Benedict Biscop
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| Saint Benedict Biscop Saint Biscop Baducing |
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 Saint Benedict Biscop |
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| Born | c. 628, Northumbria |
| Died | January 12, 690, St Peter's, Wearmouth |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church and Church of England |
| Major shrine | Wearmouth 690 - c.980; translated c. 980 from there to Thorney Abbey (Glastonbury Abbey also claims his relics) |
| Feast | January 12 (C of E calendar) |
| Patronage | English Benedictines, musicians, painters, and (since March 24, 2004) the City of Sunderland |
 Saints Portal |
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Benedict Biscop (c. 628 - 690) (also known as Biscop Baducing) was an Anglo-Saxon abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Early Career
He was born of a good Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.[1]
At the age of 25, Benedict made his first of five trips to Rome, this one accompanying his friend Saint Wilfrid the Elder. However, Wilfrid was detained in Lyon en route to Rome. Benedict completed the journey on his own and when he returned to England, he was full of enthusiam. [2]
He made a second journey to Rome twelve years later, this time accompanied by Prince Alchfrith. On this trip, he met Acca and Wilfrid. Benedict stopped at Lérins, an island off the French coast in the Mediterranean, instead of returning to England. During his two year stay from 665 to 667, he underwent a course of instruction and took monastic vows.
Following the two years in Lérins, he made his third trip to Rome. At this time, he was commissioned by the pope to accompany Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus back from Rome to Canterbury in 669. On their return, Benedict was appointed abbot of SS. Peter and Paul's, Canterbury, by Archbishop Theodore, a role he held for two years.[3]
[edit] Founder
- See also: Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory
King Egfrith granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Romanesque style. Benedict made his fifth and final trip to Rome in 679 to bring back books for a library, saintly relics, and a grant from Pope Agatho granting his monastery certain privileges. Benedict made five overseas voyages in all to stock the library. [4]
In 682, Benedict appointed Easterwine as his coadjutor and the King was so delighted at the success of St Peter's, he gave him more land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery. Benedict erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow. He appointed Ceolfrid as the superior, who left Wearmouth with 20 monks (including his protege the young Bede) to start the foundation in Jarrow. Bede tells us that he brought builders and glass-workers from Francia to erect the buildings in stone.[5]
His idea was to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Catholic Church in Europe. It was the first ecclesial building to be built in stone, and the use of glass was a novelty for many of the Saxons in 7th-century England. It eventually possessed what was a large library for the time – several hundred volumes – and it was here that Benedict's student St Bede wrote his famous works. The library became world-famous, and manuscripts that had been copied there became prized possessions throughout Europe.[6]
[edit] Death
He died on January 12, 690.[7]
[edit] Overview
In his life time he had seen the Church change from being divided between the Roman and Celtic Churches and threatened by a resurgent paganism, to becoming a strong united and growing Roman Catholic Church, united with the worldwide church. His monastery was the jewel in the crown, under the direct patronage of the Pope and ushered in a Golden Era for Christianity in England.
[edit] Notes
- ^ HAbb, I; Blair, p. 155. Biscop, while unusual, is not a unique Northumbrian byname. Blair notes that it is possible that, given the proximity of Benedict's birth and King Edwin of Deira's conversion, some unusual circumstances concerning his birth, or perhaps baptism, may account for this byname.
- ^ St. Benedict Biscop (AD 628-689)
- ^ HAbb, II–III; Blair, pp. 156–159
- ^ Woods, Tomas E., Jr. (2005). How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Regnery.
- ^ HAbb, IV–VI; Blair, p. 161.
- ^ HAbb, IV & VI; Blair, pp. 165ff.
- ^ AVCeol, 18; Blair, p. 177.
[edit] Sources
- Wikisource:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 4#18
- Wikisource:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 5#19
- Wikisource:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 5#21
- HAbb Bede, Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow
- Catholic Online
- Bede's World guidebook, 2004
- AVCeol: Anonymous, "Life of Abbot Ceolfrith" in Webb & Farmer (eds), The Age of Bede. London: Penguin, 1983. ISBN 0-14-044727-X
- Blair, Peter Hunter, The World of Bede. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-521-39138-5.
- St. Benedict Biscop (AD 628-689) at Britannia
- Benedict Biscop at Catholic Forum
| Preceded by — |
Abbot of Monkwearmouth 674–681 |
Succeeded by Eosterwine |
