Saints and Holy People

Find out about their lives and how they changed the world

Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne (d. 651)

Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne (d. 651)

Patron saint for the whole of the United Kingdom

Feast day: August 31




Saint Aidan was born in Ireland. It is said that he may have been a student of Saint Senan before dedicating himself to monastic life. At the request of the king of Northumbria, Aidan became the bishop of Lindisfarne. He was known by those he served as having an extensive knowledge of the Bible, stirring preaching, aversion to pomp, great holiness, and the ability to perform miracles. Aidan founded a monastery while in Lindisfarne that became well known throughout England as a center of learning and missionary work. He died in 651. 

(Image by Randy OHC, Wikimedia Commons)