Commemorated on May 27
Saint Bede was a church historian who recorded the history of
Christianity in England up to his own time. He was probably born around
673 in Northumbria. We do not know exactly where he was born, but it is
likely that it was somewhere near Jarrow.
When he was seven, Bede
was sent to St Benedict Biscop (January 12) at the monastery of St
Peter at Wearmouth to be educated and raised. Then he was sent to the
new monastery of St Paul founded at Jarrow in 682, where he remained
until his death. There he was guided by the abbot St Ceolfrith
(September 25), who succeeded St Benedict in 690, ruling both Wearmouth
and Jarrow.
There is an incident in the anonymous Life of
Ceolfrith which may refer to the young Bede. A plague swept through
Ceolfrith’s monastery in 686, taking most of the monks who sang in the
choir for the church services. Only the abbot and a young boy raised and
educated by him remained. This young boy “is now a priest of the same
monastery and commends the abbot’s admirable deeds both verbally and in
writing to all who desire to learn them.”
Grieved by this
catastrophe, Ceolfrith decided that they should sing the Psalms without
antiphons, except at Matins and Vespers. After a week of this, he went
back to chanting the antiphons in their proper place. With the help of
the boy and the surviving monks, the services were performed with
difficulty until other monks could be brought in and trained to sing.
St
Bede was ordained as a deacon when he was nineteen, and to the holy
priesthood at the age of thirty by St John of Beverley (May 7), the holy
Bishop of Hexham (687), and later (705) of York. Bede had a great love
for the church services, and believed that since the angels were present
with the monks during the services, that he should also be there. “What
if they do not find me among the brethren when they assemble? Will they
not say, ‘Where is Bede?’
Bede began as a pupil of St Benedict
Biscop, who had been a monk of the famous monastery at Lerins, and had
founded monasteries himself. St Benedict had brought many books with
him to England from Lerins and from other European monasteries. This
library enabled Bede to write his own books, which include biblical
commentary, ecclesiastical history, and hagiography.
Bede was not
an objective historian. He is squarely on the Roman side in the debate
with Celtic Christianity, for example. He was, however, fair and
thorough. His books, derived from “ancient documents, from the
traditions of our ancestors, and from my own personal knowledge” (Book
V, 24) give us great insight into the religious and secular life of
early Britain. To read St Bede is to enter a world shaped by spiritual
traditions very similar to those cherished by Orthodox Christians. These
saints engage in the same heroic asceticism shown by saints in the
East, and their holiness fills us with love and admiration. Christians
were expected to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there was a forty
day Nativity Fast (Book IV, 30).
St Bede became ill in 735. For
about two weeks before Pascha, he was weak and had trouble breathing,
but experienced little pain. He remained cheerful and gave daily lessons
to his students, then spent the rest of the day singing Psalms and
giving thanks to God. He would often quote the words of St Ambrose, “I
have not lived in such a way that I am ashamed to live among you, and I
do not fear to die, for God is gracious” (Paulinus, Life of Saint
Ambrose, Ch. 45).
In addition to giving daily lessons and chanting
the Psalms, St Bede was also working on an Anglo-Saxon translation of
the Gospel of St John, and also a book of extracts from the writings of
St Isidore of Seville (April 4). On the Tuesday before the Feast of the
Lord’s Ascension, the saint’s breathing became more labored, and his
feet began to swell. “Learn quickly,” he told those who were taking
dictation from him, “for I do not know how long I can continue. The Lord
may call me in a short while.”
After a sleepless night, St Bede
continued his dictation on Wednesday morning. At the Third Hour, there
was a procession with the relics of the saints in the monastery, and the
brethren went to attend this service, leaving a monk named Wilbert with
Bede. The monk reminded him that there remained one more chapter to be
written in the book which he was dictating. Wilbert was reluctant to
disturb the dying Bede, however. St Bede said, “It is no trouble. Take
your pen and write quickly.”
At the Ninth Hour, Bede paused and
told Wilbert that he had some items in his chest, such as pepper,
incense, and linen. He asked the monk to bring the priests of the
monastery so that he could distribute these items to them. When they
arrived, he spoke to each of them in turn, requesting them to pray for
him and to remember him in the services. Then he said, “The time of my
departure is at hand, and my soul longs to see Christ my King in His
beauty.”
That evening, Wilbert said to him, “Dear Master, there is one sentence left unfinished.”
Bede said, “Very well, write it down.”
Then the young monk said, “It is finished now.”
St
Bede replied, “You have spoken truly, it is well finished.” Then he
asked Wilbert to raise his head so that he could see the church where he
used to pray. After chanting, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Spirit” to its ending, St Bede fell asleep in the Lord Whom
he had loved.
Although St Bede reposed on May 25, the eve of the
Ascension, he is commemorated on the 27th, since the Feast of St
Augustine of Canterbury is appointed for the 26th. His body was first
buried in the south porch of the monastery church, then later
transferred to a place near the altar. Today his holy relics lie in
Durham Cathedral, in the Galilee chapel. St Bede is the only Englishman
mentioned by Dante in the DIVINE COMEDY (Paradiso).
SOURCE:
SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2014(with 2013's link here also and further:, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and even 2008!):
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