Felix of Burgundy

Who was Felix of Burgundy?

Felix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich, was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia. Almost all that is known about the saint originates from The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed by Bede in about 731, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Bede praised Felix for delivering "all the province of East Anglia from long-standing unrighteousness and unhappiness".

Felix, who originated from the Frankish kingdom of Burgundy, may have been a priest at one of the monasteries in Francia founded by the Irish missionary Columbanus: the existence of a Bishop of Châlons with the same name may not be a coincidence. Felix travelled from his homeland of Burgundy to Canterbury before being sent by Honorius to Sigeberht of East Anglia's kingdom in about 630,. On arrival in East Anglia, Sigeberht gave him a see at Dommoc. According to Bede, Felix helped Sigeberht to establish a school in his kingdom "where boys could be taught letters". He died on 8 March 647 or 648, having been bishop for seventeen years. His relics were translated from Dommoc to Soham Abbey and then to the abbey at Ramsey.