Justus of Canterbury, St.
JUSTUS OF CANTERBURY, ST.
First bishop of Rochester, fourth archbishop of Canterbury; d. Nov. 10, 627. A member of gregory i's second missionary group, which arrived in England in 601, he was consecrated bishop for west Kent in 604 by augustine of canterbury and established his see at rochester, where St. Andrew's was built as his cathedral. He was driven from his see c. 617 during a pagan reaction, but was received back after a year in Gaul. He succeeded mellitus (d. April 24, 627) as archbishop of canterbury. The chief accomplishment of his primacy was the consecration of paulinus of york in 625 as missionary bishop for Northumbria. The opening of this mission resulted eventually in the founding of the second primatial see at york. Justus was buried in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, Canterbury (see saint augustine, abbey of).
Feast: Nov. 10.
Bibliography: bede, Historia Ecclesiastica 1.29; 2.3–9, 18. Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, ed. a. w. haddan and w. stubbs, 3 v. in 4 (Oxford 1869–78) 3:72–81. w. bright, Chapters of Early English Church History (3d ed. Oxford 1897). w. stubbs, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, ed. w. smith and h. wace, 4 v. (London 1877–87) 3:592–593.
[r. d. ware]