Edward the Confessor King Henry II and Pope Alexander III He was called 'Confessor' as the name for someone who was believed to have lived a saintly life but was not a martyr. In the 1230s King Henry III became attached to the cult of Saint Edward, and he commissioned a new life by Matthew Paris. Henry also constructed a grand new tomb for Edward in a rebuilt Westminster Abbey in 1269. He named his eldest son after him. Until about 1350, Edmund the Martyr, Gregory the Great and Edward the Confessor were regarded as English national saints, but Edward III preferred the
Iste confessor of whom people celebrate worldwide 2 Who holy, prudent, humble, modest // sober, pure, was and peaceful 3 At his holy tomb, frequently // the limbs of the sick (were) presently cured 4 Whence now our choir, in honour // of him sing this hymn gladly 5 Health to Him, honour and virtue // who resides above in the peak of heaven </poem> Iste confessor Iste confessor is a Latin hymn used in the Divine Office at Lauds and Vespers on feasts of confessors. It exists in two forms. "Iste confessor Domini sacratus" is the original 8th Century hymn and