Another English Saint Who Spoke Truth to Power

Today is the feast of Saint Dunstan of Canterbury. He is often represented as a man holding a pincers or smith's tongs & putting a horseshoe on the devil’s cloven foot. (This is referenced to in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.) Besides being known for battling the devil he was exiled by King Edwy (Eadwig) after correcting the king for his sexual impropieties. Here is a short bio:

Son of Heorstan, a Wessex nobleman. Nephew of Saint Athelm, and related to Saint Alphege of Winchester. Educated at Glastonbury Abbey by Irish monks. Hermit. Monk. Expert goldsmith, metal-worker, and harpist. Ordained by Saint Alphege. Appointed abbot of Glastonbury in 944 by King Edmund I of England. He rebuilt the abbey, introduced the Benedictine Rule, and established a famous school. Close advisor to King Eadred and King Eadgar. Bishop of Worcester, England, and of London, England. Archbishop of Canterbury, England in 960. The combination of spiritual authority and political influence made him the virtual regent of the kingdom. Spiritual director of Saint Wulsin of Sherborne. Reformed church life in 10th century England. Advisor to King Edwy until he commented on the king’s profligate sexual ways - which caused the bishop to be exiled. In 978, with the acension of King Ethelred the Unready, he retired from political life to Canterbury. Had the gift of prophecy.

Here is the story of his dealings with King Edwy taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. Dunstan:

In 955 Eadred died, and the situation was at once changed. Eadwig, the elder son of Eadmund, who then came to the throne, was a dissolute and headstrong youth, wholly devoted to the reactionary party and entirely under the influence of two unprincipled women. These were Aethelgifu, a lady of high rank, who was perhaps the king's foster-mother, and her daughter Aelfgifu, whom she desired to marry to Eadwig. On the day of his coronation, in 956, the king abruptly quit the royal feast, in order to enjoy the company of these two women. The indignation of the assembled nobles was voiced by Archbishop Oda, who suggested that he should be brought back. None, however, were found bold enough to make the attempt save St. Dunstan and his kinsman Cynesige, Bishop of Lichfield. Entering the royal chamber they found Eadwig with the two harlots, the royal crown thrown carelessly on the ground. They delivered their message, and as the king took no notice, St. Dunstan compelled him to rise and replace his crown on his head, then, sharply rebuking the two women, he led him back to the banquet-hall. Aethelgifu determined to be revenged, and left no stone unturned to procure the overthrow of St. Dunstan. Conspiring with the leaders of the West-Saxon party she was soon able to turn his scholars against the abbot and before long induced Eadwig to confiscate all Dunstan's property in her favour. At first Dunstan took refuge with his friends, but they too felt the weight of the king's anger. Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, where he found himself ignorant alike of the language and of the customs of the inhabitants. But the ruler of Flanders, Count Arnulf I, received him with honour and lodged him in the Abbey of Mont Blandin, near Ghent. This was one of the centres of the Benedictine revival in that country, and St. Dunstan was able for the first time to observe the strict observance that had had its renascence at Cluny at the beginning of the century. But his exile was not of long duration. Before the end of 957 the Mercians and Northumbrians unable no longer to endure the excesses of Eadwig, revolted and drove him out, choosing his brother Eadzar as king of all the country north of the Thames. The south remained faithful to Eadwig. At once Eadgar's advisers recalled St. Dunstan, caused Archbishop Oda to consecrate him a bishop, and on the death of Cynewold of Worcester at the end of 957 appointed the saint to that see.