May 25th - St. Bede, Priest, Doctor (RM)
Born in Northumbria, England, 673; died at Jarrow, England, on May 25,
735;
named Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.
In the days when Northumbria was a great scholastic center with famous
schools at Jarrow and York, Bede was the most distinguished of its
scholars.
Beginning at age seven (or three?), he was educated at the newly-founded
monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow under Abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid.
In
703, he was received as a monk by Saint Benedict Biscop and ordained a
priest at age 30 by Saint John of Beverley. Except for a few brief visits
elsewhere, Bede spent the rest of his life in Jarrow; never going further
afield than Lindisfarne and York.
"I have spent my whole life," he says, "in the same monastery, and while
attentive to the rule of my order and the service of the Church, my
constant
pleasure lay in learning or teaching or writing." He numbered 600 monks
among his pupils and became the Father of English learning. "I have
devoted
my energies to the study of Scriptures, observing monastic discipline, and
singing the daily services in church."
Bede was a prodigious worker, the author of 45 volumes, including
commentaries, text-books, and translations. His range was encyclopedic,
embracing the whole field of contem****ary knowledge. He wrote grammatical
and chronological works, hymns and other verse, letters, and homilies, and
compiled the first martyrology with historical notes. These are in Latin,
but Bede was also the first known writer of English prose (since lost).
Bede's Biblical writings were extensive and im****tant in their time, but
it
is as an historian that he is famous. The Latin of the hymns 'The hymn for
conquering martyrs raise' and 'Sing we triumphant hymns of praise' was
written by Bede
His supreme achievement, completed in 731, was his "History of the English
Church and People", in the laborious preparation of which he searched the
archives of Rome (? most sources say he never left England), collecting
and
collating do***ents, and set forth in detail the first authoritative
history
of Christian origins in Britain. To this he added Lives of five early
abbots
of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Not until his last illness had he any assistance:
"I am my own secretary; I dictate, I compose, I copy all myself."
Many stories have gathered round his name. This one is probably mythic: On
a
visit to Rome with other scholars, he found them puzzled by an inscription
of cryptic letters upon an iron gate. A passing Roman citizen, seeing
their
confusion, sneered at Bede and rudely called him an English ox, when, to
his
surprise, Bede at once read out the meaning. From that time, because of
the
range of his wisdom and the keenness of his intellect, he was given the
title of venerable.
But the best-known story is related by his contem****ary Saint Cuthbert of
how when illness and weakness came upon him at the end of his life, his
translation of Saint John's Gospel into the English tongue was still
unfinished. Despite sleepless nights and days of weariness, he continued
his
task, and though he made what speed he could, he took every care in
comparing the text and preserving its accuracy. "I don't want my boys," he
said, "to read a lie or to work to no purpose after I am gone." His
friends
begged him to rest, but he insisted on working. "We never read without
weeping," remarked one of them.
When it came to the last day, he called his scribe to him and told him to
write with all possible speed. "There is still a chapter wanting," said
the
boy, as the day wore on; "had you not better rest for a while?" But Bede
persisted with his task. "Be quick with your writing," he answered, "for I
shall not hold out much longer."
When night fell, the boy said: "There is yet one sentence not written."
"Write quickly," Bede replied; and when it was done, he said: "All is
finished now," then after sending for his fellow monks and distributing to
them his few belongings, in a broken voice he sang the Gloria and passed
to
his reward on Ascension Eve.
Of all the writers in Western Europe from the time of Saint Gregory the
Great until Saint Anselm, Saint Bede was perhaps the best known and most
influential, especially in England. He was a careful scholar and
distinguished stylist. His works "De Tem****ibus" and "De Tem****um Ratione"
established the idea of dating events anno domini (A.D.).
Already in 853 a church council in Aachen referred to him as 'the
venerable,' i.e., worthy of honor. Saint Boniface called Bede 'a light of
the church, lit by the Holy Spirit.' To Alcuin, himself the 'schoolmaster
of
his age,' he was 'blessed Bede, our master.' (Alcuin claimed Bede's relics
worked miraculous cures.) Bede is the only Englishman whom Dante names in
the "Paradiso". The center of Bede's cultus is Durham, where his shrine is
located, and York (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Duckett, Gill,
Hamilton
Thompson, White).
A good deal of further information on Saint Bede is available on the
Internet, including his" Life of St. Cuthbert". Saint Bede is depicted in
art as an old monk writing with a quill and rule. He might also be shown
(1)
studying a book, (2) holding up a pitcher with light from heaven falling
on
him, or (3) sup****ted by monks as he is dying (Roeder). He is the patron
saint of scholars and historians (White).
Saint Quote:
"Resist your impatience faithfully, practicing, not only with reason, but
even against reason, holy courtesy and sweetness to all, but especially to
those who weary you the most"
-St. Francis de Sales
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". May - Meekness)
Bible Quote
19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into
heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20 But they going forth
preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word
with
signs that followed. (Mark 16:19-20)
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Prayer of Saint Augustine
O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, my merciful God, my
great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master, my best
helper, my beloved friend of overwhelming beauty, my living
Bread, my eternal priest. You are my guide to my heavenly
home, my one true light, my holy joy, my true way, my ****ning
wisdom, my unfeigned simplicity, the peace and harmony of
my soul, my perfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance,
my everlasting salvation.
My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why have I ever loved or
desired anything else in my life but you, my God?
Where was I when I was not in communion with you?
From now on, I direct all my desires to be inspired by you and
centered on you. I direct them to press forward for they have
tarried long enough, to hasten towards their goal,
to seek the one they yearn for.
O Jesus, let him who does not love you be accursed, and
filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let every worthy feeling
of mine show you love, take delight in you and admire you.
O God of my heart and my inheritance, Christ Jesus, may my
heart mellow before the influence of your spirit and may you
live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my soul.
May it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow in
my innermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden
recesses of my soul and on the day of my consummation
may I appear before you consumed in your love. Amen.
**Don't forget to pray the Stations of the Cross on Fridays
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