Birinus
Stained glass window of St. Birinus at Dorchester Abbey
See	Bishop of Dorchester
Appointed	before 634
Reign ended	3 December 649
Predecessor	new foundation
Successor	Agilbertus
Personal details
Born	c. 600 France
Died	3 December 649 Dorchester, Oxfordshire, England
Denomination	Catholic
Sainthood
Feast day	3 December, 4 September
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy; Anglican Communion
Attributes	bishop, sometimes baptising a king
Patronage	Berkshire; Dorchester

Birinus (c. 600–649), venerated as a saint, was the first Bishop of Dorchester,^[1] and the "Apostle to the West Saxons".

  Life and ministry

After Augustine of Canterbury performed initial conversions in England, Birinus, a Frank, came to the kingdoms of Wessex in 634,^[2] 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.^[3]

Birinus had been made bishop by Asterius in Genoa,^[4] and Pope Honorius I created the commission to convert the West Saxons.^[5] 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, being a Christian, would not ally himself with a heathen. Cynegils then converted and was baptized.^[6] He gave Birinus Dorchester-on-Thames for his episcopal see.^[5] 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 the West Saxon kingdom (Wessex).^[7]

Birinus is said to have been very active in establishing churches in Wessex.^[4] After Cynegils' death, the new king, Cenwalh, established a church at Winchester,^[8] perhaps under Birinus' direction. He also supposedly laid the foundations for St. Mary's in Reading, Saint Helen's in Abingdon and other churches across old Berkshire and Buckinghamshire^{[citation needed]}, such as the church of St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon near Reading.^[9] Tradition has it that Birinus built the first church at Ipsden, as a small chapel on Berins Hill, about two miles east of the present church.^[10] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Birinus baptised Cynegils's son Cwichelm (d. 636)^[11] and grandson Cuthred (d. 661), to whom he stood as godfather.^[12]

  Veneration

Birinus' feast day is 3 December in the Roman Catholic Church,^[13] but some churches celebrate his feast on 5 December. In the Church of England his feast day falls on 4 September and has the status of a Commemoration.^[14] His relics were eventually translated to Winchester after his death.^[15]

A small number of Church of England parish churches are dedicated to Birinus, including those at Berinsfield in Oxfordshire and Redlynch in Wiltshire.

  Notes

  References

• Bately, Janet M. (1986). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition. 3. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-103-9. 
• Bede (1969). Bede's ecclesiastical history of the English people. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822202-5. 
• Church of England Liturgical Commission (2000). Common Worship. Westminster: Church House Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 0-7151-2000-X. 
• Coles, R.J. (1981). Southampton's Historic Buildings. City of Southampton Society. p. 6. 
• Kirby, D. P. (2000). The Earliest English Kings. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24211-8. 
• Powicke, F. Maurice; Fryde, E.B. (1961). Handbook of British Chronology (2nd ed.). London: Royal Historical Society. 
• Walsh, Michael (2007). A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oats. ISBN 0-86012-438-X. 

  External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: St. Birinus

• Ford, David Nash (2001). "St. Birinus (c. 600-649)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/birinus.html. Retrieved 16 June 2010. 
• Kimball, Charles (1907). "St. Birinus (Berin)". Catholic Encyclopaedia. New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02578a.htm. Retrieved 16 June 2010. 
• "St. Birinus". Catholic Online: Saints and Angels. Catholic Online. 2010. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1794. Retrieved 1 September 2007. 
• "Birinus". Patron Saints Index. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb1q.htm. Retrieved 1 September 2007.