Born in East Anglia; died 959. Born of Danish parents in England, Oda
became bishop of Ramsbury (Wessex). He was with King Athelstand when the
king defeated the Danes, Scots, and Northumbrians at the Battle of
Brunanburh in 937. In 942, he became archbishop of Canterbury. He tried
to escape consecration by declaring that, unlike previous archbishops,
he was not
a monk. He only consented to accept the dignity after he had received
the Benedictine habit from the hands of the abbot of Fleury-sur-Loire in
France (reformed by another Saint Odo--of Cluny, who had died in 942).
Oda played an active role in secular as well as ecclesiastical affairs
during the reigns of Kings Edmund and Edgar and paved the way for
monastic restoration under SS. Dunstan, Oswald (Oda's nephew), and
Ethelwold. He is reputed to have performed several miracles
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Delaney,
Encyclopaedia).