Editing Edward the Confessor (section)

==Veneration==
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name             = Edward the Confessor 
| feast_day        = 13 October, 5 January
| venerated_in     = [[Catholic Church]]<br />[[Church of England]]
| image            = Wilton diptych; left-hand panel.jpg
| imagesize        = 200px
| caption          = The left panel of the [[Wilton Diptych]], where Edward (centre), with [[Edmund the Martyr]] (left) and [[John the Baptist]], are depicted presenting [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] to the Virgin Mary and Christ Child.
| titles           = [[Confessor of the Faith]]
| canonized_date   = 7 February 1161
| canonized_by     = [[Pope Alexander III]]
| attributes       = 
| patronage        = [[England]], [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom]], difficult marriages
| major_shrine     = [[Westminster Abbey]], London
}}

Edward the [[Confessor of the Faith|Confessor]] was the only king of England to be canonized by the pope, but he was part of a tradition of (uncanonised) Anglo-Saxon royal saints, such as [[Eadburh of Winchester]], a daughter of [[Edward the Elder]], [[Edith of Wilton]], a daughter of [[Edgar the Peaceful]], and the boy-king [[Edward the Martyr]].{{sfn|Bozoky|2009|pp=178–179}} With his proneness to fits of rage and his love of hunting, Edward the Confessor is regarded by most historians as an unlikely saint, and his canonisation as political, although some argue that his cult started so early that it must have had something credible to build on.{{sfn|Mortimer|2009|pp=29–32}}

Edward displayed a worldly attitude in his church appointments. When he appointed Robert of Jumièges as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051, he chose the leading craftsman [[Spearhafoc]] to replace Robert as [[Bishop of London]]. Robert refused to consecrate him, saying that the pope had forbidden it, but Spearhafoc occupied the bishopric for several months with Edward's support. After the Godwins fled the country, Edward expelled Spearhafoc, who fled with a large store of gold and gems which he had been given to make Edward a crown.{{sfn|Blair|2004}} Stigand was the first archbishop of Canterbury not to be a monk in almost a hundred years, and he was said to have been excommunicated by several popes because he held Canterbury and Winchester in plurality. Several bishops sought consecration abroad because of the irregularity of Stigand's position.{{sfn|Cowdrey|2004}} Edward usually preferred clerks to monks for the most important and richest bishoprics, and he probably accepted gifts from candidates for bishoprics and abbacies. However, his appointments were generally respectable.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}} When [[Odda of Deerhurst]] died without heirs in 1056, Edward seized lands which Odda had granted to [[Pershore Abbey]] and gave them to his Westminster foundation; historian [[Ann Williams (historian)|Ann Williams]] observes that "the Confessor did not in the 11th century have the saintly reputation which he later enjoyed, largely through the efforts of the Westminster monks themselves".{{sfn|Williams|1997|p=11}}

After 1066, there was a subdued cult of Edward as a saint, possibly discouraged by the early Norman abbots of Westminster,{{sfn|Barlow|2004}} which gradually increased in the early 12th century.{{sfn|Rex|2008|pp=214–217}} [[Osbert of Clare]], the prior of Westminster Abbey, then started to campaign for Edward's canonisation, aiming to increase the wealth and power of the Abbey. By 1138, he had converted the ''[[Vita Ædwardi Regis]]'', the life of Edward commissioned by his widow, into a conventional saint's life.{{sfn|Barlow|2004}} He seized on an ambiguous passage which might have meant that their marriage was chaste, perhaps to give the idea that Edith's childlessness was not her fault, to claim that Edward had been celibate.{{sfn|Baxter|2009|pp=84–85}} In 1139, Osbert went to Rome to petition for Edward's canonisation with the support of [[Stephen, King of England|King Stephen]], but he lacked the full support of the English hierarchy and Stephen had quarrelled with the church, so [[Pope Innocent II]] postponed a decision, declaring that Osbert lacked sufficient testimonials of Edward's holiness.{{sfn|Bozoky|2009|pp=180–181}}

In 1159, there was a [[1159 papal election|disputed election to the papacy]], and [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]'s support helped to secure the recognition of Pope Alexander III. In 1160, a new abbot of Westminster, Laurence, seized the opportunity to renew Edward's claim. This time, it had the full support of the king and the English hierarchy, and a grateful pope issued the bull of canonisation on 7 February 1161,{{sfn|Barlow|2006}} the result of a conjunction of the interests of Westminster Abbey, King Henry II and Pope Alexander III.{{sfn|Bozoky|2009|p=173}} He was called 'Confessor' as the name for someone who was believed to have lived a saintly life but was not a martyr.{{sfn|Rex|2008|p=226}} In the 1230s, King [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] became attached to the cult of Saint Edward, and he commissioned a new life, by [[Matthew Paris]].{{sfn|Carpenter|2007|pp=865–891}} Henry also constructed a grand new tomb for Edward in a rebuilt Westminster Abbey in 1269.<ref name="HA" /> Henry III also named his [[Edward I of England|eldest son]] after Edward.{{Sfn|Jones|2014|pp=241–242}}

Until about 1350, [[Edmund the Martyr]], [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory the Great]], and Edward the Confessor were regarded as English national saints, but Edward III preferred the more war-like figure of Saint George, and in 1348 he established the [[Order of the Garter]] with Saint George as its patron. At [[Windsor Castle]], its chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor was re-dedicated to Saint George, who was acclaimed in 1351 as patron of the English race.{{sfn|Summerson|2004}} Edward was a less popular saint for many, but he was important to the Norman dynasty, which claimed to be the successor of Edward as the last legitimate Anglo-Saxon king.{{sfn|Bozoky|2009|pp=180–182}}

The shrine of Saint Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey remains where it was after the final translation of his body to a chapel east of the sanctuary on 13 October 1269 by Henry III.<ref name="TA" /> The day of his translation, 13 October (his first translation had also been on that date in 1163), is an optional memorial in the Catholic dioceses of England only.<ref name="LO" /> Saint Edward may also be commemorated on the anniversary of his death, 5 January, the date he is inscribed in the ''[[Martyrologium Romanum]]''. The [[Church of England]]'s [[calendar of saints (Church of England)|calendar of saints]] designates 13 October as a [[Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)|Lesser Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=9 April 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref><ref name="CE" /> Each October the abbey holds a week of festivities and prayer in his honour.<ref name="ET" /> Edward is also regarded as a [[patron saint]] of difficult marriages.<ref name="CS" />

<gallery widths="200" heights="120">
File:Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster on the Shrine of Edward the Confessor.ogg|Audio description of the shrine of Edward the Confessor by [[John Hall (priest)|John Hall]]
File:Saint Peter Westminster Abbey Flag.svg|Flag of Saint Peter, Westminster Abbey, flown atop the Abbey on most church festivals. The gold ring represents the ring of Saint Edward, acknowledging him as the Abbey's founder.
</gallery>