Saint Who?
Saints Who Had Family Challenges
Saint Edward the Confessor
Married layman († 1066)Feast: January 5
While modern scholars sometimes claim that later generations exaggerated King Edward the Confessor’s reputation, he has been revered as a saint for a thousand years.
Everyone agrees that Edward and his older brother Alfred were the sons of King Ethelred II and that they were sent to live in France as children because of widespread unrest in England. When Alfred returned to England, he was captured and killed by the powerful English leader, Earl Godwin. Edward wisely did not return to England until the people asked him to come and be their king. He was then forty years old.
Godwin offered the hand of his own daughter, Edith, to the king, and Edward accepted. Edward and Edith married, but they never had children. Whether this was because they agreed to live chastely or because Edward did not trust the daughter of his brother’s murderer, we will never know. Despite the constant danger of having one of his greatest political enemies as an in-law, Edward became a model king. Though he was personally gentle, generous with the poor, and devout, he was also wise enough to develop an army and navy, negotiate with warring factions, and establish just laws. After his death, his incorrupt body and longstanding devotion in England caused the pope to declare Edward a saint in 1161. He is a patron saint for difficult marriages.
Righteous Father, help us to live out
our vocations with wisdom and virtue.
