Commontide
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The 1st Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Lent
You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that, fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Bishop of Dunwich and Apostle to the East Angles
Anglican Commemoration
Felix was a bishop from Burgundy who came to Canterbury and was sent on from there to the East Angles, a kingdom that had lapsed back into paganism after its newly baptised king was killed. He received his see at Dommoc, traditionally identified with Dunwich in Suffolk, and held it seventeen years. With King Sigeberht he founded a school for boys, its masters and teachers supplied after the Kentish pattern. He died on 8 March, in 647 or 648, and Bede says he ended his days in peace.
Felix was a bishop from Burgundy who arrived in England around 630. According to Bede, he came at the invitation of King Sigeberht of East Anglia, who had been baptized during his years of exile in Gaul and wanted a bishop to complete the conversion of his kingdom.
Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury sent Felix to East Anglia, where he established his episcopal seat at Dunwich — then a significant coastal town, now largely lost to the sea. From there, Felix conducted a systematic mission that Bede describes as entirely successful: he 'freed all that province from its long wickedness and unhappiness, bringing it to the faith and the works of righteousness and to the gift of everlasting happiness.'
Felix founded a school modeled on the schools of Kent (themselves modeled on Frankish and Italian precedents) where East Anglian boys could be trained for the priesthood. He also worked alongside the Irish monk Fursey, who established a monastery at Burgh Castle — a collaboration between Roman and Celtic traditions characteristic of the period.
Felix served as bishop for seventeen years and died around 647 or 648. His body was later translated to Soham and eventually to Ramsey Abbey. The loss of Dunwich to the sea over subsequent centuries means that virtually nothing survives of his physical legacy, but his significance in the conversion of eastern England is well established.
Bede provides almost no miracle tradition for Felix, describing his work in straightforwardly historical terms. Later medieval sources — particularly the 12th-century Liber Eliensis — developed Felix's hagiography, but these are distant from the events and were produced in contexts that served the interests of the Ely monastic community.
The loss of Dunwich to coastal erosion from the medieval period onward has meant that physical traces of Felix's legacy have disappeared, though underwater archaeology has located elements of the medieval town. The town of Felixstowe preserves his name.