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Gill Jackson
Bures St Mary also claims St Edmund 'As far back as 893 AD we're told by Asser, that Edmund was consecrated as King at 'Burva', the royal seat at that time. No one actually knows for sure where this place was, but by long tradition - possibly dating back to the 12th century - 'Burva' has been identified with the village of Bures (St. Mary), on the river Stour south of Sudbury in Suffolk, which appears in Doomsday Book as 'Bura'. An old hilltop chapel above the village is locally believed to be the site of Edmund's coronation, while there is a 'St. Edmund's Hill' a mile or so to the north.'St Edmund for patron saint!

David Driver
I think any native saint (and one who is authenticated) is better than a foreign saint who is famed for slaying a mythical beast. November 20th would be fine as an extra Bank Holiday late in the year.

Bob Garbett
St George was a turk....Sorry but how can St George be the patron Saint of England if he was not even English? Surely this is a no-brainer!!

jack
Edmund is a far greater saint than george ever was.... edmund died for his country ... george influenced foreigners (normans) to invade! we should hate him!ST.EDMUND FOR PATRON SAINT!

Pauline Watts
St. Edmund is our original English Saint, he was also the Patron Saint Richard I, our Richard Lionheart. It is right that he is reinstated as Patron Saint of England - and YES! he should have his traditional flag reinstated too. I believe it was a white flag with a black cross.

Ross Sanger
Saint Edmund has much more right to be patron saint of England than St George, who, as far as I can make out, never even set foot in England, and he also insults the Welsh.

suzanne Stratful
St George is Patron St of Portugal and no longer recognised as a Saint by our National Church! Simple:a new Patron Saint is paramount and reversion to the original, no bad thing!

Adrian Baillie
Im church warden of St Edmunds in Dudley.Long live the true patron saint of England"Cry Harry and St Edmund!"

geoff blenkinsop
Well done! St Edmund for England! You certainly have my vote.

graham of cheshire england
michael excellent read and yes your correct. we should stick with st george and be proud to be english.

kenneth wood
St.Edmund is more correctly the patron saint of the Anglo-Saxons. Given our worldwide confederation of The Anglo-Saxon folk in the British Isles,the United States of America,Canada, Australia and New Zealand, here is a unifying saint for the twenty first century.

Horrex
Why don't you tell us what Edmund did? Who was he?

annette
can someone tell me what st edmund did to become worthy of being patron saintim really stuck on my prep and i need a bit of help!!!once ive made my decision i will tell you who i think should be patron saint!

Edmund Simons
Of course he is still our patron saint

Gaz
Edmund is a true Englishman

Dave Myatt
Dont be so silly, there is only one Saint of Enlgand, St George.

Louis Pagdin
St Edmund should be reinstated as the patron st of England, why do we have a turk as patron st?

carol marsh
I agree that St Edmund should be the patron saint of England. You have my vote.

Tim
So is there an online petition?.....Probably staring me in the face!

Michael
Why St Edmund ? Why not St Edward the Confessor or St Edward the Martyr ? Both were kings of all England not just East Anglia. Then there is St Alban, the first English martyr, St Augustine who brought Christianity to England or St Thomas of Canterbury famous throughout Europe for resisting the king who had him killed. And there are many more. St Edmund and St Edward the Confessor were both venerated but there is no evidence that they were patron saints of England. Why should the whole country change its patron saint after 700 years to increase tourisn to Bury St Edmunds ? St Edmund was a German who came to England and became king of East Anglia. When the Danes invaded he dismissed his army without a fight and ran away. He was caught hiding under a bridge and killed by the Danes. After such a disaster the Saxons had to restore morale. They said that Edmund did not fight because he followed the teaching of Christ and the Danes had killed him because he would not give up his faith. So he became a martyr. And miracles were added to confirm this - the talking wolf that guarded his head and the story that his head was rejoined to his body without any mark. As king he should have defended his country and he could not defend England as patron saint now. There was nothing wonderful about the Saxons. They invaded and pillaged England just as the Danes did about four hundred years earlier and they killed, drove out or enslaved the original inhabitants. The Normans did not bring in St George to replace St Edmund as patron saint. There is no evidence that he ever was and the Normans retained the Saxon saints. At Winchester, the capital of the country, they rebuilt the cathedral with the shrine of St Swithun, a Saxon saint. And St George did not really come in until King Edward III instituted the order of St George (the Order of the Garter) and St George's chapel at Windsor Castle in 1348. If they wanted to replace St Edmund they would not have waited 300 years to do it.In any case the Normans are as much part of our heritage as the Saxons.