Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby, who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th in a line which goes back more than 1400 years to Augustine of Canterbury, the "Apostle to the English", sent from Rome in the year 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams. From the time of Augustine until the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury were
Cuthbert of Canterbury not give a reason why this change happened, and given the late date of the Canterbury tradition, the theory cannot be considered proven. Cuthbert died on 26 October 760, and was later considered a saint with a feast day of 26 October. He was buried in his church of St. John, and was the first Archbishop of Canterbury that was not buried in St Augustine's Abbey. His letters to the Anglo-Saxon missionaries on the European continent show him to have been highly educated. Cuthbert of Canterbury Cuthbert (died 26 October 760) was a medieval Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury in England.