Anglican Commemoration
Archbishop of Canterbury & Martyr
April 19 · d. 1012
also known as Ælfheah, Aelphege
Alphege was Archbishop of Canterbury who was captured during the Viking sack of Canterbury in 1011 and murdered by his captors the following year when he refused to allow himself to be ransomed with money that belonged to the Church and its poor. His decision—that a bishop's duty to his flock outweighed his own survival, but that he could not purchase his life with resources entrusted to him for others—made him a model of pastoral integrity. Thomas Becket, facing his own martyrdom a century and a half later, invoked Alphege's example.
Traditionally, Alphege was venerated as a martyr-confessor whose steadfastness under captivity exemplified apostolic courage. According to Osbern of Canterbury, miracles of healing occurred at his tomb almost immediately after his martyrdom. When his body was translated from London to Canterbury in 1023 by Archbishop Æthelnoth, it was reportedly found to be incorrupt—a sign interpreted as confirmation of his sanctity, though the details of the translation account may be hagiographic embellishment.
A later tradition held that Alphege appeared in vision to Lanfranc, the post-Conquest Archbishop of Canterbury, urging the restoration of his shrine. The cult of Alphege was especially strong in Canterbury and Winchester, the two sees he had served. Uniquely among archbishops of Canterbury, Alphege was invoked as an intercessor by later martyred bishops, most notably by Thomas Becket, who reportedly prayed at Alphege's tomb before his own martyrdom in 1170 and saw his predecessor as a model of episcopal courage.
Alphege (Ælfheah) was born around 954 and entered monastic life as a young man, eventually becoming an anchorite at Bath known for his extreme asceticism and spiritual discipline. He was appointed Bishop of Winchester in 984 and served with distinction, building a reputation as a disciplinarian and reformer of monastic practice before being elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1006, succeeding Ælfric.
His tenure as archbishop coincided with the most devastating phase of the Viking raids on England. In September 1011, a Danish army commanded by Sweyn Forkbeard besieged and captured Canterbury, taking Alphege prisoner along with many of his clergy and citizens. The Danes demanded a ransom of three thousand pounds of silver—an enormous sum that Alphege refused to pay, insisting that the wealth of the Church belonged to the poor and could not be used to purchase one man's freedom, even his own. This decision reflected a theological conviction that the Church's resources were sacred and inviolable.
For seven months Alphege remained in captivity, reportedly maintaining his episcopal ministry and celebrating Mass in captivity. On April 19, 1012, at a feast in Greenwich, his captors—reportedly drunk on wine—grew impatient with his refusal to authorize ransom and attacked him. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D manuscript), they pelted him with ox bones and remnants of their meal. A Danish Christian named Thrum, moved by compassion at the violence, struck Alphege with the back of an axe, presumably to end his suffering. He died of his wounds shortly after.
Alphege's body was initially left with the Danes but was soon recovered and taken to London, where it was given honorable burial. His cult grew rapidly, and by the early 12th century he was widely venerated as a martyr-bishop whose death exemplified pastoral sacrifice. He remained the most widely commemorated archbishop of Canterbury until Thomas Becket's canonization in 1173.
Almighty God, you gave your servant Alphege boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.