The young king of East Anglia in England, he refused the demand of invading pagan forces to renounce his faith. He was shot with arrows and beheaded, and for centuries was honored as a patron of England.
Life
Saint Edmund was a ninth-century king of East Anglia in England. Tradition says he came to the throne young, but detailed records of his life are few.
In 869, when a Danish Viking army invaded East Anglia, he resisted, was captured and killed. Later tradition says he refused demands to renounce his Christian faith and was tied to a tree, shot with arrows and beheaded. The site of his tomb became the town and great abbey of Bury St Edmunds, and for centuries he was loved as a patron saint of England. The Church remembers him on November 20.
Spirituality
Edmund's spirituality is a king's fidelity that valued faith and people above his own life. Tradition tells that he would not deny Christ before the invaders. Though a defeated king, he is remembered as a witness victorious in faith.
Reflection
In the world's eyes Edmund lost, but in God he triumphed. Could what I consider a failure also hold a different meaning in God?