The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Deans had also existed before this time; its immediate precursor office was the prior of the cathedral-monastery.[1]
The current Dean, David Monteith was installed on 17 December 2022,[2] and is the 40th Dean since the Reformation, though the position of Dean and Prior as the religious head of the community is almost identical so the line is unbroken back to the time of the foundation of the community by Saint Augustine in AD 597. The previous Dean, the Very Rev. Robert Willis, was appointed in 2001 and retired on 16 May 2022, a day before his 75th birthday.[3]
- ^ A full list of the priors and Deans and Canterbury is given in A History of Canterbury Cathedral, ed. P. Collinson, N. Ramsay, M. Sparks. (OUP 1995, revised edition 2002), page 565.
- ^ Chapter Members: Canterbury Cathedral, 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ "The Dean of Canterbury to retire". Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.