Birinus of Dorchester

Saint Birinus of Dorchester was the first bishop of Dorchester, called the Apostle to the West Saxons because he brought the kingdom of Wessex to the faith. He passed to the Lord on 3 December, in the year 649 or 650, at Dorchester. He is venerated in the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican churches, and the Orthodox Church has included him in the Synaxis of the saints of Britain and Ireland. His feast is on 3 December.

The mission to Wessex

Birinus was a Frank and a Benedictine monk. He was consecrated bishop at Genoa by Asterius, and Pope Honorius I sent him on a mission to the West Saxons, to bring them to Christianity, after Augustine of Canterbury had made the first conversions in England. He arrived in 634 at the port of Hamwic, today Southampton, and during his short stay there the church of St Mary was founded. His commission was to preach in those parts of Britain where no one had yet gone, perhaps including Mercia, but in the end he remained in Wessex.

In 635 he persuaded King Cynegils to let him preach. Cynegils was seeking an alliance with Oswald of Northumbria against the Mercians, and at the last talks the obstacle was that Oswald, a Christian, would not ally himself with a pagan. Then Cynegils converted and was baptised. According to some sources, Oswald was his godfather. The king gave Birinus the town of Dorchester-⁠on-⁠Thames for his episcopal see.

His work

Birinus is remembered as a builder of churches in Wessex. Foundations ascribed to him include St Mary's at Reading and the churches at Checkendon and Ipsden. He baptised Cynegils's son Cwichelm in 636, and the king's grandson Cuthred in 639, to whom he stood as godfather.

Veneration

Birinus fell asleep in the Lord at Dorchester on 3 December 649 or 650. His relics were eventually moved to Winchester. His commemoration is on 3 December in the Orthodox and Catholic churches, while some churches keep it on 5 December. The Church of England commemorates him on 4 September. A few parish churches in England bear his name, among them the one at Berinsfield, and the Catholic church at Dorchester is also dedicated to him.