Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes - The Archdiocese of Eborus/York 631-633
The Venerable Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of England, informs us that St Paulinus of York received the pallium in 634. While we have no reason to doubt this, we were intrigued by a comment in Edwin Burton's article "York, Ancient See of" in the CE. He states that Paulinus received the pallium in 631, and fled in 631. After careful reading of the Venerable Bede's work, we conclude that Burton is correct in the sense that Paulinus was consecrated as Archbishop at an earlier point, probably in 631.
We base this conclusion on the following: When Paulinus received the pallium, he had fled from York in 633, leaving that See vacant. And he had already been consecrated as Bishop of Rochester,a position he held for the remainder of his life. The Venerable Bede further informs us that Archibishop Honorius was consecrated by Paulinus, and the two received their palliums at the same time. It therefore seems clear to us that Paulinus was consecrated as Archbishop of York some time before he actually received the pallium, and it is most likely that he held this position until his flight in 633.
A biography of St Paulinus of York, in Norwegian, can be found at http://www.katolsk.no/biografi/paulyork.htm- CNy
