St. Dunstan

Dunstan was born around 909 in Glastonbury, England, into a family of high rank. According to the account preserved by his near-contemporary biographer 'B,' his father Heorstan was a nobleman, and several of his kinsmen served at the courts of Anglo-Saxon kings. Glastonbury itself was an ancient monastic site, and tradition holds that Dunstan was educated there, possibly by Irish monks who were still active at the abbey. From an early age he showed a remarkable aptitude for music, manuscript illumination, and especially metalwork, skills that would later define his reputation and shape his patronage among craftsmen.

In his youth Dunstan entered the household of his uncle Athelm, the Bishop of Winchester, and later served at the court of King Athelstan. Around 934, after a period of illness and what his biographers describe as a spiritual crisis, he was tonsured a monk and returned to Glastonbury, where he lived as a hermit for several years. According to legend, it was during this time that the famous incident with the devil occurred: Dunstan, working at his forge, was reportedly tempted by the devil, whom he seized by the nose with a pair of red-hot tongs. Whether or not the story is historical, it became the most celebrated episode of his life and the basis of his patronage of metalworkers. After the accession of his patron King Edmund, Dunstan was appointed Abbot of Glastonbury (c. 943) and began to transform it into a center of the Benedictine reform.

Dunstan's fortunes fluctuated dramatically during the 950s. Under King Eadwig, he was accused of treason and forced into exile, eventually taking refuge in Flanders. After Eadwig's death in 959, his brother Edgar recalled Dunstan and made him Bishop of Worcester (957) and then Bishop of London (959). Two years later, in 961, Dunstan was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, a post he held until his death. As archbishop he presided over the regular synod, worked to enforce clerical celibacy, and promoted the strict Benedictine observance that had taken root at centers like Fleury and Cluny. With the help of his allies, the future saints Aethelwold of Winchester and Oswald of Worcester, he drove the reform through the English church.

Dunstan also wielded considerable secular power. He served as a trusted counselor to Kings Edmund, Eadred, Eadwig, and Edgar the Peaceful, and after Edgar's death in 975 he briefly acted as regent during the minority of the teenage King Edward the Martyr. He was at the center of the political crisis of 978, when Edward was murdered at Corfe, and he later reluctantly crowned the new king, Ethelred the Unready. Dunstan died at Canterbury on May 19, 988, and was buried in the cathedral. His cult grew quickly, and he was canonized within a few decades, with his feast fixed on May 19.

Beyond his political and ecclesiastical work, Dunstan left a lasting legacy as a craftsman. He is traditionally credited with the design of the coronation regalia still used in English coronations, and he is the patron saint of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and locksmiths because of his legendary encounter with the devil at the forge. He is also the patron of musicians, reflecting his lifelong love of chant and composition; an early English sequence, 'Kyrie rex splendens,' is attributed to him. As a statesman, reformer, and artist, he is one of the towering figures of tenth-century England, and his influence shaped the English church for generations.