Paulinus was a Roman monk sent by Pope Gregory the Great to England in 601 as part of the reinforcement to St. Augustine's mission. He served as chaplain to Princess Ethelburga of Kent when she married King Edwin of Northumbria in 625, traveling with her north as part of her household.
His preaching converted Edwin and many of his nobles. He baptized Edwin in a wooden church he had built at York for Easter 627 — the foundation of what would become York Minster, one of the great cathedrals of England. Bede tells the famous story of the Northumbrian counselor who likened a man's life to a sparrow flying briefly through a lighted hall on a winter night, in and out of darkness — and accepted Christianity for its certainty about what lies beyond.
Paulinus also baptized at the wells of the great northern shrines — Yeavering, Catterick — converting thousands. After Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield (633), Paulinus fled south with Ethelburga, becoming bishop of Rochester. He died at Rochester in 644 and was venerated there ever after.