A light of the Church lit by the Holy Spirit who wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English People

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Rob2

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St Bede

Celebrated on May 25th

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A monk , born in Northumbria , in the north east of England , in 673, Bede studied at the newly-founded monastery of Wearmouth, and then Jarrow. Here he became a monk, and spent the rest of his life - probably travelling no further afield than York and Lindisfarne.

The Venerable Bede said: “'I have devoted my energies to the study of the Scriptures. Observing monastic discipline, singing the daily services in church, study, teaching and writing have always been my delight.”

Bede’s religious writings were very important in his day, but it is as a historian that he is most remembered now. He is one of the main contemporary authorities about the early saints in these islands. His most famous work is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He wrote other histories, the first martyrology, letters and poems - all in Latin. He wrote in the vernacular, although most of his English writing has been lost.

During his last illness he was translating the Gospel of St John and extracts from the writings of St Isidore of Seville. He died in 735, surrounded by his community, after dictating the last sentence.

A hundred years later he was already referred to as ‘the Venerable’. It was not until 1899 that he was formally recognised as a Doctor of the Church. St Boniface called him ’ a light of the Church, lit by the Holy Spirit’.

He wrote the Latin words of the hymns ‘The hymns for conquering martyrs raise’ and ’ Sing we triumphant hymns of praise’.
(from ICN)
 
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Just finished reading-reading the Ecclesiastical History, and it is striking how his personality comes through so clearly, a thousand years later. One of the great scholars of the West, and one of the great figures of English history.
 
He is thought to be the father of English prose. Have great admiration for him.
 
I read this myself many years ago.
Writing history wasn’t a thing medieval people weren’t interested in doing. Much of what was written didn’t follow high standards, and so was unreliable. I’m afraid that many things that occurred in the centuries before Saint Bede were lost in time–things important, interesting, no doubt fascinating. Saint Bede stands out because he is a voice in the middle ages when others were not heard.
 
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