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 the day whereon the Lord’s true witness trns John O’Conner 1902 <poem> 1 This is the day whereon the Lord’s true witness, 2 Loving, far-seeing, lowly, modest minded, 3 Oft hath it been thro’ his sublime deserving 4 Wherefore to him we raise the solemn chorus, 5 Healing and power, grace and beauteous honour </poem> The Confessor of Christ, from Shore to Shore trn Fr. Edwards Caswall, 1849 <poem> 1 The Confessor of Christ, from shore to shore 2 Holy and innocent were all his ways; 3 Ofttimes his merits high in every land, 4 Therefore to him triumphant praise