Birinus Explained

Honorific Prefix:	Saint
Birinus
Bishop of Dorchester
Appointed:	before 634
Ended:	3 December 649
Predecessor:	diocese established
Successor:	Agilbertus
Death Date:	3 December 649 or 650
Birth Place:	Francia
Death Place:	Dorchester, Wessex (England)
Feast Day:	3 December (Catholic) 4 September (Anglican)
Venerated:	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion
Attributes:	Bishop, sometimes baptising a king
Patronage:	Berkshire Dorchester
Shrine:	Dorchester Abbey, now destroyed. Small parts survive. Modern replica now in place. (Or Winchester Cathedral, now destroyed.)
Consecrated By:	Asterius of Milan

Birinus (also Berin, Birin; – 3 December 649 or 650) was the first Bishop of Dorchester and was known as the "Apostle to the West Saxons" for his conversion of the Kingdom of Wessex to Christianity. He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Anglican churches.

Life and ministry

After Augustine of Canterbury performed the initial conversions in England, Birinus, a Frank, came to the kingdom of Wessex in 634, landing at the port of Hamwic, now in the St Mary's area of Southampton. During Birinus's brief time at Hamwic, St Mary's Church was founded.

A Benedictine monk, Birinus had been made bishop by Asterius in Genoa, and Pope Honorius I created the commission to convert the West Saxons. In 635, he persuaded the West Saxon king Cynegils to allow him to preach. Cynegils was trying to create an alliance with Oswald of Northumbria, with whom he intended to fight the Mercians. At the final talks between kings, the sticking point was that Oswald, a Christian, would not ally himself with a pagan. Cynegils then converted and was baptised.^[1] He gave Birinus Dorchester-on-Thames for his episcopal see. Birinus's original commission entailed preaching to parts of Britain where no missionary efforts had reached and may have included instructions to reach the Mercians. But he ultimately remained in Wessex.

Birinus is said to have been active in establishing churches in Wessex: foundations ascribed to him include St Mary's in Reading,^[2] St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon, near Reading,^[3] and the first church at Ipsden, built about two miles from the present church.^[4] Birinus baptised Cynegils's son Cwichelm (died 636) in 636 and grandson Cuthred (died 661) in 639, to whom he stood as godfather.

Birinus died in Dorchester on 3 December in 649 or 650.

Veneration

Birinus' feast day is 3 December in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church,^[5] but some churches celebrate his feast on 5 December. His feast was added to the Roman Martyrology in the late 16th century. In the Church of England, his feast day falls on 4 September and has the status of a commemoration.^[6] His relics were eventually translated to Winchester after his death.

A small number of Church of England parish churches are dedicated to Birinus, including those at Berinsfield in Oxfordshire and Redlynch in Wiltshire. The Catholic church in Dorchester, one of the first built after the restoration of the hierarchy^[7] by Pope Pius IX, is also dedicated to Birinus.

References

Works cited

Book: Bately , Janet M. . Janet Bately. 1986. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition. 3. Cambridge, England. D.S. Brewer. 978-0-85991-103-0.
Book: Bede. Bede. 1969. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. registration. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 978-0-19-822202-6.
Book: Church of England Liturgical Commission. 2000. Common Worship. London. Church House Publishing. 978-0-7151-2000-2.
Book: Coles , R. J. . 1981. Southampton's Historic Buildings. City of Southampton Society.
Encyclopedia: Davis. A. C.. 1912. Birinus. Ollard. S. L.. Sidney Leslie Ollard. A Dictionary of English Church History. London. A. R. Mowbray and Co.. 56–57. 13001314. 1 April 2018.
Book: Farmer , David . 2011. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. rev. 5th. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acref/9780199596607.001.0001. 978-0-1995-9660-7.
Book: Kirby , D. P. . 2000. The Earliest English Kings. New York. Routledge. 978-0-415-24211-0.
Book: Kommodatos , Christophoros . 1985. οἱ Ἅγιοι τῶν Βρετανικῶν Νήσων. The Saints of the British Isles. el. Athens. Semandro.
Book: 2013. Livingstone. E. A.. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acref/9780199659623.001.0001. 978-0-19-965962-3.
Book: Powicke. F. Maurice. F. M. Powicke. Fryde. E. B.. 1961. Handbook of British Chronology. 2nd. London. Royal Historical Society.
Encyclopedia: Thompson. E. Maunde. Edward Maunde Thompson. 1886. Birinus. Stephen. Leslie. Leslie Stephen. Dictionary of National Biography. 5. New York. Macmillan and Co.. 80.
Book: Walsh , Michael . 2007. A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London. Burns & Oats. 978-0-86012-438-2.

Notes and References

Web site: Jones . Terry H. . Birinus . Patron Saints Index . Catholic Community Forum . Liturgical Publications of St. Louis . https://web.archive.org/web/20070813041812/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb1q.htm . 13 August 2007 . 1 April 2018.
http://orthochristian.com/66743.html "Holy Hierarch Birinus", Orthodox Christianity
Web site: History of St Peter & St Paul, Checkendon . Langtree Team Ministry . https://web.archive.org/web/20140610112014/http://www.langtree.org/checkendon_history.htm . 10 June 2014 . 1 April 2018.
Web site: History of St Mary the Virgin, Ipsden . Langtree Team Ministry . https://web.archive.org/web/20140508160009/http://www.langtree.org/ipsden_history.htm . 8 May 2014 . 1 April 2018.
Web site: St. Birinus . Catholic Online . 1 April 2018.
Web site: The Calendar. 9 April 2021. The Church of England. en.
Web site: Saint Birinus Catholic Church . Dorchester on Thames, England . Saint Birinus Catholic Church . 1 April 2018.