St Adrian was a scholar of Anglo-Saxon England, having been sent from Rome by Pope St Vitalian on the death of St Deusdedit, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Pontiff was convinced that St Adrian, who, according to St Bede was a Berber of North Africa, was of sufficient learning and virtue to guide the Christians of England while they were comparatively new to the faith.
St Adrian did not wish to become Archbishop of Canterbury, however, so recommended St Theodore of Tarsus in his place, while at the same time agreeing to support the archbishop in his ministry.
St Theodore appointed St Adrian as abbot of the Monastery of Ss peter and Paul (afterwards called St Augustine’s) at Canterbury from where he taught virtue, the wisdom of the Fathers as well as Latin and Greek, Roman law and the ecclesiological sciences.
According to Butler’s Lives of the Saints, the monastic school exerted huge influence on the life of the early Church in the Britain Isles, drawing students from as far away as Wessex, Whitby and Ireland.
St Adrian served at Canterbury for 39 years, until his death in 709. He was buried in his monastery and came to be considered a saint.
His relics were transferred to the new monastery on January 9 1091, a date on which his feast is celebrated today.