Aelfric of Abingdon

Saint Aelfric of Abingdon was a monk and abbot, then bishop and, from 995, Archbishop of Canterbury in England. He reposed on 16 November 1005.

He was the son of an earl of Kent and became a monk of Abingdon Abbey, where he seems to have been abbot; around 975 he headed the abbey of Saint Albans. Between 991 and 993 he became bishop, of Ramsbury according to historians (the calendar says Wilton), and in 995 he was raised to the see of Canterbury. He received the pallium in Rome in 997 and kept the bishopric of Ramsbury until his death. It is said that he placed monks in the cathedral of Canterbury, but the story is uncertain. He probably performed the marriage of King Ethelred and Emma of Normandy in 1002. He governed the Church in the years of the Danish raids on Kent, and in his will he left the king a ship.

He is a saint of the undivided Church and is commemorated on 16 November (New Calendar).