The medieval chronicler Bede described Mellitus as being of noble birth. In letters, Pope Gregory I called him an abbot, but it is unclear whether Mellitus had previously been abbot of a Roman monastery, or this was a rank bestowed on

Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619. During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in Canterbury and threatened the church. He

1. ^ Another possible survivor is a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict, now MS Oxford Bodleian Hatton 48. Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo

Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601, in response to an appeal from Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine

Exactly when Mellitus and his party arrived in England is unknown, but he was certainly in the country by 604, when Augustine consecrated him as bishop in the province of the East Saxons, making Mellitus the first Bishop of London after the Roman departure

• List of members of the Gregorian mission

1. ^ Holford-Strevens and Blackburn Oxford Book of Days p. 170
2. ^ Walsh New Dictionary of Saints p. 420
3. ^ Brooks "Mellitus" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography