Editing Justus

{{Short description|7th-century missionary, Archbishop of Canterbury, and saint}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Featured article}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Justus
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| appointed = 624
| ended = 10&nbsp;November, between 627 and 631
| predecessor = [[Mellitus]]
| successor = [[Honorius of Canterbury|Honorius]]
| consecration = 604
| consecrated_by = [[Augustine of Canterbury]]
| other_post=[[Bishop of Rochester]]
| death_date = on 10&nbsp;November between 627 and 631
| buried = [[St Augustine's Abbey]], [[Canterbury]]
| feast_day = 10&nbsp;November
| venerated = {{ubl|[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]|[[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=Walsh349>Walsh ''New Dictionary'' p. 349</ref>|[[Anglican Communion]]}}
| canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation]], prior to formal [[canonisation]] process
| attributes = archbishop carrying a Primatial cross<ref name=PatSaintInd>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintjgo.htm |title=St. Justus of Canterbury |publisher=Patron Saints Index |access-date=3 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619210528/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintjgo.htm |archive-date=19 June 2009  }}</ref>
| patronage =
| shrine = St Augustine's, Canterbury
}}

'''Justus'''{{efn|Sometimes '''Iustus'''<ref name=Convert94>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 94</ref>}} (died on 10&nbsp;November between 627 and 631) was the fourth [[archbishop of Canterbury]]. Pope [[Gregory the Great]] sent Justus from Italy to England on a mission to [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England|Christianise the Anglo-Saxons]] from [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|their native paganism]]; he probably arrived with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601. Justus became the first [[bishop of Rochester]] in 604 and signed a letter to the Irish bishops urging the native [[Celtic church]] to adopt the Roman method of calculating the [[date of Easter]]. He attended a church council in Paris in 614.

Following the death of King [[Æthelberht of Kent]] in 616, Justus was forced to flee to [[Gaul]] but was reinstated in his diocese the following year. In 624, he was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury, overseeing the despatch of missionaries to [[Northumbria]]. After his death, he was revered as a saint and had a shrine in [[St&nbsp;Augustine's Abbey]], Canterbury, to which his remains were [[Translation (relics)|translated]] in the 1090s.

==Arrival in Britain==
[[File:AugsutineGospelsFolio129vStLuke.jpg|thumb|left|alt=An illuminated manuscript illustration of a central seated figure holding an open book. He is flanked by two colonnades, which are filled with small scenes. Over the central figure is an arch which surmounts a winged bull.|The [[evangelist portrait]] of Luke, from the St&nbsp;Augustine Gospels ({{circa|6th century}}), which may have accompanied Justus to Britain]]
Justus was a member of the [[Gregorian mission]] sent to England by Pope Gregory&nbsp;I. Almost everything known about Justus and his career is derived from the early 8th-century ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'' of [[Bede]].<ref name=DNB>Hunt "Justus" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> As Bede does not describe Justus's origins, nothing is known about him before he arrived in England. He probably arrived in England with the second group of missionaries, sent at the request of [[Augustine of Canterbury]] in 601.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=ASE109>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 109</ref> Some modern writers describe Justus as one of the original missionaries who arrived with Augustine in 597,<ref name=Hindley65>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 65</ref> but Bede believed that Justus came in the second group.<ref name=World84>Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 84–87</ref><ref name=Wallace43>Wallace-Hadrill ''Bede's Ecclesiastical History'' p. 43</ref> The second group included [[Mellitus]], who later became [[Bishop of London]] and Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=MellitusODNB>Brooks "Mellitus" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref>

If Justus was a member of the second group of missionaries, then he arrived with a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church".<ref name=Bede85>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' p. 85–86</ref><ref name=Coming62>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 62</ref> A 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, [[Thomas of Elmham]], claimed that there were some books brought to England by that second group still at Canterbury in his day, although he did not identify them. An investigation of extant Canterbury manuscripts shows that one possible survivor is the [[St&nbsp;Augustine Gospels]], now in [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] Manuscript (MS) 286.<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|Another possible survivor is a copy of the ''[[Rule of St&nbsp;Benedict]]'', now [[Bodleian Library]] MS. Hatton 48.<ref name=Colgrave27>Colgrave "Introduction" ''Earliest Life of Gregory the Great'' pp. 27–28</ref> Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the [[British Library]] as part of MS [[Cotton Titus]] C, may have arrived with the missionaries.<ref name=Library24>Lapidge ''Anglo-Saxon Library'' pp. 24–25</ref>}}

==Bishop of Rochester==
Augustine consecrated Justus as a bishop in 604 over a province including the [[Kingdom of Kent|Kentish]] town of [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]].<ref name=Brooks11>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 221</ref> The historian [[Nicholas Brooks (historian)|Nicholas Brooks]] argues that the choice of Rochester was probably not because it had been a Roman-era bishopric, but rather because of its importance in the politics of the time. Although the town was small, with just one street, it was at the junction of [[Watling Street]] and the estuary of the [[Medway]] and was thus a fortified town.<ref name=Brooks24>Brooks "From British to English Christianity" ''Conversion and Colonization'' pp. 24–27</ref> Because Justus was probably not a monk (Bede did not call him that),<ref name=Andrew291>Smith "Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester" ''English Historical Review'' p. 291</ref> his cathedral clergy was very likely non-monastic too.<ref name=Smith292>Smith "Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester" ''English Historical Review'' p. 292</ref>

[[File:Textus Roffensis f. 119r.jpg|thumb|The beginning of the charter in ''Textus Roffensis'']]

A charter purporting to be from King Æthelberht, dated 28 April 604, survives in the ''[[Textus Roffensis]]'', as well as a copy based on the Textus in the 14th-century ''Liber Temporalium''. Written mostly in Latin but using an [[Old English]] boundary clause, the charter records a land grant near Rochester to Justus's church.<ref>Campbell ''Charters of Rochester'' p. c</ref> Among the witnesses is [[Laurence of Canterbury|Laurence]], Augustine's future successor, but not Augustine himself. The text turns to two different addressees. First, Æthelberht is made to admonish his son [[Eadbald of Kent|Eadbald]], who had been established as a sub-ruler in the region of Rochester. The grant itself is addressed directly to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of the church,<ref>Morris ''Arthurian Sources'' vol. ii p. 90</ref> a usage parallelled by other charters in the same archive.<ref name=Levinson223>Levison ''England and the Continent'' pp. 223–225</ref>

Wilhelm Levison, writing in 1946, was sceptical about the authenticity of this charter.<ref name=Levinson223/> He felt that the two separate addresses were incongruous, suggesting that the first address, occurring before the preamble, may have been inserted by someone familiar with Bede to echo Eadbald's future conversion (see below).<ref name=Levinson223/> A more recent and more positive appraisal by John Morris argues that the charter and its witness list are authentic because they incorporate titles and phraseology that had fallen out of use by 800.<ref>Morris ''Arthurian Sources'' vol. ii pp. 97–98</ref>

Æthelberht built Justus a cathedral church in Rochester; the foundations of a [[nave]] and [[chancel]] partly underneath the present-day [[Rochester Cathedral]] may date from that time.<ref name=World84/> What remains of the foundations of an early rectangular building near the southern part of the current cathedral might also be contemporary with Justus or may be part of a Roman building.<ref name=Brooks24/>

Together with Mellitus, the bishop of London, Justus signed a letter written by Archbishop Laurence of Canterbury to the Irish bishops urging the native [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic church]] to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of [[Easter]] (the ''[[computus]]''). This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionaries, such as [[Dagan (bishop)|Dagan]], had refused to share meals with the missionaries.<ref name=ASE112>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 112</ref> Although the letter has not survived, Bede quoted from parts of it.<ref name=Convert138>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 138–139</ref>

In 614, Justus attended the [[Council of Paris (614)|Council of Paris]], held by the [[Franks|Frankish]] king, [[Chlothar&nbsp;II]].<ref name=Wood>Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" ''Speculum'' p. 7</ref> It is unclear why Justus and [[Peter of Canterbury|Peter]], the abbot of [[St Augustine's, Canterbury|Sts&nbsp;Peter and Paul]] in Canterbury,{{efn|This was later renamed St&nbsp;Augustine's Abbey.<ref name=DNB/>}} were present. It may have been just chance, but the historian James Campbell has suggested that Chlothar summoned clergy from Britain to attend in an attempt to assert overlordship over Kent.<ref name=Campbell56>Campbell "First Century of Christianity" ''Essays in Anglo-Saxon History'' p. 56</ref> N. J. Higham offers another explanation for their attendance, arguing that Æthelberht sent the pair to the council because of shifts in Frankish policy towards the Kentish kingdom, which threatened Kentish independence, and that the two clergymen were sent to negotiate a compromise with Chlothar.<ref name=Convert116>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 116</ref>

A pagan backlash against Christianity followed Æthelberht's death in 616, forcing Justus and Mellitus to flee to Gaul.<ref name=MellitusODNB/> The pair probably took refuge with Chlothar, hoping that the Frankish king would intervene and restore them to their sees,<ref name=Convert138/> and by 617 Justus had been reinstalled in his bishopric by the new king.<ref name=DNB/> Mellitus also returned to England, but the prevailing pagan mood did not allow him to return to London; after Laurence's death, Mellitus became Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=MellitusBASE>Lapidge "Mellitus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> According to Bede, Justus received letters of encouragement from [[Pope Boniface&nbsp;V]] (r. 619–625), as did Mellitus, although Bede does not record the actual letters—the historian [[J.&nbsp;M. Wallace-Hadrill]] assumes both letters were general statements encouraging the missionaries.<ref name=Wallace64>Wallace-Hadrill ''Bede's Ecclesiastical History'' pp. 64–65</ref>

==Archbishop==
Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624,<ref name=Handbook213/> receiving his [[pallium]]—the symbol of the jurisdiction entrusted to archbishops—from Pope Boniface&nbsp;V, following which Justus consecrated [[Romanus (Bishop of Rochester)|Romanus]] as his successor at Rochester.<ref name=DNB/> Boniface also gave Justus a letter congratulating him on the conversion of King "Aduluald" (probably King Eadbald of Kent), a letter which is included in Bede's ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''.<ref name=Kirby31>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 31–32</ref> Bede's account of Eadbald's conversion states that it was Laurence, Justus's predecessor at Canterbury, who converted the king to Christianity, but D.&nbsp;P. Kirby argues that the letter's reference to Eadbald makes it likely that it was Justus.<ref name=Kirby33>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 33</ref> Other historians, including [[Barbara Yorke]] and [[Henry Mayr-Harting]], conclude that Bede's account is correct, and that Eadbald was converted by Laurence.<ref name=Mayr75>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' pp. 75–76</ref> Yorke argues that there were two kings of Kent during Eadbald's reign, Eadbald and Æthelwald, and that Æthelwald was the "Aduluald" referred to by Boniface. Yorke argues that Justus converted Æthelwald back to Christianity after Æthelberht's death.<ref name=Yorke32>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 32</ref>
[[File:Staugustinescanterburygravejustus.jpg|thumb|alt=Stone set on the ground inscribed with "Justus, first Bishop of Rochester 604–624, fourth Archbishop of Canterbury 624–627, d. 627"|Modern gravestone marking the burial site of Justus in [[St Augustine's Abbey]], Canterbury]]
Justus consecrated [[Paulinus of York|Paulinus]] as the first [[bishop of York]], before the latter accompanied [[Æthelburg of Kent]] to Northumbria for her marriage to King [[Edwin of Northumbria]].<ref name=DNB/> Bede records Justus as having died on 10&nbsp;November, but does not give a year, although it is likely to have between 627 and 631.<ref name=Handbook213>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213</ref><ref name=Wallace82>Wallace-Hadrill ''Bede's Ecclesiastical History'' p. 82</ref> After his death, Justus was regarded as a saint, and was given a feast day on 10&nbsp;November.<ref name=DictSaint>Delaney ''Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 354–355</ref> The 9th-century [[Stowe Missal]] commemorates his feast day, along with Mellitus and Laurence.<ref name=ODS366>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 366</ref> In the 1090s, his remains were [[Translation (relics)|translated]], or ritually moved, to a shrine beside the high altar of St&nbsp;Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. At about the same time, a ''Life'' was written about him by [[Goscelin]], as well as a poem by [[Reginald of Canterbury]].<ref name=ASE>Hayward "Justus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref>{{efn|None of these works appear to have been published or translated within the last 200 years.<ref name=DNB/>}} Other material from Thomas of Elmham, [[Gervase of Canterbury]], and [[William of Malmesbury]], later medieval chroniclers, adds little to Bede's account of Justus's life.<ref name=DNB/>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the Gregorian mission]]
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist|60em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |title=A History of the English Church and People |author-link=Bede |translator=Sherley-Price, Leo |publisher=Penguin Classics |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=From British to English Christianity: Deconstructing Bede's Interpretation of the Conversion |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |editor1=Howe, Nicholas |editor2=Karkov, Catherine |encyclopedia=Conversion and Colonization in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |location=Tempe, AZ |year=2006 |pages=1–30 |isbn=0-86698-363-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|author=Brooks, N. P. |title=Mellitus (d. 624) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18531 |edition=October 2005 revised |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/18531 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite book |editor=Campbell, A. |title=Charters of Rochester |editor-link=Alistair Campbell (academic) |series=Anglo-Saxon Charters |volume=1 |publisher=British Academy/Oxford University Press |location=London |year=1973 |isbn=0-19-725936-7 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Campbell, James |title=The First Century of Christianity in England |encyclopedia=Essays in Anglo-Saxon History |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |year=1986 |isbn=0-907628-32-X |pages=49–68 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Colgrave, Bertram |title=Introduction |encyclopedia=The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |edition=Paperback reissue |orig-year=1968 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-31384-1 }}
* {{cite book |author=Delaney, John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints |edition=Second |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |year=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 }}
* {{cite book |author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Hayward, Paul Anthony |title=Justus |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |pages=267–268 |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1997 |isbn=0-7190-4827-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |year= 2006|publisher= Carroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author1=Hunt, William |author2=Brooks, N. P. |title=Justus (St Justus) (d. 627x31) |author1-link= William Hunt (priest) |author2-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15176 |edition=October 2005 revised |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15176 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite book |author=Kirby, D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-415-24211-8 }}
* {{cite book |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |author-link= Michael Lapidge |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-926722-7 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Mellitus |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |pages=305–306 |author-link=Michael Lapidge |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite book |author=Levison, Wilhelm |title=England and the Continent in the Eighth Century: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford, 1943 |author-link=Wilhelm Levison |publisher=Clarendon Press |place=Oxford, UK |year=1946 }}
* {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Morris, John |title=Arthurian Sources, Vol. 2: Annals and Charters |series=Arthurian Period Sources |publisher=Phillimore |location=Chichester, UK |year=1995 |isbn=0-85033-757-7 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Smith, R. A. L. |title=The Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester, 604–c. 1080 |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |date=September 1945 |volume=60  |issue=238 |pages=289–299 |doi=10.1093/ehr/LX.CCXXXVIII.289 |jstor= 556594 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England  |author-link=Frank Stenton |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. |title=Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1988 |series=Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=0-19-822269-6 }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J.|title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Wood, Ian |title=The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |author-link=Ian N. Wood |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |date=January 1994 |doi=10.2307/2864782 |jstor=2864782 |s2cid=161652367 }}
* {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Barbara Yorke |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-16639-X }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|10049|Justus 1}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles }}
{{s-bef | before=(diocese created)}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of Rochester]] || years=604–624}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Romanus (Bishop of Rochester)|Romanus]] }}
{{s-bef | before=[[Mellitus]] }}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | years=624&nbsp;– {{circa|627|lk=yes}}}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Honorius of Canterbury|Honorius]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of Rochester}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Gregorian mission}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Subject bar|portal1=England|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Christianity|portal4=Saints |portal5=Biography |commons=y |commons-search=Saint Justus of Canterbury |s=y |s-search= Justus (DNB00)}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Justus}}
[[Category:7th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of Rochester]]
[[Category:Gregorian mission]]
[[Category:Kentish saints]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:7th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]

[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian clergy]]