St. Dunstan

St. Dunstan was born around 909 near Glastonbury in England and died on 19 May 988 as Archbishop of Canterbury. A man of many gifts — a skilled craftsman, metalworker, illuminator, and musician as well as a monk of deep prayer — he became abbot of Glastonbury and made it a center of learning and reform, restoring the Rule of St. Benedict; his boldness in reproving the vices of kings brought him at times into exile, but also into the highest counsels of the realm.

Raised to the see of Canterbury, he became the chief architect, together with his fellow bishops Ethelwold and Oswald, of the great tenth-century revival of monastic life and religious fervor in England, reforming the Church, crowning and guiding kings, and laboring for justice and the good of the people. Revered as one of the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon saints and honored as a patron of goldsmiths and craftsmen, he is commemorated on 19 May.