, et de
travail manuel qui inclut la réalisation de cloches et de vases sacrés pour
l'église, et la copie ou l'enluminure de livres. On le décrit comme excellant
dans la peinture, la brodure, la harpe, comme fondeur de cloche, et comme
artisan du métal. Dunstan jouait de la harpe pendant que les moniales de
l'abbaye brodaient ses dessins. On rapporte qu'un jour qu'il avait raccroché sa
harpe au mur et quitté la pièce quelque temps, la harpe continua de jouer sur
son propre accord. Les moniales prirent cela comme un signe de la future
grandeur de Dunstan.
Dunstan aimait aussi la musique vocale : quand il chantait à l'autel, rapporte
un contemporain, "il semblait être occupé à converser face à face avec le
Seigneur". Etant très habille dans les arts, Dunstan stimula la
renaissance de l'art ecclésial.
Le successeur d'Athelstan, Edmund, l'appela à la court pour devenir conseiller
royal et trésorier. En 943, le roi Edmond I échappa de peu à la mort durant une
chasse, il nomma Dunstan abbé de Glastonbury avec pour tâche d'y restaurer la
vie monastique et de richement doter le monastère. Selon la vieille Chronique
Saxone, Dunstan n'avait que 18 ans quand il devint abbé de Glastonbury.
Dunstan restaura les bâtiments du monastère et l'église de Saint-Pierre. En
introduisant des moines parmi les prêtres qui y vivaient déjà, il mit en
vigueur la disciple régulière sans que cela ne provoque de troubles. Il
transforma l'abbaye en grand centre d'enseignement. Dunstan revitalisa aussi
les autres monastères de Glastonbury.
Le meurtre du roi Edmund fut suivit par l'accession de son frère Edred, qui fit
de Dunstan un de ses principaux conseillers. Dunstan devint profondément
impliqué dans la politique séculière, et encouru la colère des nobles Saxons
de l'Ouest pour avoir dénoncé leur immoralité et pour son appel urgent à faire
la paix avec les Danois.
En 955, Edred mourrut et ce fut son neveu de 16 ans, Edwy, qui lui succéda. Le
jour de son couronnement, Edwy quitta le banquet royal pour aller voir une
fille appelée Elgiva et sa mère. Pour cela, il fut vertement tancé par Dunstan,
et le prince n'accepta pas l'admonition. Avec le soutien des partis opposants,
Dunstan tomba en disgrâce, sa propriété fut confisquée et il fut exilé.
Il passa une année à Gand, dans les Flandres [B], et là il entra en contact
avec le monachisme continental réformé. Cette expérience alimenta sa vision
d'un parfait monachisme Bénédictin, ce qui inspirera ses travaux ultérieurs.
Une rébellion éclata en Angleterre; le Nord et l'Est déposèrent Edwy et
choisirent son frère Edgar le Pacifique (cfr 8 juillet) pour le trône. Edgar
rappela Dunstan et en fit son conseiller principal, en 957 l'évêque de
Worcester, et l'évêque de Londres en 958.
A la mort d'Edwy en 959,
le royaume fut réunifié sous Edgar, qui nomma Dunstan archevêque de Canterbury
en 961.
Ensemble, ils initièrent
une politique de réforme pour renforcer tant l'Église que le pays. A
Canterbury, Dunstan fonda une abbaye à l'est de la ville, et 3 églises :
Sainte-Marie, Saints Pierre-et-Paul, et Saint-Pancrace.
En 961, Dunstan partit pour Rome pour recevoir le pallium et fut nommé par le
pape [de Rome] Jean XII comme légat du Saint-Siège. Avec cette autorité, il
entreprit de rétablir la discipline ecclésiastique, sous la protection du roi
Edgar, et assisté par saint Ethelwold, évêque de Winchester, et Saint Oswald
(28 février), évêque de Worcester et l'archevêque d'York. En ces jours, la vie
monastique Anglaise avait quasiment disparu, résultat des invasions Danoises.
Ils restaurèrent la plupart des grand monastères, comme Abingdon, qui avait été
détruits durant les invasions Danoises, et en fondèrent de nouveaux.
Dunstan fonda des monastères à Bath, Exeter, Westminster, Malmesbury, et
d'autre lieux. Il rédigea des Règles pour chaque, afin d'y insuffler le bon
ordre. Les prêtres séculiers récalcitrants furent éjectés et remplacés par des
moines à Winchester,
Chertsey, Surrey, et
Dorset. Vers 970 une conférence d'évêques, d'abbés et d'abbesses établit un
code national d'observances monastiques, le "Regularis Concordia." En
harmonie avec les coutumes continentales et la Règle de Saint-Benoît, il avait
néanmoins ses particularités : les monastères devaient être intégrés dans la
vie des gens, et leur influence ne devait pas rester confinée à l'intérieur des
murs du monastère.
Le clergé qui avait vécu une vie scandaleuse et des situations irrégulières fut
réformé. Dunstan demeura ferme dans ses normes morales, au point de faire
postposer le couronnement d'Edgar pour 14 ans - probablement à cause de sa
désapprobation du comportement scandaleux d'Edgar. Il modifia le rite de
couronnement, et certaines de ses modifications réalisées pour le couronnement
d'Edgar à Bath en 973 ont survécu jusqu'à nos jours.
Durant les 16 ans de règne d'Edgar, Dunstan fut son principal conseiller, le
critiquant librement. Un jour que le roi s'était rendu coupable d'immoralité,
Dunstan se tint debout devant sa face, refusant de prendre sa main tendue et
faisant brusquement demi-tour en disant : "Je ne suis pas l'ami de
l'ennemi du Christ". Plus tard, il imposa comme pénitence au roi de ne pas
porter sa couronne 7 ans durant.
Dunstan continua à diriger le pays durant le court règne du roi successeur,
Edouard le Martyr (18 mars http://www.amdg.be/sankt/mar18.html ), le protégé de
Dunstan. La mort du jeune roi, reliée aux réactions anti-monastiques ayant
suivit la mort du roi Edgar, affectèrent terriblement Dunstan. Sa carrière
politique étant terminée, il retourna à Canterbury pour enseigner à l'école
cathédrale, où on lui attribue des visions, des prophéties et des miracles. Il
eut une dévotion particulière pour les saints de Canterbury, dont il visitait
la tombe de nuit.
A la fête de l'Ascenscion en 988 l'archevêque tomba malade, mais il offrit la
Messe et prêcha 3 fois à son peuple, à qui il déclara qu'il mourrait bientôt. 2
jours plus tard, il mourut. Il est considéré comme le restaurateur du
monachisme en Angleterre. On dit que le 10ième siècle forma l'Histoire
Anglaise, et que Dunstan forma le 10ième siècle. Il composa nombre d'hymnes,
notamment le "Kyrie Rex spendens" (Attwater, Bénédictins, Bentley,
Delaney, Duckett, Fisher, Gill, White).
Dans l'art, on le montre comme un évêque tenant le diable (ou son nez) avec
une paire de tenailles; ou avec un crucifix lui parlant (White). On peut aussi
le voir représenté (1) tenant les pinces; (2) travaillant comme orfèvre; (3)
jouant de la harpe; (4) avec un groupe d'anges près de lui; (5) avec une
colombe; ou (6) comme un moine prosterné aux pieds du Christ (dans un dessin
qu'on lui attribue)
(Roeder).
Il est le saint patron des armuriers, des orfèvres, des bijoutiers et des
serruriers (Delaney, White), des forgerons, des musiciens et des aveugles
(Roeder).
Office à notre saint Père Dunstan, Archevêque de Canterbury
Vêpres et Matines [en anglais]
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servduns.htm
Par les prières de saint Dunstan et de tous les Saints d'Angleterre, Christ
notre Dieu, fais-nous miséricorde et sauve-nous.
* * *
Liturgie du Rite Occidental pour Saint Dunstan:
Bénédiction de l'Archevêque
chantée sur le Peuple
Puisse Dieu, l'Illuminateur de tous les Âges, Qui fit briller l'illustre et
exalté hiérarque Dunstan comme un d'entre les Apôtres, faire que vous soyez
remplis de toutes les célestes bénédictions par ses justes prières, qu'en suivant
les pas d'un si radieux prédécesseurs, vous puissiez devenir le peuple qui
gravit l'échelle vers le Ciel.
Le peule : Amen.
And may He that granted him such noble standing with Himself that being
reverenced and glorified by all the people he might blossom as an unsurpassed
and angelic patron for all the English, Himself kindle the ardour of your hopes
towards that place where this magnificent Saint flourisheth amidst a choir of
Angels. People: Amen.
And may ye that glory to be honoured with such a sublime patron, being filled
with great joy by his miracles and illumined by his teachings, attain this from
the Lord: that ye may be reunited with him in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Which may He deign to grant, Whose kingdom & dominion abideth, etc. ... May
the blessing, etc. ...
The Preface of the Mass, May 19:
It is truly meet and just, right and availing to salvation, that we should
always and in all places give thanks to Thee, pay our vows to Thee, and
consecrate our gifts to Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God:
Who didst beforehand elect Thy blessed confessor Dunstan for Thyself, a Bishop
of sanctified confession, a man shining brightly with the ncircumscribable
light, prevailing by the gentleness of his ways, afire with the fervour of the
Faith, and flowing over with the brook of eloquence. And in what his glory lay,
the multitudes at his sepulchre reveal, and their purification from demonic
assaults, their healing from diseases, and the miracles of his power, of which
we stand in awe. For even if he made an end here by his passing, according to
nature, the hierarch's righteous deeds live on after the grave, in that place
where there is the presence of the Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. By Whom
Angels praise Thy majesty, Dominions worship, the Powers tremble. The heavens,
and the heavenly Virtues, and the blessed Seraphim, concelebrate in one
exultation:- with whom command our voices also to have entrance, we beseech
Thee, humbly confessing Thee and saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, ...etc.
(The blessing, sequence, and preface are given in full in the complete Old
Sarum Rite Missal, (c) 1998 St. Hilarion Press 1998)
Icones de Saint Dunstan:
http://www.holycross-hermitage.com/pages/Icons/Samples/fj_st_dunstan.htm
Allez ici pour accéder à toutes leurs icônes, http://www.holycross-hermitage.com/ et
utilisez le menu déroulant pour aller à "Our
Products." ["nos produits"]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/temporary-celt/message/7624
http://www.odox.net/Icons-Dunstan.htm##1
Sources:
Attwater, D. (1983). The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, NY: Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of
Saints. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The Book of
Saints. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A Calendar of Saints: The Lives of the Principal
Saints of the Christian Year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image.
Duckett, E. S. (1955). St. Dunstan of Canterbury.
Fisher, D. J. V. (1965). The Earliest Lives of St. Dunstan, St. Ethelwold,
and St. Oswald.
Gill, F. C. (1958). The Glorious Company: Lives of Great Christians for
Daily Devotion, vol. I. London: Epworth Press.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and Their Attributes, Chicago: Henry Regnery.
White, K. E. (1992). Guide to the Saints. NY: Ivy Books.
SOURCE : http://home.scarlet.be/amdg/oldies/sankt/mai19.html
Profile
Son of Heorstan, a Wessex
nobleman. Nephew of Saint Athelm,
and related to Saint Alphege
of Winchester. Educated at Glastonbury
Abbey by Irish monks. Hermit. Monk.
Expert goldsmith, metal-worker,
and harpist. Ordained by Saint Alphege.
Appointed abbot of Glastonbury in 944 by King Edmund
I of England.
He rebuilt the abbey,
introduced the Benedictine
Rule, and established a famous school.
Close advisor to King Eadred
and King Eadgar. Bishop of Worcester, England,
and of London, England. Archbishop of Canterbury, England in 960.
The combination of spiritual authority and political influence made him the
virtual regent of the kingdom. Spiritual
director of Saint Wulsin
of Sherborne. Reformed church life in 10th
century England.
Advisor to King Edwy
until he commented on the king‘s
profligate sexual ways – which caused the bishop to
be exiled.
In 978,
with the ascension of King Ethelred
the Unready, he retired from political life to Canterbury.
Had the gift of prophecy.
Born
909 at
Baltonsborough, Glastonbury, England
19
May 988 at Canterbury, England of
natural causes
buried in Canterbury
his burial site was lost
for years, but rediscovered by Archbishop Washam
relics destroyed
during the Reformation
–
Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, Canada, diocese of
Worshipful
Company of Goldsmiths
gold cup
man holding a pair
of smith‘s tongs
man putting a horseshoe on
the devil‘s
cloven foot
man with a dove hovering
near him
man with a troop of angels before
him
man working with gold or
metal, usually in a monastery or
cloister, sometimes with an angel speaking
to him
metal working tools
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Dunstan,
the Friend of Kings, by Leonora Blanche Lang
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
True
Legend of Saint Dunstan and the Devil, by Edward G Flight
books
Our
Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
1001
Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian Catholic Truth Society
A
Clerk of Oxford: Dunstan and the Devil
A
Clerk of Oxford: The Death of Saint Dunstan
Christian
Biographies, by James Keifer
sitios
en español
Martirologio
Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Dunstan of
Canterbury“. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 June 2020. Web. 23 January 2021.
<http://catholicsaints.info/saint-dunstan-of-canterbury/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-dunstan-of-canterbury/
Saint Dunstan, Vitrail, Église Saint-Dunstan, Cantorbéry
St. Dunstan
Archbishop and confessor, and one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church; b. near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church of St. Mary on Candleday, when all the lights were suddenly extinguished. Then the candle held by Cynethryth was as suddenly relighted, and all present lit their candles at this miraculous flame, thus foreshadowing that the boy "would be the minister of eternal light" to the Church of England. In what year St. Dunstan was born has been much disputed. Osbern, a writer of the late eleventh century, fixes it at "the first year of the reign of King Aethelstan", i.e. 924-5. This date, however, cannot be reconciled with other known dates of St. Dunstan's life and involves many obvious absurdities. It was rejected, therefore, by Mobillon and Lingard; but on the strength of "two manuscripts of the Chronicle" and "an entry in an ancient Anglo-Saxon paschal table", Dr. Stubbs argued in its favour, and his conclusions have been very generally accepted. Careful examination, however, of this new evidence reveals all three passages as interpolations of about the period when Osbern was writing, and there seem to be very good reasons for accepting the opinion of Mabillon that the saint was born long before 925. Probably his birth dates from about the earliest years of the tenth century.
In early youth Dunstan was brought by his father and committed to the care of the Irish scholars, who then frequented the desolate sanctuary of Glastonbury. We are told of his childish fervour, of his vision of the great abbey restored to splendour, of his nearly fatal illness and miraculous recovery, of the enthusiasm with which he absorbed every kind of human knowledge and of his manual skill. Indeed, throughout his life he was noted for his devotion to learning and for his mastery of many kinds of artistic craftsmanship. With his parent's consent he was tonsured, received minor orders and served in the ancient church of St. Mary. So well known did he become for devotion of learning that he is said to have have been summoned by his uncle Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to enter his service. By one of St. Dunstan's earliest biographers we are informed that the young scholar was introduced by his uncle to King Aethelstan, but there must be some mistake here, for Athelm and probably died about 923, and Aethelstan did not come to the throne till the following year. Perhaps there is confusion between Athelm and his successor Wulfhelm. At any rate the young man soon became so great a favourite with the king as to excite the envy of his kingfolk court. They accused him of studying heathen literature and magic, and so wrought on the king that St. Dunstan was ordered to leave the court. As he quitted the palace his enemies attacked him, beat him severely, bound him, and threw him into a filthy pit (probably a cesspool), treading him down in the mire. He managed to crawl out and make his way to the house of a friend whence he journeyed to Winchester and entered the service of Bishop Aelfheah the Bald, who was his relative. The bishop endeavoured to persuade him to become a monk, but St. Dunstan was at first doubtful whether he had a vocation to a celibate life. But an attack of swelling tumours all over his body, so severe that he thought it was leprosy, which was perhaps some form of blood-poisoning caused by the treatment to which he had been subjected, changed his mind. He made his profession at the hands of St. Aelfheah, and returned to live the life of a hermit at Glastonbury. Against the old church of St. Mary he built a little cell only five feet long and two and a half feet deep, where he studied and worked at his handicrafts and played on has harp. Here the devil is said (in a late eleventh legend) to have tempted him and to have been seized by the face with the saint's tongs.
While Dunstan was living thus at Glastonbury he became the trusted adviser of the Lady Aethelflaed, King Aethelstan's niece, and at her death found himself in control of all her great wealth, which he used in later life to foster and encourage the monastic revival. About the same time his father Heorstan died, and St. Dunstan inherited his possessions also. He was now become a person of much influence, and on the death of King Aethelstan in 940, the new King, Eadmund, summoned him to his court at Cheddar and numbered him among his councillors. Again the royal favour roused against him the jealousy of the courtiers, and they contrived so to enrage the king against him that he bade him depart from the court. There were then at Cheddar certain envoys from the "Eastern Kingdom", by which term may be meant either East Anglia or, as some have argued, the Kingdom of Saxony. To these St. Dunstan applied, imploring them to take him with them when they returned. They agreed to do so, but in the event their assistance was not needed. For, a few days later, the king rode out to hunt the stag in Mendip Forest. He became separated from his attendants and followed a stag at great speed in the direction of the Cheddar cliffs. The stag rushed blindly over the precipice and was followed by the hounds. Eadmund endeavoured vainly to stop his horse; then, seeing death to be imminent, he remembered his harsh treatment of St. Dunstan and promised to make amends if his life was spared. At that moment his horse was stopped on the very edge of the cliff. Giving thanks to God, he returned forthwith to his palace, called for St. Dunstan and bade him follow, then rode straight to Glastonbury. Entering the church, the king first knelt in prayer before the altar, then, taking St. Dunstan by the hand, he gave him the kiss of peace, led him to the abbot's throne and, seating him thereon, promised him all assistance in restoring Divine worship and regular observance.
St. Dunstan at once set vigorously to work at these tasks. He had to re-create monastic life and to rebuild the abbey. That it was Benedictine monasticism which he established at Glastonbury seems certain. It is true that he had not yet had personal experience of the stricter Benedictinism which had been revived on the Continent at great centres like Cluny and Fleury. Probably, also, much of the Benedictine tradition introduced by St. Augustine had been lost in the pagan devastations of the ninth century. But that the Rule of St. Benedict was the basis of his restoration is not only definitely stated by his first biographer, who knew the saint well, but is also in accordance with the nature of his first measures as abbot, with the significance of his first buildings, and with the Benedictine prepossessions and enthusiasm of his most prominent disciples. And the presence of secular clerks as well as of monks at Glastonbury seems to be no solid argument against the monastic character of the revival. St. Dunstan's first care was to reerect the church of St. Peter, rebuild the cloister, and re-establish the monastic enclosure. The secular affairs of the house were committed to his brother; Wulfric, "so that neither himself nor any of the professed monks might break enclosure". A school for the local youth was founded and soon became the most famous of its time in England. But St. Dunstan was not long left in peace. Within two years after the appointment King Eadmund was assassinated (946). His successor, Eadred, appointed the Abbot of Glastonbury guardian of the royal treasure of the realm to his hands. The policy of the government was supported by the queen-mother, Eadgifu, by the primate, Oda, and by the East Anglian party, at whose head was the great ealddorman, Aethelstan, the "Half-king". It was a policy of unification, of conciliation of the Danish half of the nation, of firm establishment of the royal authority. In ecclesiatical matters it favoured the spread of regular observance, the rebuilding of churches, the moral reform of the secular clergy and laity, the extirpation of heathendom. Against all this ardour of reform was the West-Saxon party, which included most of the saint's own relations and the Saxon nobles, and which was not entirely disinterested in its preference for established customs. For nine years St. Dunstan's influence was dominant, during which period he twice refused an bishopric (that of Winchester in 951 and Credition in 953), affirming that he would not leave the king's side so long as he lived and needed him.
In 955 Eadred died, and the situation was at once changed. Eadwig, the elder son of Eadmund, who then came to the throne, was a dissolute and headstrong youth, wholly devoted to the reactionary party and entirely under the influence of two unprincipled women. These were Aethelgifu, a lady of high rank, who was perhaps the king's foster-mother, and her daughter Aelfgifu, whom she desired to marry to Eadwig. On the day of his coronation, in 956, the king abruptly quit the royal feast, in order to enjoy the company of these two women. The indignation of the assembled nobles was voiced by Archbishop Oda, who suggested that he should be brought back. None, however, were found bold enough to make the attempt save St. Dunstan and his kinsman Cynesige, Bishop of Lichfield. Entering the royal chamber they found Eadwig with the two harlots, the royal crown thrown carelessly on the ground. They delivered their message, and as the king took no notice, St. Dunstan compelled him to rise and replace his crown on his head, then, sharply rebuking the two women, he led him back to the banquet-hall. Aethelgifu determined to be revenged, and left no stone unturned to procure the overthrow of St. Dunstan. Conspiring with the leaders of the West-Saxon party she was soon able to turn his scholars against the abbot and before long induced Eadwig to confiscate all Dunstan's property in her favour. At first Dunstan took refuge with his friends, but they too felt the weight of the king's anger. Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, where he found himself ignorant alike of the language and of the customs of the inhabitants. But the ruler of Flanders, Count Arnulf I, received him with honour and lodged him in the Abbey of Mont Blandin, near Ghent. This was one of the centres of the Benedictine revival in that country, and St. Dunstan was able for the first time to observe the strict observance that had had its renascence at Cluny at the beginning of the century. But his exile was not of long duration. Before the end of 957 the Mercians and Northumbrians unable no longer to endure the excesses of Eadwig, revolted and drove him out, choosing his brother Eadzar as king of all the country north of the Thames. The south remained faithful to Eadwig. At once Eadgar's advisers recalled St. Dunstan, caused Archbishop Oda to consecrate him a bishop, and on the death of Cynewold of Worcester at the end of 957 appointed the saint to that see. In the following year the See of London also became vacant and was conferred on St. Dunstan, who held it in conjunction with Worcester. In October, 959, Eadwig died and his brother was readily accepted as ruler of the West-Saxon kingdom. One of the last acts of Eadwig had been to appoint a successor to Archbishop Oda, who died on 2 June, 958. First he appointed Aelfsige of Winchester, but he perished of cold in the Alps as he journeyed to Rome for the pallium. In his place Eadwig nominated Brithelm, Bishop of Wells. As soon as Eadgar became king he reversed this act on the ground that Brithelm had not been able to govern even his former diocese properly. The archbishopric was conferred on St. Dunstan, who went to Rome 960 and received the pallium from Pope John XII. We are told that, on his journey thither, the saint's charities were so lavish as to leave nothing for himself and his attendants. The steward remonstrated, but St. Dunstan merely suggested trust in Jesus Christ. That same evening he was offered the hospitality of a neighbouring abbot.
On his return from Rome Dunstan at once regained his position as virtual ruler of the kingdom. By his advice Aelfstan was appointed to the Bishopric of London, and St. Oswald to that of Worcester. In 963 St. Aethelwold, the Abbot of Abingdon, was appointed to the See of Winchester. With their aid and with the ready support of King Eadgar, St. Dunstan pushed forward his reforms in Church and State. Throughout the realm there was good order maintained and respect for law. Trained bands policed the north, a navy guarded the shores from Danish pirates. There was peace in the kingdom such as had not been known within memory of living man. Monasteries were built, in some of the great cathedrals ranks took the place of the secular canons; in the rest the canons were obliged to live according to rule. The parish priests were compelled to live chastely and to fit themselves for their office; they were urged to teach parishioners not only the truths of the Catholic Faith, but also such handicrafts as would improve their position. So for sixteen years the land prospered. In 973 the seal was put on St. Dunstan's statesmanship by the solemn coronation of King Eadgar at Bath by the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York. It is said that for seven years the king had been forbidden to wear his crown, in penance for violating a virgin living in the care of the nunnery of Wilton. That some severe penance had been laid on him for this act by St. Dunstan is undoubted, but it took place in 961 and Eadgar wore no crown till the great day at Bath in 973. Two years after his crowning Eadgar died, and was succeeded by his eldest son Eadward. His accession was disputed by his step-mother, Aelfthryth, who wished her own son Aethelred to reign. But, by the influence of St. Dunstan, Eadward was chosen and crowned at Winchester. But the death of Eadgar had given courage to the reactionary party. At once there was an determined attack upon the monks, the protagonists of reform. Throughout Mercia they were persecuted and deprived of their possessions by Aelfhere, the ealdorman. Their cause, however, was supported by Aethelwine, the ealdorman of East Anglia, and the realm was in serious danger of civil war. Three meetings of the Witan were held to settle these disputes, at Kyrtlington, at Calne, and at Amesbury. At the second place the floor of the hall (solarium) where the Witan was sitting gave way, and all except St. Dunstan, who clung to a beam, fell into the room below, not a few being killed. In March, 978, King Eadward was assassinated at Corfe Castle, possibly at the instigation of his step-mother, and Aetheled the Redeless became king. His coronation on Low Sunday, 978, was the last action of the state in which St. Dunstsn took part. When the young king took the usual oath to govern well, the primate addressed him in solemn warning, rebuking the bloody act whereby he became king and prophesying the misfortunes that were shortly to fall on the realm. But Dunstan's influence at court was ended. He retired to Canterbury, where he spent the remainder of his life. Thrice only did he emerge from this retreat: once in 980 when he joined Aelfhere of Mercia in the solemn translation of the relics of King Eadward from their mean grave at Wareham to a splendid tomb at Shaftesbury Abbey; again in 984 when, in obedience to a vision of St. Andrew, he persuaded Aethelred to appoint St. Aelfheah to Winchester in succession to St. Aethelwold; once more in 986, when he induced the king, by a donation of 100 pounds of silver, to desist from his persecution of the See of Rochester.
St. Dunstan's life at Canterbury is characteristic; long hours, both day and night, were spent in private prayer, besides his regular attendance at Mass and the Office. Often he would visit the shrines of St. Augustine and St. Ethelbert, and we are told of a vision of angels who sang to him heavenly canticles. He worked ever for the spiritual and temporal improvement of his people, building and restoring churches, establishing schools, judging suits, defending the widow and the orphan, promoting peace, enforcing respect for purity. He practised, also, his handicrafts, making bells and organs and correcting the books in the cathedral library. He encouraged and protected scholars of all lands who came to England, and was unwearied as a teacher of the boys in the cathedral school. There is a sentence in the earliest biography, written by his friend, that shows us the old man sitting among the lads, whom he treated so gently, and telling them stories of his early days and of his forebears. And long after his death we are told of children who prayed to him for protection against harsher teachers, and whose prayers were answered. On the vigil of Ascension Day, 988 he was warned by a vision of angels that he had but three days to live. On the feast itself he pontificated at Mass and preached three times to the people: once at the Gospel, a second time at the benediction (then given after the Pater Noster), and a third time after the Agnus Dei. In this last address he announced his impending death and bade them farewell. That afternoon he chose the spot for his tomb, then took to his bed. His strength failed rapidly, and on Saturday morning (19 May), after the hymn at Matins, he caused the clergy to assemble. Mass was celebrated in his presence, then he received Extreme Unction and the Holy Viaticum, and expired as he uttered the words of thanksgiving: "He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: He hath given food to them that fear Him." They buried him in his cathedral; and when that was burnt down in 1074, his relics were translated with great honour by Lanfranc to a tomb on the south side of the high altar in the new church. The monks of Glastonbury used to claim that during the sack of Canterbury by the Danes in 1012, the saint's body had been carried for safety to their abbey; but this claim was disproved by Archbishop Warham, by whom the tomb at Canterbury was opened in 1508 and the holy relics found. At the Synod of Winchester in 1029, St. Dunstan's feast was ordered to be kept solemnly throughout England on 19 May. Until his fame was overshadowed by that of St. Thomas the Martyr, he was the favourite saint of the English people. His shrine was destroyed at the Reformation. Throughout the Middle Ages he was the patron of the goldsmiths' guild. He is most often represented holding a pair of smith's tongs; sometimes, in reference to his visions, he is shown with a dove hovering near him, or with a troop of angels before him.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. May
1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop
of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05199a.htm
Here followeth the Life of Saint Dunstan.
Saint Dunstan was born in England, and our Lord showed
miracles for him ere he was born. It was so that on a Candlemas day, as all the
people were in the church with tapers in their hands, suddenly all the lights
in the church were quenched at once, save only the taper which Saint Dunstan’s
mother bare, for that burned still fair. Whereof all the people marvelled
greatly; howbeit her taper was out, but by the power of our Lord it lighted
again by itself, and burned full bright, so that all the others came and
lighted their tapers at the taper of Saint Dunstan’s mother. Wherefore all the
people gave laud and thankings unto our Lord God for this great miracle. And
then there was a holy man that said that the child that she then bare should
give light to all England by his holy living.
This holy child Dunstan was born in the year of our
Lord nine hundred and twenty-five, that time reigning in this land king
Athelstan. And Saint Dunstan’s father hight Herston, and his mother hight
Quendred, and they set their son Dunstan to school in the abbey of Glastonbury,
whereafter he was abbot for his holy living. And within a short time after he
went to his uncle Ethelwold, that then was bishop of Canterbury, to whom he was
welcome and was glad of his conversation of holy living. And then he brought
him to King Athelstan, the which made full much of him also for his good
living, and then he was made abbot of Glastonbury by consent of the king and
his brother Edmond, and in that place ruled full well and religiously the monks
his brethren, and drew them to holy living by good ensample giving. Saint
Dunstan and Saint Ethelwold were both made priests
in one day, and he was holy in contemplation. And whenso was that Saint Dunstan
was weary of prayer, then used he to work in goldsmith’s work with his own
hands for to eschew idleness, and he gave alway alms to poor people for the
love of God.
And on a time as he sat at his work his heart was on
Jesu Christ, his mouth occupied with holy prayers, and his hands busy on his
work. But the devil, which ever had great envy at him, came to him in an
eventide in the likeness of a woman, as he was busy to make a chalice, and with
smiling said that she had great things to tell him, and then he bade her say
what she would, and then she began to tell him many nice trifles, and no manner
virtue therein, and then he supposed that she was a wicked spirit, and anon
caught her by the nose with a pair of tongs of iron, burning hot, and then the
devil began to roar and cry, and fast drew away, but Saint Dunstan held fast
till it was far within the night, and then let her go, and the fiend departed
with a horrible noise and cry, and said, that all the people might hear: Alas!
what shame hath this carle done to me, how may I best quit him again? But never
after the devil had lust to tempt him in that craft. And in short time after
died king Athelstan, and Edmond his brother reigned king after him, to whom
Saint Dunstan was chief of counsel, for he gave to him right good counsel to
his life’s end; and then died Edmond the king, and after him reigned his son
Edwin, and soon after Saint Dunstan and he fell at strife for his sinful
living. For Saint Dunstan rebuked the king sharply therefor, but there was none
amendment, but always worse and worse. Wherefore Saint Dunstan was right sorry,
and did all that pain he might to bring the king to amendment, but it would not
be. But the king, within a while after, exiled Saint Dunstan out of this land,
and then he sailed over the sea and came to the abbey of Saint Amand in France,
and there he dwelled long time in full holy life till king Edwin was dead. And
after him reigned Edgar king, a full holy man. And then he heard of the
holiness of Saint Dunstan, and sent for him to be of his council, and received
him with great reverence, and made him again abbot of Glastonbury. And soon
after the bishop of Worcester died, and then Saint Dunstan was made bishop
there by the will of king Edgar. And within a little while after the see of
London was void, to which king Edgar promoted Saint Dunstan also, and so he
held both bishoprics in his hand, that is to wit both the bishopric of
Worcester and the bishopric of London. And after this died the archbishop of
Canterbury, and then king Edgar made Saint Dunstan archbishop of Canterbury,
which he guided well and holily to the pleasure of God, so that in that time of
king Edgar, and Dunstan archbishop, was joy and mirth through the realm of
England, and every man praised greatly Saint Dunstan for his holy life, good
rule, and guiding. And in divers places, whereas he visited and saw curates
that were not good, ne propice for the weal of the souls that they had cure of,
he would discharge them and put them out of their benefices, and set in such as
would entend and were good men, as ye shall find more plainly of this matter in
the life of Saint Oswald.
And on a time as he sat at a prince’s table, he looked
up and saw his father and mother above in heaven, and then he thanked our Lord
God of his great mercy and goodness that it pleased him to show him that sight.
And another time as he lay in his bed he saw the brightness of heaven, and
heard angels singing Kyrie eleison after the note of Kyrie rex splendens, which
was to him a full great comfort. And another time he was in his meditations, he
had hanging on the wall in his chamber an harp, on which otherwhile he would
harp anthems of our Lady, and of other saints, and holy hymns, and it was so
that the harp sounded full melodiously without touching of any hand that he
could see, this anthem was, Gaudent in celis animæ sanctorum, wherein this holy
saint Dunstan had great joy. He had a special grace of our Lord that such
heavenly joys and things were showed to him in this wretched world for his
great comfort. And after this he became all sick and feeble, and upon holy
Thursday he sent for all his brethren and asked of them forgiveness, and also
forgave them all trespasses and assoiled them of all their sins, and the third day
after he passed out of this world to God, full of virtues, the year of our Lord
nine hundred and eighty-eight. And hls soul was borne up to heaven with merry
song of angels, all the people hearing that were at his death. And his body
lieth at Canterbury in a worshipful shrine, whereas our Lord showeth for his
servant Saint Dunstan many fair and great miracles, wherefore our Lord be
praised, world without end. Amen.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-saint-dunstan/
The True Legend of Saint Dunstan and the Devil
The Horse Shoe: The True Legend of Saint Dunstan and the Devil
by Edward G. Flight
illustrated by George Cruikshank
Preface to the Second Edition
The success of the first edition of this little work,
compels its author to say a few words on the issue of a second. “Expressive
silence” would now be in him the excessive impudence of not acknowledging, as
he respectfully does acknowledge, that success to be greatly ascribable to the
eminent artists who have drawn and engraved the illustrations.
“A man’s worst wish for his enemy is that he might
write a book,” is a generally-received notion, of whose accuracy it is hoped
there is no impertinence in suggesting a doubt. To reflect on having
contributed, however slightly, to the innocent amusement of others, without
giving pain to any, is alone an enjoyment well worth writing for. But when even
so unpretending a trifle as this is, can, besides, bring around its obscure
author fresh and valuable friendships, the hackneyed exclamation would appear
more intelligible if rendered thus: “Oh, that my friend would write a
book!”
In former days, possibly, things may have been very
different from what they now are. Haply, the literary highway may, heretofore,
have been not particularly clean, choked with rubbish, badly drained, ill
lighted, not always well paved even with good intentions, and beset with
dangerous characters, bilious-looking Thugs, prowling about, ready to pounce
upon, hocus, strangle, and pillage any new arrival. But all that is now
changed. Now, the path of literature is all velvet and roses. The race of
quacks and impostors has become as extinct, as are the saurian and the dodo;
and every honest flourisher of the pen, instead of being tarred and feathered,
is hailed as a welcome addition to “the united happy family” – of letters.
Much of this agreeable change is owing to the
improvement of the literary police, which is become a respectable, sober,
well-conducted body of men, who seldom go on duty as critics, without a
horse-shoe. Much is owing to the propagation of the doctrines of the Peace
Society, even among that species of the genus irritabile, authors
themselves, who have at last learned
“That brother should not war with brother
And worry and devour each other;
But sing and shine by sweet consent
Till life’s poor transient night is spent.”
Chiefly, however, is the happy change attributable to
the discriminating and impartial judgment of the reading public of this golden
Victorian era. In the present day, it may be considered a general rule, that no
picture is admired, no book pronounced readable, no magazine or newspaper
circulated, unless in each case it developed intrinsic merit. The mere name of
the artist, or author, or editor, has not the slightest weight with our present
intelligent, discriminating community, who are never enslaved, or misled, by
whim, caprice, or fashion. It has been said, but it seems too monstrous for
belief, that, formerly, persons were actually to be found so extremely
indolent, or stupid, or timid, as never to think for themselves; but who
followed with the crowd, like a swarm of bees, to the brazen tinkle of a mere
name! Happily, the minds of the present age are far too active, enlightened,
independent, and fearless, for degradation so unworthy. In our day, the
professed wit hopes not for the homage of a laugh, on his “only asking for the
mustard;” the artist no longer trusts to his signature on the canvas for its
being admired; no amount of previous authorship-celebrity preserves a book from
the trunk-maker; and the newspaper-writer cannot expect an extensive sale,
unless his leaders equal, at least, the frothy head of “Barclay’s porter,” or
possess the Attic salt of “Fortnum and Mason’s hams.” At the same time, the
proudest notable in literature can now no longer swamp, or thrust aside, his
obscurer peers; nor is the humblest votive offering at the shrine of intellect,
in danger, as formerly, from the hoofs of spurious priests, alike insensible to
receive, and impotent to reflect or minister, light or warmth, from the sacred
fire they pretend to cherish. In short, such is the pleasant change which has
come over literary affairs, that, however apposite in past times, there is not,
in the present, any fitness in the exclamation, “Oh, that mine enemy would
write a book!”
With reference to the observation, made by more than
one correspondent, that the horse-shoe has not always proved an infallible
charm against the devil, the author, deferentially, begs to hazard an opinion
that, in every one of such cases, the supposed failure may have resulted from
an adoption of something else than the real shoe, as a protection. Once upon a
time, a witness very sensibly accounted for the plaintiff’s horse having broken
down. “‘Twasn’t the hoss’s fault,” said he; “his plates was wore so thin and so
smooth, that, if he’d been Hal Brook his self, he couldn’t help slipping.”
“You mean,” said the judge, “that the horse, instead
of shoes, had merely slippers?”
Peradventure, the alleged failures may be similarly
accounted for; the party, in each case, having perhaps nailed up, not a shoe,
but a slipper, the learned distinction respecting which was thus judicially
recognized. The deed which the devil signed, must, like a penal statute, be
construed strictly. It says nothing of a slipper; and it has been held by all
our greatest lawyers, from Popham and Siderfin, down to Ambler and Walker, that
a slipper is not a shoe.
Another solution suggests itself. Possibly the
horse-shoe, even if genuine, was not affixed until after the Wicked One had
already got possession. In that case, not only would the charm be inefficacious
to eject him, but would actually operate as a bar to his quitting the premises;
for that eminent juris consult, Mephistopheles himself, has distinctly laid it
down as “a law binding on devils, that they must go out the same way they stole
in.” Nailing up a shoe to keep the devil out, after he has once got in, is
indeed too late; and is something like the literary pastime of the
“Englishman,” who kept on showing cause against the Frenchman’s rule, long
after the latter had, on the motion of his soldiers, already made it absolute
with costs.
There is one other circumstance the author begs to
refer to, from a desire to dispel any uneasiness about our relations with the
Yezidi government. The late distinguished under-secretary for foreign affairs,
as every one knows, not regarding as infra dig. certain great,
winged, human-headed bulls, that would have astonished Mr. Edgeworth, not less
than they puzzle all Smithfield, and the rest of the learned “whose speech is
of oxen,” has imported those extraordinary grand-junction specimens, which,
with their country-folk, the Yezidis, Dr. Layard has particularly described in
his book on Nineveh. When speaking of the Yezidis, he has observed, “The name
of the evil spirit is, however, never mentioned; and any allusion to it by
others so vexes and irritates them, that it is said they have put to death
persons who have wantonly outraged their feelings by its use. So far is their
dread of offending the evil principle carried, that they carefully avoid every expression
which may resemble in sound the name of Satan, or the Arabic word for
‘accursed.’ Thus, in speaking of a river, they will not say Shat, because
it is too nearly connected with the first syllable in Sheitan, the devil;
but substitute Nahr. Nor, for the same reason, will they utter the
word Keitan, thread or fringe. Naal, a horse-shoe, and naal-band,
a farrier, are forbidden words; because they approach to laan, a curse,
and māloun, accursed.” – Layard
Notwithstanding all this, the author has the pleasant
satisfaction of most respectfully assuring his readers, on the authority of the
last Yezidi Moniteur, that the amicable relations of this country with the
Yezidi government are not in the slightest danger of being disturbed by this
little book; and that John Bull is, at present, in no jeopardy of being
swallowed up by those monstrous distant cousins of his, of whom Mr. Layard has
brought home the above-mentioned speaking likenesses.
“And it is for trouth reported, that where this signe
dothe appere, there the Evill Spirite entreth not.” – SERMON ON WITCHES.
“Your wife’s a witch, man; you should nail a
horse-shoe on your chamber-door.” – RED GAUNTLET.
Saint Dunstan and the Devil
In days of yore, when saints were plenty
(For each one now, you’d then find twenty,)
In Glaston’s fruitful vale
Saint Dunstan had his dwelling snug
Warm as that inmate of a rug
Named in no polished tale
The holy man, when not employed
At prayers or meals, to work enjoyed
With anvil, forge, and sledge
These he provided in his cell
With saintly furniture as well;
So chroniclers allege
The peaceful mattock, ploughshare,
spade
Sickle, and pruning-hook he made
Eschewing martial labours
Thus bees will rather honey bring
Than hurtfully employ their sting
In warfare for their neighbours
A cheerful saint too, oft would he
Mellow old Time with minstrelsy, –
But such as gave no scandal;
Than his was never harp more famed;
For Dunstan was the blacksmith named
Harmonious by Handel
And when with tuneful voice he sang
His well-strung harp’s melodious twang
Accompaniment lending;
So sweetly wedded were the twain
The chords flowed mingled with the strain
Mellifluently blending
Now ’tis well known mankind’s great
foe
Oft lurks and wanders to and fro
In bailiwicks and shires;
Scattering broad-cast his mischief-seeds
Planting the germs of wicked deeds
Choking fair shoots with poisonous weeds
Till goodness nigh expires
Well, so it chanced, this tramping
vagrant
Intent on villanies most flagrant
Ranged by Saint Dunstan’s gate;
And hearing music so delicious
Like hooded snake, his spleen malicious
Swelled up with envious hate
Thought Nick, I’ll make his harp a fool;
I’ll push him from his music-stool;
Then, skulking near the saint
The vilest jars Nick loudly sounded
Of brayings, neighings, screams compounded;
How the musician’s ears were wounded
Not Hogarth e’en could paint
The devil fancied it rare fun
“Well! don’t you like my second, Dun?
Two parts sound better sure than one,”
Said he, with queer grimace:
“Come sing away, indeed you shall;
Strike up a spicy madrigal
And hear me do the bass.”
This chaffing Dunstan could not
brook
His clenched fist, his crabbed look
Betrayed his irritation
‘Twas nuts for Nick’s derisive jaw
Who fairly chuckled when he saw
The placid saint’s vexation
“Au revoir, friend, adieu till noon;
Just now you are rather out of tune
Your visage is too sharp;
Your ear perhaps a trifle flat:
When I return, ‘All round my hat’
We’ll have upon the harp.”
A tale, I know, has gone about
That Dunstan twinged him by the snout
With pincers hotly glowing;
Levying, by fieri facias tweak
A diabolic screech and squeak
No tender mercy showing
But antiquarians the most curious
Reject that vulgar tale as spurious;
His reverence, say they
Instead of giving nose a pull
Resolved on vengeance just and full
Upon some future day
Dunstan the saying called to mind
“The devil through his paw behind
Alone shall penal torture find
From iron, lead, or steel.”
Achilles thus had been eternal
Thanks to his baptism infernal
But for his mortal heel
And so the saint, by wisdom guided
To fix old Clootie’s hoof decided
With horse-shoe of real metal
And iron nails quite unmistakable;
For Dunstan, now become implacable
Resolved Nick’s hash to settle
Satan, of this without forewarning
Worse luck for him! the following morning
With simper sauntered in;
Squinted at what the saint was doing
But never smoked the mischief brewing
Putting his foot in’t; soon the shoeing
Did holy smith begin
Oh! ’twas worth coin to see him
seize
That ugly leg, and ‘twixt his knees
Firmly the pastern grasp
The shoe he tried on, burning hot
His tools all handy he had got
Hammer, and nails, and rasp
A startled stare the devil lent
Much wondering what St. Dunstan meant
This preluding to follow
But the first nail from hammer’s stroke
Full soon Nick’s silent wonder broke
For his shrill scream might then have woke
The sleepiest of Sleepy Hollow
And distant Echo heard the sound
Vexing the hills for leagues around
But answer would not render
She may not thus her lips profane:
So Shadow, fearful of a stain
Avoids the black offender
The saint no pity had on Nick
But drove long nails right through the quick;
Louder shrieked he, and faster
Dunstan cared not; his bitter grin
Without mistake, showed Father Sin
He had found a ruthless master
And having driven, clenched, and
filed
The saint reviewed his work, and smiled
With cruel satisfaction;
And jeering said, “Pray, ere you go
Dance me the pas seul named ‘Jim Crow,’
With your most graceful action.”
To tell how Horny yelled and cried
And all the artful tricks he tried
To ease his tribulations
Would more than fill a bigger book
Than ever author undertook
Since the Book of Lamentations
His tail’s short, quick, convulsive
coils
Told of more pain than all Job’s boils
When Satan brought, with subtle toils
Job’s patience to the scratch
For sympathetic tortures spread
From hoof to tail, from tail to head:
All did the anguish catch
And yet, though seemed this sharp correction
Stereotyped in Satan’s recollection
As in his smarting hocks;
Not until he the following deed
Had signed and sealed, St. Dunstan freed
The vagabond from stocks
To all good folk in Christendom to whom this
instrument shall come the Devil sendeth greeting: Know ye that for
himself and heirs said Devil covenants and declares, that never at morn or
evening prayers at chapel church or meeting, never where concords of sweet
sound sacred or social flow around or harmony is woo’d, nor where the
Horse-Shoe meets his sight on land or sea by day or night on lowly sill or
lofty pinnacle on bowsprit helm mast boom or binnacle, said Devil will intrude.
The horse-shoe now saves keel, and
roof
From visits of this rover’s hoof
The emblem seen preventing
He recks the bond, but more the pain
The nails went so against the grain
The rasp was so tormenting
He will not through Granāda march
For there he knows the horse-shoe arch
At every gate attends him
Nor partridges can he digest
Since the dire horse-shoe on the breast
Most grievously offends him
The name of Smith he cannot bear;
Smith Payne he’ll curse, and foully swear
At Smith of Pennsylvania
With looks so wild about the face;
Monro called in, pronounced the case
Clear antismithymania;
And duly certified that Nick
Should be confined as lunatic
Fit subject for commission
But who the deuce would like to be
The devil’s person’s committee?
So kindred won’t petition
Now, since the wicked fiend’s at
large
Skippers, and housekeepers, I charge
You all to heed my warning
Over your threshold, on your mast
Be sure the horse-shoe’s well nailed fast
Protecting and adorning
Here note, if humourists by trade
On waistcoat had the shoe displayed
Lampoon’s sour spirit might be laid
And cease its spiteful railing
Whether the humour chanced to be
Joke, pun, quaint ballad, repartee
Slang, or bad spelling, we should see
Good humour still prevailing
And oh! if Equity, as well
As Nisi Prius, would not sell
Reason’s perfection ever
To wrangling suitors sans horse-shoe
Lawyers would soon have nought to do
Their subtle efforts ceasing too
Reason from right to sever
While Meux the symbol wears, tant
mieux
Repelling sinful aid to brew
His liquid strains XX;
Still, I advise, strong drinks beware
No horse-shoe thwarts the devil there
Or demon-mischief checks
And let me rede you, Mr. Barry
Not all your arms of John, Dick, Harry
Plantagenet, or Tudor;
Nor your projections, or your niches
Affluent of crowns and sculptile riches
Will scare the foul intruder
He’ll care not for your harp a
whistle
Nor lion, horse, rose, shamrock, thistle
Horn’d head, or Honi soit;
Nor puppy-griffs, though doubtless meant
Young senators to represent
Like Samson, armed with jaw
Only consult your sober senses
And ponder well the consequences
If in some moment evil
The old sinner should take Speaker’s chair
Make Black Rod fetch the nobles there
And with them play the devil!
Then do not fail, great architect
Assembled wisdom to protect
From Satan’s visitation
With horse-shoe fortify each gate
Each lion’s paw; and then the State
Is safe from ruination
Postscript
The courteous reader’s indulgence will, it is hoped,
extend to a waiver of all proofs and vouchers in demonstration of the
authenticity of this tale, which is “simply told as it was told to me.” Any one
who can show that it is not the true tale, will greatly oblige, if he can and
will a tale unfold, that is the true one. If this is not the true
story and history of the horse-shoe’s charm against the wicked one, what is?
That’s the question.
There’s nothing like candour; and so it is here
candidly and ingenuously confessed that the original deed mentioned in the
poem, has hitherto eluded the most diligent searches and researches. As yet, it
cannot be found, notwithstanding all the patient, zealous, and persevering
efforts of learned men, erudite antiquarians, law and equity chiffonniers, who
have poked and pored, in, through, over, and among, heaps, bundles, and
collections, of old papers, vellums, parchments, deeds, muniments, documents,
testaments, instruments, ingrossments, records, writings, indentures, deed
polls, escrows, books, bills, rolls, charters, chirographs, and
exemplifications, in old English, German text, black letter, red letter,
round-hand, court-hand, Norman French, dog Latin, and law gibberish, occupying
all sorts of old boxes, old bookcases, old chests, old cupboards, old desks,
old drawers, old presses, and old shelves, belonging to the Dunstan branch of
the old Smith family. At one moment, during the searches, it is true, hopes
were excited on the perception of a faint brimstone odour issuing from an
antiquated iron box found among some rubbish; but instead of any vellum or
parchment, there were only the unused remains of some bundles of veteran
matches, with their tinder-box accomplice, which had been thrown aside and
forgotten, ever since the time when the functions of those old hardened
incendiaries, flint and steel, were extinguished by the lucifers. All further
search, it is feared, will be in vain; and the deed is now believed to be as
irrecoverably lost, as the musty muster-roll of Battle Abbey.
A legal friend has volunteered an opinion, that
certain supposed defects in the alleged deed evince its spuriousness, and even
if genuine, its inefficiency. His words are, “The absence of all legal
consideration, that is to say, valuable consideration, such as money, or
money’s worth; or good consideration, such as natural love and affection, would
render the deed void, or voidable, as a mere nudum pactum. [See Plowden.]
Moreover, an objection arises from there being no Anno Domini, [Year Book,
Temp. Ric. III.] and no Anno Regni, [Croke Eliz.] and no condition in
pœnam. [Lib. Ass.] Now, if the original deed had been thus defective, the
covenanting party thereto is too good a lawyer, not to have set it aside.”
To these learned subtleties it may be answered, that
the deed was evidently intended, not so much as an instrument effectively
binding “the covenanting party,” as a record whereby to justify a renewal of
punishment, in case of contravention of any of the articles of treaty. It would
have been informal to make mention of money as the consideration, it being
patent that this “covenanting party” considers it of no value at all. For
however dearly all “good folk in Christendom” may estimate and hug the precious
bane, as the most valuable consideration on earth, he, old sinner that he is,
wickedly disparages it, as being mere filthy lucre, only useful
horticulturally, to manure his hot-beds of iniquity. With regard to the
consideration of natural love and affection, it is humbly submitted that the
facts are at variance with such a suggestion.
Another friend, not of the legal, but the equestrian
order, has tendered, according to his ideas, an explanation of the especial
protecting virtue of the horseshoe. His notions are given as follows, ipsissimis
verbis. “There is not in the whole world, a nobler animal than that splendid
fellow, the horse. He is the embodiment of all that is magnificent, possessing
strength, swiftness, courage, sagacity, and gracefulness. He never drinks more
than he needs, or says more than he ought. If he were an opposition M.P. – and
a horse was once a consul – his speech against Government bills, would be only
a dignified neigh. Base and unworthy measures he disdains.
“Who ever knew this honest brute
At law his neighbour prosecute;
Bring action for assault and battery
Or friend beguile with lies and flattery?
“His proud step is on all fours with his love of a
fair field and no favour. The grandeur of his nature is such, that the idea of
a beggar on horseback is proverbially the most revolting of all inequitable
absurdities and incongruities in human economy; while, on the other hand, as
was once well remarked by a distinguished lecturer, this superb animal stamped
his very name itself on that for which our loftiest princes and nobles, before
the present degenerate age of iron, were emulous of distinguishing themselves.
In proportion as they developed unblemished honour, with undaunted bravery,
graceful bearing, and magnanimous generosity, were they deemed worthy to rank
among Christendom’s bright chivalry.
“The horse-shoe was, no doubt, regarded as typical of
the noble qualities of its wearer. These being so hateful to the ugly, sly,
intriguing, slandering, malevolent, ill-conditioned, pettifogging, pitiful
arch-enemy, it might well be supposed that the mere apparition of that type
would scare him away. To this supposition is ascribable the adoption of the
horse-shoe, as an infallible charm against the visits of old Iniquity.”
But mere “supposition” is no answer to the question
above propounded.
An acknowledgment is due, and is hereby offered, to the unknown correspondent,
who has obligingly communicated the following copy of the coat of arms of the
Dunstan family.
“Azure, on a chevron gules between three harps, a horse-shoe supported by two pairs of pincers, proper. Crest – An arm embowed, couped at the shoulder, the hand grasping a hammer, all proper. Motto – ‘SARUED HYM RIGHTE.'”
Taken from The Horse
Shoe: The True Legend of Saint Dunstan and the Devil, Showing How the
Horse-Shoe Came to be a Charm Against Witchcraft by Edward G
Flight, with illustrations by George Cruikshank, engraved by John Thompson, 3rd
edition, London, England, 1871. Text and illustrations available on the Project
Gutenberg web site. E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, David Garcia, and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-true-legend-of-saint-dunstan-and-the-devil/
Dunstan of Canterbury,
OSB B (RM)
Born at Baltonsborough
near Glastonbury, England, c. 909; died 988. Dunstan, born of a noble
Anglo-Saxon family with connections to the ruling house of Wessex, was one of
the great figures in English history. He received his early education from the
Irish monks at Glastonbury. While still young, he was sent as a page to the
court of Athelstan.
He had already received
the tonsure, and his uncle, Bishop Saint Alphege the Bald of Winchester,
encouraged him to join the religious life. Dunstan hesitated for some time and
nearly got married, but after recovering from a skin condition he believed to
be leprosy, he received the habit (in 934) and holy orders from his uncle the
same day as Saint Ethelwold circa 939.
He returned to
Glastonbury and is thought to have built a small cell next to the old church,
where he engaged in prayer, study, and manual labor that included making bells
and sacred vessels for the church and copying or illuminating books. He is said
to have excelled as a painter, embroiderer, harpist, bell-founder, and metal
worker. As Dunstan would play the harp and sing to the nuns of the abbey as
they embroidered his designs. Once, it is said, when he hung up his harp on the
wall and left the room for a while, the harp continued to play of its own
accord, caused, no doubt, by a current of air vibrating the strings. But the
residents of the abbey took it to be an omen of Dunstan's future greatness.
Dunstan also loved the
music of the human voice: when he sang at the altar, wrote a contemporary,
"he seemed to be talking with the Lord face to face." As one skilled
in the arts, Dunstan stimulated the revival of church art.
Athelstan's successor,
Edmund, called him to court to act as a royal counselor and treasurer. In 943,
King Edmund I narrowly escaped death while hunting, he appointed Dunstan abbot
of Glastonbury with the commission to restore monastic life there and richly
endowed the monastery. According to the old Saxon chronicle, Dunstan was only
18 when he became abbot of Glastonbury.
Dunstan restored the
monastery buildings and the Church of Saint Peter. By introducing monks among
the priests already in residence, he enforced regular discipline without making
waves. He made the abbey into a great center of learning. Dunstan also
revitalized other monasteries in Glastonbury.
The murder of King Edmund
was followed by the accession of his brother Edred, who made Dunstan one of his
top advisors. Dunstan became deeply embroiled in secular politics and incurred
the wrath of the West Saxon nobles for denouncing their immorality and for
urging peace with the Danes.
In 955, Edred died and
was succeeded by his 16-year-old nephew Edwy. On the day of his coronation,
Edwy left the royal banquet to see a girl named Elgiva and her mother. For this
he was sternly rebuked by Dunstan, and the prince deeply resented the
chastisement. With the support of the opposing party, Dunstan was disgraced,
his property confiscated, and he was exiled.
He spent a year then in
Ghent, Flanders, and there he came into contact with reformed continental
monasticism. This experience fueled his vision of Benedictine perfection that
would inspire his work from then on.
A rebellion broke out in
England; the north and east deposed Edwy and put his brother Edgar the Peaceful
on the throne. Edgar recalled Dunstan and appointed him chief adviser, in 957
bishop of Worcester, and bishop of London in 958. On Edwy's death in 959, the
kingdom was reunited under Edgar, who appointed Dunstan archbishop of
Canterbury in 961. Together the two initiated a policy of reform to solidify
both the Church and the country. At Canterbury, Dunstan founded an abbey east
of the city and three churches: Saint Mary, SS. Peter and Paul, and Saint
Pancras.
In 961, Dunstan went to
Rome to receive the pallium and was appointed by Pope John XII a legate of the
Holy See. With this authority, he set about re-establishing ecclesiastical
discipline, under the protection of King Edgar and assisted by Saint Ethelwold,
the bishop of Winchester, and Saint Oswald, the bishop of Worcester and the
archbishop of York. In those days, English monastic life had almost vanished as
a result of the Danish invasions. They restored most of the great monasteries,
such as Abingdon, that had been destroyed during the Danish incursions and
founded new ones.
Dunstan founded
monasteries at Bath, Exeter, Westminster, Malmesbury, and other places. He drew
up rules for each to instill good order. Recalcitrant secular priests were
ejected and replaced by monks in Winchester, Chertsey, Surrey, and Dorset.
About 970 a conference of bishops, abbots, and abbesses drew up a national code
of monastic observance, the Regularis Concordia. It was in line with
continental custom and the Rule of Saint Benedict but had its own features: the
monasteries were to be integrated into the life of the people, and their
influence was not to be confined within the monastery walls.
Clergy who had been
living scandalous lives or boldly disregarding canonical laws of celibacy were
reformed. Dunstan remained firm in his moral standards, even to deferring
Edgar's coronation for 14 years--likely due to a disapproval of Edgar's
scandalous behavior. He modified the coronation rite, and some of his
modifications devised for Edgar's coronation in Bath in 973 survive to this
day.
Through 16 years of Edgar's
reign, Dunstan acted as his chief adviser, criticizing him freely. One on
occasion when the king had been guilty of immorality, Dunstan withstood him to
his face, refusing to take his outstretched hand and turned abruptly from him
with the words: "I am no friend of the enemy of Christ." Later he
imposed a penance that for seven years the king was not to wear his crown.
Dunstan continued to
direct the state during the short reign of the succeeding king, Edward the
Martyr, Dunstan's protege. The death of the young king, connected with the
antimonastic reaction following Edgar's death, grieved Dunstan terribly. His
political career now over, he returned to Canterbury to teach at the cathedral
school, where visions, prophecies, and miracles were attributed to him. He was
especially devoted to the Canterbury saints, whose tombs he visited at night.
On the feast of the
Ascension in 988 the archbishop was ill but celebrated Mass and preached three
times to his people, to whom he declared that he would soon die. Two days later
he died peacefully in his Cathedral of Christ Church, where he is buried. He is
considered the reviver of monasticism in England. It has been said that the
10th century gave shape to English history, and that Dunstan gave shape to the
10th century. He composed several hymns, notably Kyrie Rex spendens (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Duckett, Fisher, Gill, White).
In art, he is shown as a
bishop holding the devil (or his nose) with a pair of pincers; or with a
crucifix speaking to him (White). He might also be shown (1) holding the tongs;
(2) working as a goldsmith; (3) playing a harp; (4) with a host of angels near
him; (5) with a dove; or (6) as a monk prostrate at the feet of Christ (in a
drawing said to be his own) (Roeder).
He is the patron saint of
armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, jewelers (Delaney, White), blacksmiths,
musicians, and the blind (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0519.shtml
.jpg)
Икона святого Данстана Кентерберийского, XX век.
May 19
St. Dunstan, Archbishop
of Canterbury, Confessor
HE was a native of the
town of Glastenbury, of noble birth, and received his education under certain
Irish monks who were excellent masters of the sciences, and at that time
resided at Glastenbury, which, the wars had left in a most ruinous condition.
Dunstan outstripped his companions in every branch of literature which he
thought worth his attention, and through the recommendation of Athelmus,
archbishop of Canterbury, his uncle, with whom he had lived some time, was
called to the court of the great king Athelstan, a lover of virtue and learned
men. He enjoyed the favour of that prince above all the rest who had the honour
to approach his person, till envy made him feel the usual instability of the
fortune of courtiers. Dunstan had in his youth received the clerical tonsure
and the lesser orders, and from his cradle been fervent in practising every
means of virtue, especially of modesty, purity, and humility. After he left the
court he took the monastic habit, being advised thereto by Elphegus the Bald,
bishop of Winchester, also his uncle, who not long after ordained him priest.
When he was well grounded in the knowledge and practice of the duties of his
profession, the bishop, on giving him proper instructions for his conduct, sent
him to Glastenbury, with the view of serving that church. Here he built for himself
a small cell, five feet long, and two and a half broad, with an oratory
adjoining to the wall of the great church which was dedicated under the
invocation of the Mother of God. In this hermitage he spent his time in prayer
and fasting. He had also his hours for manual labour, which is a part of
penance, and necessary to shun idleness. His labour consisted in making
crosses, vials, censers, and sacred vestments; he likewise painted and copied
good books. King Athelstan dying after a glorious reign of sixteen years, the
throne was filled by his brother Edmund, who succeeded to the crown in 900. His
palace of Chedder was but nine miles from Glastenbury, to which church he often
resorted with singular devotion, and having been long acquainted with the sanctity
of St. Dunstan, he installed him the nineteenth abbot of that house from St.
Brithwald, who was the first Englishman who had governed it, two hundred and
seventy years before. 1 King
Edmund had reigned only six years and a half, when he was treacherously
murdered, and buried at Glastenbury. His sons Edwi and Edgar being too young to
govern, his brother Edred was called to the crown, who did nothing but by the
advice of St. Dunstan. He ended his pious life in 955, and was succeeded by his
nephew Edwi, a most debauched and profligate youth, who, on the very day on
which he was anointed king, left his nobles at the royal banquet to go to see
his harlot and impious flatterers. St. Dunstan followed him, and endeavoured by
a severe check to put him in mind of the duty which he owed to God and men. In
requital, the tyrant banished him, persecuted all the monks in his kingdom, and
ruined all the abbeys which had escaped the devastation of the Danes, except
Glastenbury and Abingdon.
St. Dunstan spent one
year in exile in Flanders, and, according to Osbern, at St. Peter’s at Ghent,
where his vestment is still shown; but, according to John of Glastenbury, at
St. Amand’s; the tradition and monuments of both places show, that he divided
the year between them. He filled all Flanders with the odour of his sanctity,
and the example of his virtues; but the Mercians and northern provinces shaking
off the yoke of the tyrant Edwi, placed the crown on Edgar, who immediately
recalled St. Dunstan, made him his principal counsellor, and in 957 preferred
him to the bishopric of Worcester, to which he was consecrated by St. Odo,
archbishop of Canterbury. The see of London becoming vacant shortly after, he
was compelled at the same time also to govern that diocess, notwithstanding his
opposition, the public disorders requiring so strenuous a reformer of
discipline and manners. King Edwi having reigned over all England one year, and
over the southern part four years, ended a wicked life by an unhappy death in
959, when Edgar became sole monarch of the English nation, which he governed
with the greatest courage, prudence, and glory. In 961, St. Dunstan was raised
to the metropolitan see of Canterbury, though he used every device possible to
decline that dignity. He was moreover appointed by Pope John XII., legate, of
the holy see. Being vested with this authority, he set himself about
re-establishing every where ecclesiastical discipline, which had been much
impaired by the confusion of the Danish invasions, and the tyranny of king
Edwi; in which he was powerfully protected by king Edgar, and assisted by his
two disciples, St. Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, and St. Oswald, bishop of
Worcester and archbishop of York. These three prelates restored most of the
great monasteries in England. To establish in them a uniform and perfect
regular discipline, St. Dunstan compiled the Concord of Rules, extant in Reyner
and Spelman, in which he incorporates several old monastic customs with the
rule of St. Bennet. The reformation of the clergy was no less the object of his
zeal. For their use he drew up excellent regulations, which may be seen in
Spelman 2 under
this title: Canons published under King Edgar. Several among the secular clergy
had, through the disorder of the times, fallen into so open a violation of the
canons as to presume to marry. These St. Dunstan expelled from the churches and
monasteries into which they had intruded themselves, and brought in monks in
their place, who had been in possession of divers of them before the Danish
devastations. At Winchester, when St. Ethelwold had ejected the secular canons
for incontinency, and placed monks in his cathedral, the former appealed from
his proceedings. A synod therefore was held at Winchester, in 968. In this
venerable assembly was heard a voice as coming from a crucifix in the place,
which said distinctly, “God forbid it should be so. You have judged well: to
change your decree is not good.” Upon which the synod confirmed what St.
Ethelwold had done, and king Edward the martyr made this decree a law of the
state.
St. Dunstan was no less
vigorous in maintaining discipline among the laity, in which no motives of
human respect were ever able to daunt him, or to damp his zeal. King Edgar had
the misfortune to fall into a scandalous crime, by deflouring a virgin who had
been educated in the monastery of Wilton, and who, to elude his pursuits, had
put on a religious veil, but had not made any profession or vows. St. Dunstan
being informed of this scandal, went in haste to the court, and like another
Nathan reproved the king in a zealous, but respectful manner. The prince,
struck with remorse, begged with many tears that a suitable penance might be
enjoined him, and became a faithful imitator of the perfect royal penitent David.
The archbishop enjoined him a penance for seven years; during which term he was
never to wear his crown, was ordered to fast twice a week, and to give large
alms. Another part of his penance was to found a nunnery, in which many holy
virgins might consecrate themselves chaste spouses to Christ, in satisfaction
for his crime in having violated a virgin. These conditions the king faithfully
performed, and founded a rich monastery of nuns at Shaftsbury. The term of his
penance being elapsed in 973, St. Dunstan, in a public assembly of the lords
and prelates, set the crown again upon his head. This great king ruled sixteen
years, and dying in the thirty-second year of his age, left the kingdom to his
eldest son, Edward the martyr. The death of that pious young prince was a
grievous affliction to St. Dunstan, who, when he crowned his younger brother,
in 979, foretold the weakness and the dreadful calamities of his reign. The
Welsh bishops had always been governed by the archbishop of St. David’s till
about the year 983, when we find Gacon consecrated bishop of Landaff by St.
Dunstan; from which time the see of St. David’s lost its metropolitical
jurisdiction.
St. Dunstan frequently
visited the churches over the whole kingdom, everywhere preaching and
instructing the faithful with great zeal. Such were the dignity and the
eloquence with which he delivered the word of God, that few were so hardened as
to withstand the power of his exhortations. He employed his revenues in
relieving the poor, he reconciled differences, refuted errors, and laboured
incessantly in extirpating vices and abuses. But neither the care of his
church, nor the attendance he was obliged often to give to the state, made him
ever forget to find time for holy prayer and retirement; and after the occupations
of the day, he watched late at night in the private communications of his soul
with God. Glastenbury was his dearest solitude, and thither he would often
retire from the world to devote himself entirely to heavenly contemplation. At
Canterbury it was always his custom to visit in the night, even in the coldest
weather, the church of St. Austin without the walls, and that of the Blessed
Virgin adjoining to it. Finding himself taken ill in that city, he prepared
himself for his last hour by redoubling his fervour in all his practices of
penance and devotion. On the feast of the ascension of our Lord, he preached
thrice on that triumphant mystery, exhorting all to follow our Redeemer and
Head in spirit and desire. Whilst he spoke, his countenance, like that of Moses
coming down from the mount, seemed to shine and dart forth rays of light. In
the close of his last discourse, he begged the prayers of his audience, and
told his flock that God called him from them. At which words all that heard him
were filled with inexpressible grief. In the afternoon he went again to the
church, and appointed a place for his burial; then he took to his bed, and on
the Saturday following, the 19th of May, having received the viaticum, he
calmly expired; closing his corporal eyes to the world, and at the same instant
opening those of his soul to behold God with his angels in glory. His death
happened the 19th of May, 988, the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the
twenty-seventh of his archiepiscopal dignity. He was buried in his own
cathedral in the place he had appointed. John of Glastenbury relates that his
bones were translated to Glastenbury in 1012, two years after the martyrdom of
St. Elphege; but this at most could only be true of some portion thereof; for
in 1508, archbishop Warham found his relics remaining under his monument, which
was then on the south side of the high altar. See his life in Mabillon, (Sæc.
Ben. 5, p. 659,) by Osbern, precenter of Canterbury in 1070, and that by
Eadmer, in 1121; in Wharton, t. 1, p. 211. See also John of Glastenbury, in his
history of that abbey, published by Mr. Hearne, t. 1, p. 115, ad p. 147,
likewise Henschenius, t. 4, Maij, p. 334.
Note 1. The
West-Saxon kings exceedingly enriched the abbey of Glastenbury, as may be seen
by their charters extant in John of Glastenbury, &c. But it had been famous
in the times of the Britons, and its church was the oldest in Britain, founded
by those who first planted the faith of Christ in this island; which happened
about the end of the reign of Tiberius, says Gildas, though few at first
embraced it, as he adds. Metaphrastes quotes a passage from Eusebius, importing
that St. Peter preached in Britain. Fortunatus, Sophronius, &c. affirm the
same of St. Paul. It is at least certain from Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius,
Theodoret, &c. that the light of the gospel had diffused its rays into
Britain soon after the dispersion of the apostles. William of Malmesbury, (l.
de Antiquitatibus Glastoniæ, published by the learned Thomas Gale,) relates
from very ancient records, that the old church of Glastenbury was built by
those who had sown the first seeds of faith in Britain. This island amidst
marshes was first called Avallona, or isle of apples, from the British word
Aval, apples, because it abounded with apple-trees, which were very scarce in
those parts. When twelve brothers came from North-Britain to seek settlements
in that country, the youngest, named Glasteing, settled in this island, which
from him took the name of Glastenbury. William of Malmesbury, (l. de Antiq.
Glaston.) says, that St. Patrick, in 433, finding in this island twelve
anchorets, gathered them together in a monastery which he built near the old
church, and was himself the first abbot. Some think this St. Patrick the same
who was the apostle of Ireland; but all the Glastenbury writers agree, that
this St. Patrick died and lay buried at Glastenbury. Most of the British saints
of note, who lived before the coming of the Saxons, are said to have been
buried here, or at least to have for some time retired to this place of
devotion. In Powel’s History of Wales, p. 13, 14, it is related that
Cadwallader, the last king of the Britons, fled from the swords of the Saxons
into Wales, and soon after went to Rome never to return. Alan his cousin, a British
king, reigned in Armorica, where a great number of Britons, who had followed
Maximus by his grant, had settled themselves with their leader, named Conan,
lord of Meriadoc. This prince, hearing of the retreat of Cadwallader, sailed to
Wales, and having raised an army, sent his son Ivor at the head of it against
the West-Saxons, whom he defeated. The conquest of Cornwall, Devon, and
Somersetshire, was the fruit of his victory, and by a treaty and intermarriage
he obtained quiet possession of the same, and was first king of that British
state. This historian tells us that Ivor founded the monastery of Glastenbury,
called by the Britons Inys-Avalon; for though he found there a church which was
as ancient as Christianity in Britain, he first converted it into an abbey
about the year 700. If monks had been placed there before, the wars had
probably dispersed them, or much reduced their number. The annals of the abbey
of Morgan in Glamorganshire, published by Gale, relate that in 1191, in digging
a grave for a monk, were found here the bones of King Arthur, of an enormous
size, with this inscription: “Here lies the illustrious King Arthur, buried in
the isle of Avallona.” Those of his wife Queen Guenhavere, with the hair
entire, lay above his coffin in the same grave. Powel places this discovery in
1179, and mentions that their bodies were laid in a hollow elder-tree, buried
fifteen feet in the earth. Over the bones was laid a stone with a cross of
lead, and on the lower side the above-mentioned inscription. On the king’s
skull were the marks of ten wounds, one of them very large. The queen’s hair
seemed to the sight fair and yellow, but when touched crumbled presently to
dust. This discovery is also related by John of Glastenbury, in his history of
that abbey, published by Mr. Hearne. This last author enumerates the principal
relics which were possessed by this abbey, as those of SS. Aidan, Ceolfrid,
Boisil, Bede, Bennet, Biscop, Oswald, &c. (brought thither from the North
by King Edmund the elder in his victorious wars); also of St. Valerius, B. M.,
St. Anastasius, and SS. Abdon and Sennen, given by King Edgar, St. David,
&c., likewise a considerable portion of the true cross of Christ, given by
King Alfred, who had received it from Pope Martin. Some account of the rich
treasury formerly belonging to this most venerable church, in which were
innumerable monuments of the piety of all the most glorious among the
West-Saxon kings, may be seen in the history of the said John, and in the
Monasticons. [back]
Note 2. Conc. Angl.
t. 1, p. 447. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/5/193.html
Saint Dunstan. Stipple engraving by R. Cooper.
San Dunstano Monaco e vescovo
Baltonsborough, Somerset, 910 c. - 19 maggio 988
Nasce a Baltonsborough, nella contea di Somerset, intorno al 910. Ancora fanciullo è affidato all'abbazia di Glastonbury, tenuta da sacerdoti secolari. Nel 925 suo zio Atelmo, arcivescovo di Canterbury, lo introduce nella corte di Atelstano. Ne viene cacciato dieci anni dopo per le accuse di consanguinei invidiosi. Spinto da uno zio, sant'Elfego, vescovo di Winchester, Dunstano decide di farsi monaco durante una grave malattia. Emessi i voti monastici a titolo puramente personale, perché il monachismo è pressocché scomparso dall'isola, e ordinato poco dopo sacerdote assieme all'amico sant'Etelvoldo, va già progettando la restaurazione della vita monastica, quando nel 943 il nuovo re Edmondo lo nomina abate di Glastonbury. In 15 anni, Dunstano fa di questa abbazia il centro del nuovo monachismo benedettino in Inghilterra. Degli oppositori, però, inducono il nuovo re, Edwig, sedicenne, ad espellerlo dall'isola. Due anni dopo, nel 958, il nuovo re Edgaro il Pacifico lo richiama in patria e gli affida la sede di Worcester (958), poi quella di Londra (959) e finalmente la sede primaziale di Canterbury (960). Dopo aver fatto fiorire la riforma del monachesimo inglese, muore il 19 maggio 988. (Avvenire)
Patronato: Ciechi, Fabbri
Emblema: Bastone pastorale, Pinze
Martirologio Romano: A Canterbury in Inghilterra, san Dunstano, vescovo, che, dapprima abate di Glastonbury, rinnovò e propagò la vita monastica e nella sede episcopale di Worcester, poi di Londra e, infine, di Canterbury si adoperò per promuovere la concordia dei monaci e delle monache prescritta dalla regola.
Nacque a Baltonsborough, nella contea di Somerset, intorno al 910, da nobile famiglia, imparentata con quella reale e che aveva già dato tre vescovi. Ancora fanciullo fu affidato all'abbazia di Glastonbury, tenuta da sacerdoti secolari. Vi ricevette una buona formazione non solo nelle lettere, ma anche nelle arti della pittura, miniatura, oreficeria e nel suono dell'arpa. La tradizione gli attribuisce il Kirie, Rex splendens, il VII dell'ed. Vaticana.
Nel 925 suo zio Atelmo,
arcivescovo di Canterbury, lo introdusse nella corte di Atelstano (92439). Ne
fu cacciato dieci anni dopo per le accuse di consanguinei invidiosi; pensava di
sposarsi, ma un altro zio, s. Elfego, vescovo di Winchester, insisteva perché
si facesse monaco. Dunstano prese questa decisione durante una grave malattia
che lo portò sull'orlo della tomba. Emessi i voti monastici a titolo puramente
personale, perché il monachismo era pressocché scomparso dall'isola, e ordinato
poco dopo sacerdote assieme all'amico s. Etelvoldo, andava già progettando la
restaurazione della vita monastica, quando nel 94345 il nuovo re Edmondo
(939-46) lo nominò abate di Glastonbury. In quindici anni, Dunstano fece di
questa abbazia il focolare del nuovo monachismo benedettino in Inghilterra, una
fucina di abati e di vescovi. Di là egli influiva anche sulla politica
religiosa di Edmondo e del suo successore Edred (946-55). Non mancavano però
degli oppositori, i quali indussero il nuovo re, lo scostumato Edwig (955-58),
sedicenne, ad espellerlo dall'isola. Allora Dunstano fu ospite del monastero di
S. Pietro a Gand, di recente riformato da Cluny, sicché poté arricchirsi anche
di quest'altra esperienza monastica. Due anni dopo, nel 958, il nuovo re Edgaro
il Pacifico (957-75) lo richiamò in patria e gli diede la sede di Worcester
(958), poi quella di Londra (959) e finalmente la sede primaziale di Canterbury
(960).
In qualità di primate
Dunstano, nel 961, consacrò vescovo di Worcester s. Osvaldo, già monaco di
Fleury, e nel 963 vescovo di Winchester s. Etelvoldo. E così tre grandi vescovi
provenienti dal monachismo erano alla testa della riforma monastica dell'isola,
che in questo tempo toccò il suo apogeo con una trentina di monasteri maschili
e sei femminili. Per impedire che la diversità delle consuetudini e l'ingerenza
dei laici provocassero divisioni e contrasti, il concilio di Winchester del 975
ca. promulgò la Regularis concordia Anglicae nationis monachoram
sanctimonialiumque, opera di s. Etelvoldo, ma composta sotto l'influsso
dell'esperienza monastica di Dunstano il quale continuava anche ad influenzare
la politica religiosa del re Edgaro e poi quella del successore s. Edoardo il
Martire. Dopo l'assassinio di questi, Dunstano, vecchio ormai, si limitò alla
cura della diocesi.
I biografi ce lo mostrano
occupato nell'istruzione religiosa del suo popolo, nell'esercizio della
giustizia ecclesiastica e nelle opere di misericordia, ma soprattutto nella
preghiera liturgica e privata; unico svago la correzione di qualche
manoscritto. Morì il 19 maggio 988 e fu sepolto nella cattedrale di Canterbury.
Numerosi miracoli gli furono attribuiti in vita e ancor più dopo la morte,
sicché il culto verso di lui si diffuse rapidamente. "Ci volle la gloria
di s. Tommaso Becket, l'arcivescovo martire, per eclissare quella del grande
riformatore del sec. X" (Vies des Saints, V, p. 370).
Autore: Ireneo
Daniele
