Dunstan 			May 19
Archbishop of Canterbury and Reformer
Dunstan was born in 909 at Boltonsborough, seven kilometres from Glastonbury. He came from a family with royal connections and received his education from Irish monks at Glastonbury. In 923, when his uncle Athelm became archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan joined his household. The following year Athelm commended him to the new king, Athelstan, and he served at court during a period marked by strong European contact. However, his impressive scholarship and considerable influence created jealousy and he had to leave. While still a young nobleman, he took monastic vows and returned to Glastonbury.
In 939 Edmund became king of Wessex, and Dunstan returned to court as his chaplain. Shortly afterwards, the king, convinced that Dunstan’s prayers had saved him from death, appointed him abbot of Glastonbury. In the wake of the Danish invasions, religious life in England was at a low ebb. Dunstan reformed the monastery, insisting on close observance of the Rule of St Benedict. Soon, under his leadership Glastonbury became a centre of learning, attracting many new members and triggering a whole new creativity in the English church.
In 956 he was exiled as the result of some personal hostility towards him from the royal court. He went first to Flanders, then to a monastery in Ghent, where he became acquainted with the reforms invigorating monastic life on the continent. Recalled by King Edgar in 957, he was appointed bishop of Worcester, then bishop of London and in 960 archbishop of Canterbury. With Edgar he planned and carried out a thorough reform of both church and state largely through a reformed monasticism.
The reforms begun at Glastonbury and developed in the light of the continental reforms led Dunstan to see that a specifically English monastic code was needed. The Regularis Concordia (970) was drawn up by Bishop Aethelwold, who took the leading role in the monastic revival. This document also had significance in the areas of liturgy, pastoral care and education, and placed monasticism under royal protection. The remarkable concord that existed between king and archbishop declined somewhat after Edgar’s death in 975, and Dunstan concentrated more and more on his work at Canterbury.
Dunstan possessed great gifts of leadership and organisation. He was widely respected because of his transparent integrity and sincerity and courage, and he never hesitated to rebuke even kings when necessary. While archbishop, he improved the education and discipline of the secular clergy. He encouraged the use of Anglo-Saxon in teaching and for the translations of the Gospels. He was a remarkable person, at once a man of ability and action, and also someone who would spend long hours in prayer; he was also a practical administrator and a gifted artist. The extent of the popular affection in which he was held was indicated by a spontaneous acclamation of his saintliness upon his death in 988, despite the fact that there was much active opposition to the new monastic policy and many of its implications.
For Liturgical Use
Dunstan was an extraordinarily able and gifted archbishop of Canterbury in the late Anglo-Saxon period. He inspired the renewal of the church and the revival of the monasteries. He was born in 909. From his time as abbot of Glastonbury he realised the potential of monasteries in the pastoral service of the church, and emphasised the importance of education. He was noted for his great learning, and exercised a powerful influence in the affairs of both church and state at a significant time in English history. He died in 988.
Sentence
The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory, and will rejoice over you with gladness. 		Zephaniah 3:17
Collects
God of truth and beauty,
you called your servant Dunstan 
to be a wise and faithful pastor
and to delight in all that is lovely;
grant us your wisdom, 
that we may approve what is excellent
and order our lives in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

God, ever present, inescapable,
you called Dunstan to build up the church
and restore the monasteries;
you gave him grace when he sang at the altar
to be like one who talked to you face to face;
send us, we pray, more like him.
Psalms	21	125
Readings
Isaiah 1:15-20		The reform of national life
2 Corinthians 5:1-10	Our heavenly dwelling
Matthew 19:23-26		With God all things are possible
Post Communion Sentence
Jesus said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.”
				Matthew 19:29