The Gregorian Mission and Bishopric of London
Pope Gregory I dispatched Mellitus to England in June 601 as part of a second wave supporting Augustine's mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons. He carried books and ecclesiastical supplies for the young church, possibly including the manuscript now known as the St Augustine Gospels (preserved at Cambridge), and traveled through Gaul bearing papal letters of introduction to numerous bishops and Frankish rulers.
After spending time in Kent, Mellitus was consecrated by Augustine as the first Bishop of London in 604. He baptized Sæberht, nephew of the East Saxon king, which enabled the establishment of the bishopric. London was chosen strategically as a hub of the southern road network. In 610 Mellitus attended a papal council in Italy and returned bearing papal letters for the leaders of the English church.
Exile and the Archbishopric of Canterbury
Following the deaths of Kings Æthelberht and Sæberht around 616-618, Sæberht's pagan sons expelled Mellitus from London. Bede records that Mellitus refused the brothers' request for a taste of the sacramental bread. He fled to Canterbury, but finding Æthelberht's successor Eadbald also pagan, he took refuge in Gaul with Bishop Justus.
After Eadbald's conversion by Archbishop Laurence, Mellitus was recalled, though he could not return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. In 619 he succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury. Bede noted his sound mind while recording that he suffered from gout.
Relics & Shrines
Mellitus died on 24 April 624 and was buried at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, where he came to be venerated as a saint with a feast day of 24 April. His shrine was visited by pilgrims seeking relief from gout, the ailment he himself had endured.
After the Norman Conquest, the hagiographer Goscelin wrote a life of Mellitus, noting that his shrine flanked that of Augustine, together with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the presbytery at Canterbury.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: Bede and later sources record the concrete circumstances of Mellitus's episcopate, exile, and death, including his refusal to give communion to the apostate sons of Sæberht and his affliction with gout.
Traditional Accounts: During his tenure as archbishop he is said to have performed a miracle in 623, diverting a fire that had broken out in Canterbury and so saving the cathedral and much of the town.
