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Saint Cuthbert of Canterbury (d. 26 October 760) was a noble-born Anglo-Saxon abbot, likely Bishop of Hereford, and Archbishop of Canterbury who labored for the reform of clergy and people. He presided over the great Council of Clovesho, corresponded with Saint Boniface, and built the church of Saint John the Baptist at Canterbury, where he was buried. Venerated as a saint with feast on 26 October, he is remembered for pastoral zeal, learning, and care for the faith of the laity.
Cuthbert was of noble birth among the Anglo-Saxons. He first appears in the sources as abbot of Lyminge Abbey. Tradition, drawing especially on later writers such as Florence of Worcester, identifies him with the Cuthbert who became Bishop of Hereford in 736; if so, he served that see for about four years and is credited with composing an epitaph for the tombs of three predecessors. Whether or not he held Hereford, his elevation to the archbishopric of Canterbury in 740 is widely linked to the influence of King Æthelbald of Mercia, whose power was then extending into Kent.
As archbishop he no longer claimed authority over all Britain as Theodore had done. In 735 Pope Gregory III had sent the pallium to the bishop of York, raising that see to an archbishopric; thereafter Cuthbert consecrated only bishops south of the Humber, and only southern bishops attended his synods. He received a long letter from Saint Boniface of Mainz lamenting the lax morals of the clergy in the British Isles and the excessive drinking of Anglo-Saxon bishops. Cuthbert answered the call to reform. In 747, together with King Æthelbald, he presided over the Council of Clovesho. That gathering required all clergy to explain the basic tenets of the Christian faith to the laity, regulated clerical dress and conduct, strengthened control of monasteries, and ordered each diocese to hold a synod to proclaim the council's decisions. At Cuthbert's command the acts were collected in writing; he sent his deacon Cynebert to Rome with a report for the pope. He continued to correspond with Boniface until the latter's martyrdom in 754, then sent condolences to Boniface's successor Lull, himself an Englishman and Archbishop of Mainz. A further synod under Cuthbert is recorded in 758, though its enactments are unknown. His letters to the Anglo-Saxon missionaries on the Continent show him to have been highly educated; a few poems are also attributed to him.
At Canterbury he built a new church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, on the west side of the cathedral. It served as a baptistery and later as a burial place for many archbishops. Cuthbert died on 26 October 760 and was buried in the church he had founded—the first Archbishop of Canterbury not laid to rest at Saint Augustine's Abbey. He was afterward regarded as a saint, and his feast is kept on the day of his death.
May Saint Cuthbert intercede for us, and let us imitate today his zeal to teach the faith clearly to the people of God.
Fuentes: Wikidata Wikipedia Causes of Saints También listado Wikidata
Calendario Romano General · Liturgical Calendar API
