Roman Catholic Abbot admitted as Honorary Canon

09 September 2009

St Paul's Cathedral today witnessed the admission of the Roman Catholic Benedictine Monk, Abbot Edmund Power, as an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral.

The Right Revd Dom Edmund Power is an Abbot at the St Paul Outside the Walls Basilica in Rome, one of the five major basilicas in Rome, where his work in revitalising the monastic life through teaching ecumenism and the mission has been recognised by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls has a long running connection with the cathedral; going back as far as the seventh century. It was the Roman Abbot, St Mellitus who built the first St Paul's Cathedral in 604 and in the 14^th Century it was customary for the British sovereign to be a Canon of St Paul Outside the Walls.