Commemoration of Bede the Venerable of Jarrow
May 25
Bede (Baeda) was born in Northumbria, England in the year 673 or 674 at what was then the newly-established Benedictine monastery of Saints Peter and Paul at Wearmouth-Jarrow. Since he was born within the monastery grounds, his ecclesiastical education started very early. His own words say his life of scholarship began at the age of seven when he was given to of St. Benedict Biscop, founder and abbot of the monastery, for education and instruction in the monastic life. Other sources suggest he was introduced to the holy disciplines when he was only three years old. All agree he was deeply committed to scripture study and prayer from his earliest youth.
His formal education began at the monastery of St. Peter in Wearmouth; after his basic childhood schooling was complete he was moved to the twin monastery of St. Paul in Jarrow. His dedication to praying the hours, singing the daily offices and observing all the traditional monastic liturgies is revealed by a letter in which he wrote: "I know that the angels are present at the canonical Hours, and what if they do not find me among the brethren when they assemble? Will they not say, Where is Bede? Why does he not attend the appointed devotions with his brethren?"
Bede received Holy Orders as a deacon at the age of 19 and was admitted to the priesthood at the age of 30, both ordinations at the hands of St. John of Beverley. Except for a few brief visits to friends, Bede spent the entirety of his life in Jarrow, and reportedly never traveled farther south than York or farther north than Lindisfarne.
St. Benedict Biscop, Bede's beloved teacher and mentor, had been a monk at Lerins, the ancient monastery thought to be the source from which monasticism spread throughout the European continent. Benedict Biscop brought a large library of books with him from Lerins, as well as from other libraries in Europe, for the foundation of the new monastery at Wearmouth-Yarrow. It is this library which enabled Bede to research his scholarly work by drawing upon the assembled wisdom of the known world, while always remaining relatively close to his monasterial home.
In the days when Northumbria was a great scholastic center with many famous schools at Jarrow and York, Bede was the most distinguished of its scholars. He showed remarkable industry in collecting reference materials and in his critical use of them. He was diligent about citing the primary sources to which he referred and scrupulously noted in his writings the passages he borrowed from others. He begged the future copyists of his works to preserve these references, unfortunately this was a recommendation to which copyists and translators paid little attention throughout the years.
Bede was a prodigious worker and a prolific writer, the author of 45 volumes, including scripture commentaries, text-books, and translations. His works in Latin include grammatical and chronological works, letters, homilies, and the first Martyrology with historical notes. He numbered over 600 monks among his pupils during his lifetime of study and writing, yet he did all his own work without the help of any assistants until the very end of his life. In his own words: "I am my own secretary; I dictate, I compose, I copy all myself."
The range of Bede's scholarship was astonishing, embracing the whole field of contemporary knowledge. He wrote poetry, including a textbook on poetic metres. He wrote hymn texts, and his works on music theory and the structure of Gregorian chant are still in use today by scholars engaged in the study of early church music. He wrote extensively about the natural sciences. He believed the earth was a sphere. He had a sense of latitude and the annual movement of the sun into the north and south hemispheres from the evidence of varying lengths of shadows. He knew that the moon influenced the cycle of the tides. He wrote on calculating time and his exposition of the Great Cycle of 532 years was of fundamental value to the church in the task of calculating the date of Easter. Bede is also believed to be the first known writer of English prose, although no copies of his work survive. Centuries before the term Renaissance Man was coined, Bede embodied the term, yet he repeatedly made it clear that all his other interests were subordinated to his work on the translation and interpretation of Scripture.
During his life he was best known for his biblical commentaries, in our modern time it is for his work as a Church historian that Bede is most famous. His works "De temporibus liber" and "De temporam ratione" were the first to establish the term anno domini (A.D.) as the means of designating whether historical events occurred before or after the birth of Christ. The supreme achievement of his life, completed in 731, was the "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum" - the first authoritative history of the Faith in England from the introduction of Christianity to the British Isles right up to Bede's own day. With a store of classical learning not very common in that age, and with a simplicity of language seldom found in monastic Latinity, Bede melded together the scattered fragments of Roman, British, Scottish, and Saxon history. His work is professedly ecclesiastical; but, when we consider the prominent station which the Church had in England at this time, it is not surprising that the work also includes an intermixture of civil, military, and ecclesiastical affairs. It was immediately hailed as a triumph of historical scholarship, and has continued to be studied and revered by researchers through the intervening centuries. It remains the primary source for the period 597 to 731, when the Anglo-Saxon culture developed and Christianity triumphed.
The writings of the Venerable Bede are our most extensive (and in some cases only) source of information about the monastic and secular life of the 7th and 8th centuries. He preserved for us the lives of many early Celtic saints, some of whom were dear friends known to him personally. We will never know the extent to which their friendship with Bede is tied to their sainthood. Bede's work is in some cases the only surviving account of their lives. Is it possible that, without the friendship and devotion of Bede, the record of their holy words and deeds would have been lost, and the church might never have recognized them as saints.
Bede's life seems to have been one peaceful round of study and prayer passed in the midst of his own community of monks. How much he was loved by them is tenderly revealed by the touching account of the saint's last sickness and death left us by Saint Cuthbert, his contemporary and student. As illness and weakness came upon Bede at the end of his life, he became preoccupied with completing his translation of the fourth Gospel into English. Despite sleepless nights and days of weariness, he continued his task, making what speed he could, and taking great 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 persistence in prayer and scholarship even at the end of his life was a powerful example of devotion to his disciples.
Folio 3v from Codex Beda
Petersburgiensis (746)
Source: Wikipedia
On Tuesday 24th May 735 Bede took grievously ill but continued to teach. He cheerfully suggested to his pupils that they learn quickly as he may not be with them long. His students came as usual to read their lessons aloud to him at his bedside, but their reading was constantly interrupted by their tears. The next day Bede taught until nine in the morning, then he turned his attention to the gospel according to John. Forced by his illness to accept the help of a scribe, he was being assisted by a boy named Wilbert. As he felt his death approaching, Bede called Wilbert to his side and told him to write with all possible speed. Wilbert did not understand that he was trying to finish the translation that same day, and implored him to take breaks from the work because of his obvious weakness. "There is still a chapter wanting," said the boy as the day wore on; "had you not better rest for a while?" "Be quick with your writing," Bede answered, "for I shall not hold out much longer." The two worked side by side with urgency for the rest of the day. As so often happens, with saints as well as ordinary men and women, Bede managed to hold on to life just long enough to reach a milestone that meant a great deal to him.
As evening fell, Wilbert told his teacher that they were very close to completing the task. "There is still one sentence, dear master, which is not written down." Bede said, "Write it down quickly." After he finished Wilbert then said "There; now it is written down." Bede replied "Good. You have spoken the truth; it is finished. Take my head in thy hands for it much delights me to sit opposite any holy place where I used to pray, that so sitting I may call upon my Father." Then he said "I have a few treasures in my box. Run quickly and fetch the priests of our monastery, and I will share among them such little presents as God has given me." His "box of treasures" contained his only possessions -- some handkerchiefs, a few peppercorns and a small quantity of incense -- and these were shared amongst his brother monks as he had wished. Then Bede began to sing the Gloria in a broken voice, but only got as far as "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost" before he breathed his last and passed to his reward on Ascension Eve.
"Venerable" was a title Bede enjoyed applying to the early church figures about whom he wrote, but it was not applied to him until approximately two generations after his death. The title Venerable, in Bede's time just as now, means a person "worthy of veneration or reverence, deserving of honor and respect." Many legends have arisen to explain how Bede received this title. One of the more poetic accounts states that a monk of pure heart but limited intelligence was attempting to write an epitaph for Bede, but left a blank space because he could not think of the right word. The "dunce-monk" wrote: "Hac sunt in fossa, Bedae [blank] ossa" and went to bed with his epitaph unfinished. Early the next morning he discovered an angel had completed his work while he slept, filling in the blank with the word "venerabilis." The completed epitaph is translated: "This grave contains the remains of the Venerable Bede. "
Bede is widely revered as the patron saint of scholars and historians. The Venerable Bede died at St. Paul monastery in Jarrow on May 25, 735.
