Justus

Also known as: Archbishop Justus · Family: Church · Role: minister of the Word · First appears: Book I · Chap. XXIX

c. 582, Gregory sent Justus with Mellitus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus to assist Augustine’s mission as fellow labourers and ministers of the Word. In 604, at Dorubrevis in Kent, Augustine ordained him bishop, while Ethelbert endowed the bishops and their churches with gifts, lands, and possessions.

Around 605, Justus joined Laurentius and Mellitus in urging the Scots and Britons to maintain Catholic unity and observance. In 616, after Mellitus sought counsel in Kent, Justus agreed with Laurentius and Mellitus that they should leave Britain; he and Mellitus withdrew to Gaul, from where Eadbald later recalled them to govern their churches in freedom. Around 624, Justus consecrated Romanus bishop of Rochester in his stead, received the pall and authority to ordain bishops from Boniface, and was credited with bringing Adulwald to belief in true conversion and the Christian faith.

On 21 July 625, Justus ordained Paulinus bishop, including as bishop of the Northumbrians, to accompany Ethelberg to Edwin. Archbishop Justus died on 10 November, c. 627; in 633, Romanus drowned in the Italian Sea while carrying Justus’s mission to Pope Honorius.