St. Paulinus of York

Missionary and bishop of York. A Roman monk, in 60 ihe was named by Pope St. Gregory I the Great to accompany Sts. Justus and Mellitus on their missionto England to advance the cause of evangelization undertaken by St. Augustine of Canterbury Paulinus labored for some twenty four years in Kent and, in 625, was ordained bishop of Kent. He was also responsible for bringing Christianity to Northumbria, baptizing the pagan king Edwin of Northumbria on Easter 627, and then converting thousands of other Northumbrians. Following the defeat and death of Edwin by pagan Mercians at the Battle of Hatfield in 633, Paulinus was driven from his see, and he returned to Kent with Edwin’s widow Ethelburga, her two children, and Edwin’s grandson Osfrid. Paulinus then took up the see of Rochester, which he headed until his death.