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Finan of Lindisfarne
Bishop of Lindisfarne; Saint
SaintResearchedKingdom of NorthumbriaDate unknown
Feast: 17 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
600
Died
9 February 661
verified
Beatified
—
not on record
Canonised
—
not on record
Who they were
Finan, an Irish monk of Iona, was chosen to succeed St Aidan as Bishop of Lindisfarne. St Bede praises him as an able ruler who laboured for the conversion of Northumbria; he built a cathedral of oak and reeds.
He baptised Peada, prince of the Middle Angles, with his nobles, and sent priests to Mercia. He died on 9 February 661.
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 missionary bishop who carried on St Aidan's work in Northumbria.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Finan
- Wikidata Q622223 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Finan of Lindisfarne (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.