Saint Dunstan of Canterbury
Also known as:
Good Saint Dunstan
memorial
· 19 May
Profile
Good Saint Dunstan is a famous Saxon saint, big in England before 1066, the Norman Conquest, and is said to be the second most popular English Saint after Thomas Becket. In many writings pitting Normans and Saxons like Robin Hood the Saxons always have a certain patronage to “Good Saint Dunstan”.
Our Saint was educated at Glastonbury Abbey by Irish monks. He is known as an expert goldsmith, blacksmith, metal-worker, and harpist. Our Saint was Bishop of Worcester, England, and of London, England. He was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury, in 960. The combination of spiritual authority and political influence made him the virtual regent of the kingdom.
In this capacity, He was the advisor to King Edwy until he commented on the king’s profligate sexual ways, which caused him, as Archbishop, to be exiled.
In 978, with the ascension of King Ethelred the Unready (or King Odo Fathead the Excessive, I’m not sure which) he retired from political life to Canterbury. Good Saint Dunstan had the gift of prophecy.
Pious fiction tells us that Good Saint Dunstan was, at this time, having great success in his spreading of the gospels around the south of England, to the increasing annoyance of the Infernal Regions. So one day, the Devil himself disguised as a beautiful young woman and visited Dunstan in his forge. As a girl, he batted his eyes and swung his hips, he laughed and joked with the saint and used all his charms in an attempt to seduce him; but Dunstan did not even look up from his blacksmithing. Eventually, the Devil's prancing around the room revealed his hooves beneath the billowing skirts. Unmasked, Old Nick was no match for St. Dunstan who calmly took a large pair of red-hot tongs from the blazing fire and clamped them hard on the Devil's nose. His screams could be heard from three miles away as his wings unfurled and he shot into the sky in uncontrollable agony.
While falling back to Earth Old Nick saw a well, so he swooped down to cool off his blazing bugle in the waters….To this day this is how residents of Kent explain the reddish color and sulfur taste in the water of Tunbridge Wells.
There is a convent built on the spot of Good Saint Dunstan’s Episcopal palace. It still displays the very tongs used by St. Dunstan in this incident (though the unimaginative will tell you they date from the 13th century).
In “A Christmas Carol” Charles Dickens uses this blacksmith tongs metaphor in describing the cold weather nipping at Scrooge’s nose. “If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit's nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose.”
Another Good Saint Dunstan story explains the superstition of nailing a horseshoe over the door for good luck and to keep out evil spirits. The legend begins with St. Dunstan living in his cell and happily going about his daily tasks of metalworking, singing, and playing his harp. The devil again makes his appearance spreading "germs of wicked deeds" throughout the countryside. When the devil hears Good St. Dunstan's music, he becomes enraged with jealousy.
The devil begins making horrendous noises, hurting Good St. Dunstan's ears. The next morning, Good St. Dunstan prepares an iron horseshoe and nails. When the devil arrives, Good St. Dunstan grabs his foot and nails the burning hot horseshoe to the devil's foot.
The devil's screams awakens everyone in the village. When Good St. Dunstan finished nailing the horseshoe to the devil's foot, he smiled, asking the devil for a dance.
From that day foreword, the devil will not enter a house that has a horseshoe hanging over the door. He was permanently dissuaded due to this, and the nasal appraisal we discussed earlier. Good Saint Dunstan was buried in Canterbury his burial site was lost for years, but rediscovered by Archbishop Washam , but his relics were all destroyed during the “Glorious” Protestant Reformation
Born
· 909 at Baltonsborough, Glastonbury, England
Died
· 988 at Canterbury, England of natural causes
Patronage
· armorers
· blacksmiths
· blind people
· gold workers
· goldsmiths
· jewelers
· lighthouse keepers
· locksmiths
· musicians
· silver workers
· silversmiths
· swordsmiths
Representation
· gold cup
· horseshoe
· man holding a pair of smith’s tongs
· man putting a horseshoe on the devil’s cloven foot
· man with a dove hovering near him
· man with a troop of angels before him
· man working with gold or metal, usually in a monastery or cloister,
sometimes with an angel speaking to him
· metal working tools
· pincers
· 19 May
Profile
Good Saint Dunstan is a famous Saxon saint, big in England before 1066, the Norman Conquest, and is said to be the second most popular English Saint after Thomas Becket. In many writings pitting Normans and Saxons like Robin Hood the Saxons always have a certain patronage to “Good Saint Dunstan”.
Our Saint was educated at Glastonbury Abbey by Irish monks. He is known as an expert goldsmith, blacksmith, metal-worker, and harpist. Our Saint was Bishop of Worcester, England, and of London, England. He was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury, in 960. The combination of spiritual authority and political influence made him the virtual regent of the kingdom.
In this capacity, He was the advisor to King Edwy until he commented on the king’s profligate sexual ways, which caused him, as Archbishop, to be exiled.
In 978, with the ascension of King Ethelred the Unready (or King Odo Fathead the Excessive, I’m not sure which) he retired from political life to Canterbury. Good Saint Dunstan had the gift of prophecy.
Pious fiction tells us that Good Saint Dunstan was, at this time, having great success in his spreading of the gospels around the south of England, to the increasing annoyance of the Infernal Regions. So one day, the Devil himself disguised as a beautiful young woman and visited Dunstan in his forge. As a girl, he batted his eyes and swung his hips, he laughed and joked with the saint and used all his charms in an attempt to seduce him; but Dunstan did not even look up from his blacksmithing. Eventually, the Devil's prancing around the room revealed his hooves beneath the billowing skirts. Unmasked, Old Nick was no match for St. Dunstan who calmly took a large pair of red-hot tongs from the blazing fire and clamped them hard on the Devil's nose. His screams could be heard from three miles away as his wings unfurled and he shot into the sky in uncontrollable agony.
While falling back to Earth Old Nick saw a well, so he swooped down to cool off his blazing bugle in the waters….To this day this is how residents of Kent explain the reddish color and sulfur taste in the water of Tunbridge Wells.
There is a convent built on the spot of Good Saint Dunstan’s Episcopal palace. It still displays the very tongs used by St. Dunstan in this incident (though the unimaginative will tell you they date from the 13th century).
In “A Christmas Carol” Charles Dickens uses this blacksmith tongs metaphor in describing the cold weather nipping at Scrooge’s nose. “If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit's nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose.”
Another Good Saint Dunstan story explains the superstition of nailing a horseshoe over the door for good luck and to keep out evil spirits. The legend begins with St. Dunstan living in his cell and happily going about his daily tasks of metalworking, singing, and playing his harp. The devil again makes his appearance spreading "germs of wicked deeds" throughout the countryside. When the devil hears Good St. Dunstan's music, he becomes enraged with jealousy.
The devil begins making horrendous noises, hurting Good St. Dunstan's ears. The next morning, Good St. Dunstan prepares an iron horseshoe and nails. When the devil arrives, Good St. Dunstan grabs his foot and nails the burning hot horseshoe to the devil's foot.
The devil's screams awakens everyone in the village. When Good St. Dunstan finished nailing the horseshoe to the devil's foot, he smiled, asking the devil for a dance.
From that day foreword, the devil will not enter a house that has a horseshoe hanging over the door. He was permanently dissuaded due to this, and the nasal appraisal we discussed earlier. Good Saint Dunstan was buried in Canterbury his burial site was lost for years, but rediscovered by Archbishop Washam , but his relics were all destroyed during the “Glorious” Protestant Reformation
Born
· 909 at Baltonsborough, Glastonbury, England
Died
· 988 at Canterbury, England of natural causes
Patronage
· armorers
· blacksmiths
· blind people
· gold workers
· goldsmiths
· jewelers
· lighthouse keepers
· locksmiths
· musicians
· silver workers
· silversmiths
· swordsmiths
Representation
· gold cup
· horseshoe
· man holding a pair of smith’s tongs
· man putting a horseshoe on the devil’s cloven foot
· man with a dove hovering near him
· man with a troop of angels before him
· man working with gold or metal, usually in a monastery or cloister,
sometimes with an angel speaking to him
· metal working tools
· pincers
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