Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Scientists
Saint Edmund of Abingdon
Bishop († 1240) Feast: November 16
Edmund Rich was born in England around 1175. His mother taught him to love God and practice self-denial, even giving him and his brother hair-shirts when they left to study in Paris. Her witness left a lasting mark on Edmund, who became a dedicated scholar and a model of purity.
He taught mathematics, and his interest in the subject came to distract him somewhat from spiritual things. His mother, who had died by then, appeared in a dream and urged him to study not geometry but the Trinity. Edmund turned to theology, becoming an influential teacher and spiritual master. “I would rather,” he stated, “say five words devoutly with my heart, than five thousand which my soul does not relish with affection and understanding. Sing to the Lord wisely.” He was ordained a priest, likely in Paris.
Edmund’s virtue came to the attention of the pope, who appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury. He struggled to reform the Church from within and to battle bad influences from without. His efforts embroiled him in a conflict between the government and the papacy, and he was probably en route to Rome to consult the pope about this when he died in France in 1240. “Thee, O Lord, I have believed,” he said after receiving Viaticum; “Thee I have preached and taught. Thou art my witness, that I have desired nothing on earth but Thee alone.”
Merciful Father, through the prayers of Saint Edmund, help us to pray with true understanding.
