Litany of Saints
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Earconwald

Bishop of London and Saint

SaintResearchedKingdom of MerciaBenedictinesPre-congregation

Feast: 30 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
630
Died
690
verified
Beatified
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Earconwald, of the princely family of the East Anglian Offa, used his inheritance to found two monasteries: Chertsey for monks, which he ruled himself, and Barking for nuns under his sister St Ethelburga.

In 675 he became Bishop of London. He was renowned for holiness and miracles; St Bede records that the sick were cured by touching the litter on which he had been carried. He is said to have died at Barking about 690 and was buried in St Paul's.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A founder of monasteries and a holy bishop of London.

Connected on this site

Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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