Westminster Abbey: Saint Edward the Confessor

I have always felt a strong connection to Westminster Abbey in London; I first visited it with my mother when I was a young boy. It is then that I found that my patron saint is buried there. I was named Edoardo after Edward the Confessor. I have ever since attended many times this magnificent house of worship dedicated to Peter, the patron saint of my own hometown, Rome.

At the heart of the Abbey is the shrine of Saint Edward the Confessor, the very reason of how this church became a royal peculiar in the first place, the church of the coronations, weddings, and funerals of Britain’s monarchs. Edward the Confessor, King lies in this architectural testament to British history and his crest still triumphs over the flag of Westminster to this day.

Who was he? Edward, was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England and he was born in Islip, Oxfordshire between 1002 and 1005 AD. He was the eighth son of King Ethelred the Unready and Emma, he was driven into exile in Normandy by the Danes and vowed that if he would have ever returned to England, he would have made a pilgrimage to Rome in thanksgiving. After 28 years in France, he eventually returned to England, succeeding his half-brother Harthacnut, he was crowned at Winchester Cathedral in 1043.

However, once on the throne, a busy Edward found it impossible to visit Rome and the Pope released him from his vow on the condition that he would dedicate a great monastery to Saint Peter. At the time, he head just established his new Palace of Westminster on the banks of the river Thames, it was there that the king would restore and enlarge a Benedictine monastery that already existed nearby, founded in 960 AD under the patronage of King Edgar and Saint Dunstan. The large church he built was dedicated to Saint Peter and it became known as Westminster, in opposition to the Eastminster which was St. Paul’s Cathedral, in the City of London.

The new church was consecrated on Holy Innocents’ Day, 28th December 1065, the king died a few days later, on 5th January 1066. The burial procession from Westminster Hall to the Abbey, is shown in the renowned Bayeux Tapestry. The king was buried the following day on the Epiphany, before the High Altar in the church he erected and where he rested for almost a hundred years, until 13th October 1162, when his body was translated into a new shrine.

The king’s piety had greatly endeared him to his people and he came to be regarded as a saint long before he was officially canonized as a Saint and Confessor by Pope Alexander III in 1161. He was associated with many legends, the most notable one is when he was riding by a church in Essex when an old man asked for alms, the king gave him his large ring - a few years later, two pilgrims in the Holy Land became stranded and were helped by an old man from England who said he was Saint John the Evangelist and asked them to return the ring to Edward, telling him that in six months he would have joined him in heaven. This is one of fourteen scenes from the king’s life found in the Medieval Abbey screen, together with the coronation, his birth, an apparition of Christ, and the dedication of the Abbey.

Edward’s Romanesque monastery stood for some two hundred years until 1245, when King Henry III began to rebuild a much grander Abbey in honor of Saint Edward to whom he was especially devoted. The new church was consecrated on 13th October 1269, when Edward’s remains were moved to the current shrine behind the High Altar. King Henry, his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall and his two sons, bore the coffin on their shoulders in a solemn procession. The new shrine was richly decorated with Italian Cosmetic mosaics, by Pietro di Oderisio.

The King was so devoted to Saint Edward, that following his death in 1272, he was buried in a Purbeck marble tomb in the Confessor’s chapel, where a further four kings and four queens were lated buried.

A cult of Saint Edward has grown up and he became England’s patron saint, until he was superseded by Saint George in the 14th century after the Crusades. The sick made pilgrimages to the shrine and knelt in the recess to pray for healing or loved ones, a tradition which continues to this day. It is incredibly touching to kneel on the very stone, carved by thousands of pilgrims in the thousand years before us.

Every year, the Octave of Saint Edward is celebrated in the Abbey between 13th - 18th October. A national pilgrimage to the shrine is held, with worshippers coming from across the United Kingdom and further afield. As someone named after this saint, visiting the shrine of Edward the Confessor has always been one of the most powerful faith experiences in my life.