Mellitus of Canterbury

d.624. Third archbishop of Canterbury (619). Probably a Benedictine at St. Andrew's monastery in Rome, he was part of the second contingent of missionaries sent by Gregory the Great in 601 to help Augustine in Britain. After three years' work in Kent he was consecrated bishop of the East Saxons by Augustine (604). He established his see in London where St. Paul's was built as his cathedral. In 610 he returned to Rome on business. When the East Saxon king Sigebert died, he was banished to France (617), but he returned the next year and was soon elevated to Canterbury.