Edmund Rich

Edmund Rich of Abingdon ( * ca 1170/1180 in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, † November 16, 1240 in Soisy, France) was a Catholic theologian, philosopher and saint.

He studied in Paris and Oxford and then was about 1214 professor at the University of Oxford. After a period as a crusade preacher in 1227, he was appointed in 1233 to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In this role, he was frequently in conflict with Henry III. This meant that he retired in 1240 in the monastery Pontigny to France. In 1240 he died in Soissy, either on a pilgrimage to Rome, or because he had moved for health reasons because of better climate there. In 1246, he was canonized. His feast day is November 16. In 1253 him in Dover St. Edmund 's Chapel was consecrated.