37. SAINT DIUMA, BISHOP OFMERCIA

Our holy Father Diuma was of Irish origin. He was one of four priests who were sent by St. Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne, to evangelize Mercia after the baptism of King Peada. The other priests were St. Cedd, the future bishop of London, Betti and Adda. The apostolate of these four men was most successful. When Peada died in 654, King Oswy of Northumbria ruled Mercia for a few years; and in this period Diuma was consecrated bishop of the Mercians and Middle Anglians by St. Finan. He worked mainly among the East Anglians and died in a district called Infeppingum in the year 658. He was buried at Charlbury in Oxfordshire.

St. Diuma is commemorated on December 7.

Holy Father Diuma, pray to God for us!

(Sources: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, II, 2; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 107)