Hierarch Paulinus, Bishop of York

Saint Paulinus of York was a Roman monk who took part in the Second Gregorian Mission, the first Bishop of York, and one of the enlighteners of the Anglo-Saxons. A native of Rome, he was sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great in 601 to reinforce St. Augustine of Canterbury's mission and arrived in Britain in 604.

In 625 he accompanied Æthelburh of Kent to Northumbria as her chaplain when she went north to marry the pagan King Edwin, having shortly before been consecrated bishop by Archbishop Justus of Canterbury (21 July 625). Paulinus's preaching, together with Edwin's providential survival of an assassination attempt and his subsequent victory over his enemies, persuaded the king to accept baptism: at Easter 627, in a wooden church of St. Peter built for the occasion in Eboracum (York), Edwin was baptized with his household.

Paulinus became the first bishop of the newly founded see of York and spent six years on an extensive mission throughout Northumbria and Lindsey, reportedly baptizing thousands, including the future St. Hilda of Whitby. After King Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633, Paulinus fled south to Kent with the queen and her children, becoming Bishop of Rochester until his death on October 10, 644. He is venerated within the Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland.