Edmund St, Edmund Rich

Edmund St., Edmund Rich, archbishop of Canterbury in the thirteenth century, studied at Paris, where he became doctor of theology. Returning to England, he preached for the Crusades with such success as to command the approval of the Pope. He was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury April 2, 1234. It fell to his lot as prelate to resist the will of the Pope, and also that of the king of England, and he did resist manfully. He died at the monastery of Soissy, in France, November 16, 1242. The English people, who admired and loved him, demanded his canonization; the papal court at first refused, but finally yielded, and he was canonized by pope Innocent IV in 1249. His Speculum Ecclesia is published in the Bibliotheca Patrum. —Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gingrale, 15:660; Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (1865, volume 3); Wright, Biographia Literaria (Anglo-Norman period).