Extract From  - http://www.stedwardsromford.org/index.html

Edward the Confessor, as he was known, had not been a particularly successful king,

 but his personal character and piety endeared him to his people. 

In appearance he is represented as tall, dignified and kindly with

 rosy cheeks and a long white beard. He was regarded as a saint

 long before he was officially canonized as Saint and Confessor 

by Pope Alexander III in 1161. A Confessor is a particular type of saint. 

The term applies to those who suffered for their faith 

and demonstrated their sanctity in the face of worldly temptations, 

but who were not martyrs.

On 13th October {Feast of St. Edward} 1163 in the presence of the King,

 Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury and many other 

Saxon and Norman Bishops the saint's body was moved to a 

resplendent shrine within Westminster Abbey.

 King Henry II prepared the shrine.


Shrine of Edward the Confessor - Westminster Abbey


 

Edward the Confessor was born at Islip in Oxfordshire between 1002 and 1005,

 the son of King Ethelred the Unready and Emma.

 Driven from England by the Danes, and spending his exile in Normandy,

 the story goes that Edward vowed that if he should return safely to his kingdom, 

he would make a pilgrimage to St Peter's, Rome. 

He returned to England and was crowned at Winchester in 1042.

 But once on the throne he found it impossible to leave his subjects, 

and the Pope released him from his vow on condition that 

he should found or restore a monastery to St Peter. 

This led to the building of a new church in the Norman style 

to replace the Saxon church at Westminster.

Extract From

http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/royals/burials/edward-the-confessor-and-edith

The above illustration depicting St Edward holding his ring and sceptre

 is taken from a 14th century manuscript in the Abbey Library

Icon in memory of Frank Maloney

  

AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

On 13 October 1163 St Edward’s body was moved, or ‘translated’,

 to a Shrine in the church he had built.  

On 13 October 1269 his relics were translated to the Shrine

 in the present church as part of its Liturgy of Dedication.  

Although St Edward’s day of death - the 5th. January - is also commemorated

 at Westminster Abbey, the Feast of the Translation 

is the principal celebration of St Edward’s life and holiness.

_____


We celebrate his Feast with a Sung Eucharist 

and the Abbey bells mark this day by the ringing of a full peal.