Chad of Mercia

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Saint Chad of Mercia
Bishop
Born	early 7th century, Northumbria
Died	2 March 672, Lichfield, Staffordshire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Lichfield Cathedral, now destroyed. Modern shrine on site. Part of Saxon shrine discovered in 2006.
Feast	2 March
Attributes	Bishop holding a triple-spired cathedral (Lichfield)
Patronage	Mercia; Lichfield; astronomers
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Saint Chad of Mercia (Anglo-Saxon Ceadda) (died March 2, 672) was a 7th century Anglo-Saxon Bishop of York and of Lichfield.

[edit] Life

Chad was one of four brothers, all active in the Anglo-Saxon church. The others were Cedd, Cynibill and Caelin. Most of our knowledge of Chad comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede. As a youth, Chad was a student of Aidan of Lindisfarne at the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne. He travelled to Ireland as a monk, and there he was ordained as a priest.

Shortly after the Synod of Whitby in 663/4, Chad was invited to become Bishop of York by King Oswiu of Northumbria after the first choice for the position, Saint Wilfrid, failed to return from France, where he had gone in order to be consecrated to the position. In 666, Wilfrid returned from France freshly consecrated as Bishop of York, only to find Chad already occupying the same position. In 669, the Archbishop of Canterbury persuaded Chad to step down and allow Wilfrid to take over. Chad stepped down gracefully.

Later that same year, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop. Impressed by Chad's humility (he refused to ride a horse, preferring to walk as Jesus had), Archbishop Theodore sent Chad. Under Chad, the Diocese of Mercia was fixed at Lichfield. Chad then proceeded to carry out much missionary and pastoral work within the kingdom.

Chad died on 2 March 672 and was buried at the church of Saint Mary which later became part of the cathedral at Lichfield. According to Bede, he was immediately venerated as a saint and his relics were translated to a new shrine. He is considered a saint in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and is also noted as a saint in a new edition of the Eastern Orthodox Synaxarion (Book of Saints), in response to increasing attention to pre-Schism western saints. His feast day is celebrated on 2 March.

[edit] Notable dedications

Saint Chad gives his name to one church in Lichfield, one church in Chelsea, Australia, many churches around the Birmingham area, including its Roman Catholic cathedral, where there are some alleged relics of the saint, as well as St Chad's College at the University of Durham. Chadkirk Chapel in Romiley. The chapel dates back to the 14th Century, although site is much older, possibly dating back to the seventh century when it is believed St Chad visited to bless the well there.

[edit] Patronage

Due to the somewhat confused nature of Chad's appointment and the continued references to 'chads' – small pieces of ballot papers punched out by voters using voting machines – in the 2000 US Presidential Election it has been jocularly suggested that St Chad is the patron saint of botched elections. In fact there is no official patron saint of elections, though Thomas More is the one of politicians.

Religious Posts
Preceded by New Creation	Bishop of Mercia and Lindsey 669–672	Succeeded by Winfred
Preceded by Paulinus	Bishop of York 644–664	Succeeded by Wilfrid