No More Learning

” Then
rising immediately, he went to the oratory of the little town, and
continuing in prayer till day, forthwith divided all his substance into
three parts; one whereof he gave to his wife, another to his children, and
the third, which he kept himself, he straightway distributed among the
poor. Not long after, being set free from the cares of this world, he came
to the monastery of Mailros,(842) which is almost enclosed by the winding
of the river Tweed, and having received the tonsure, went apart into a
place of abode which the abbot had provided, and there he continued till
the day of his death, in so great contrition of mind and mortifying of the
body, that even if his tongue had been silent, his life would have
declared that he had seen many things either to be dreaded or coveted,
which were hidden from other men.

Thus he related what he had seen. (843) “He that led me had a countenance
full of light, and shining raiment, and we went in silence, as it seemed
to me, towards the rising of the summer sun. And as we walked we came to a
broad and deep valley of infinite length; it lay on our left, and one side
of it was exceeding terrible with raging flames, the other no less
intolerable for violent hail and cold snows drifting and sweeping through
all the place. Both sides were full of the souls of men which seemed to be
tossed from one side to the other as it were by a violent storm; for when
they could no longer endure the fervent heat, the hapless souls leaped
into the midst of the deadly cold; and finding no rest there, they leaped
back again to be burnt in the midst of the unquenchable flames. Now
whereas an innumerable multitude of misshapen spirits were thus tormented
far and near with this interchange of misery, as far as I could see,
without any interval of rest, I began to think that peradventure this
might be Hell, of whose intolerable torments I had often heard men talk.
My guide, who went before me, answered to my thought, saying, ‘Think not
so, for this is not the Hell you believe it to be. ’

“When he had led me farther by degrees, sore dismayed by that dread sight,
on a sudden I saw the place before us begin to grow dark and filled with
shadows. When we entered into them, the shadows by degrees grew so thick,
that I could see nothing else, save only the darkness and the shape and
garment of him that led me. As we went on ‘through the shades in the lone
night,’(844) lo! on a sudden there appeared before us masses of foul flame
constantly rising as it were out of a great pit, and falling back again
into the same. When I had been led thither, my guide suddenly vanished,
and left me alone in the midst of darkness and these fearful sights. As
those same masses of fire, without intermission, at one time flew up and
at another fell back into the bottom of the abyss, I perceived that the
summits of all the flames, as they ascended were full of the spirits of
men, which, like sparks flying upwards with the smoke, were sometimes
thrown on high, and again, when the vapours of the fire fell, dropped down
into the depths below. Moreover, a stench, foul beyond compare, burst
forth with the vapours, and filled all those dark places.

“Having stood there a long time in much dread, not knowing what to do,
which way to turn, or what end awaited me, on a sudden I heard behind me
the sound of a mighty and miserable lamentation, and at the same time
noisy laughter, as of a rude multitude insulting captured enemies. When
that noise, growing plainer, came up to me, I beheld a crowd of evil
spirits dragging five souls of men, wailing and shrieking, into the midst
of the darkness, whilst they themselves exulted and laughed. Among those
human souls, as I could discern, there was one shorn like a clerk, one a
layman, and one a woman. The evil spirits that dragged them went down into
the midst of the burning pit; and it came to pass that as they went down
deeper, I could no longer distinguish between the lamentation of the men
and the laughing of the devils, yet I still had a confused sound in my
ears. In the meantime, some of the dark spirits ascended from that flaming
abyss, and running forward, beset me on all sides, and with their flaming
eyes and the noisome fire which they breathed forth from their mouths and
nostrils, tried to choke me; and threatened to lay hold on me with fiery
tongs, which they had in their hands, yet they durst in no wise touch me,
though they assayed to terrify me. Being thus on all sides encompassed
with enemies and shades of darkness, and casting my eyes hither and
thither if haply anywhere help might be found whereby I might be saved,
there appeared behind me, on the way by which I had come, as it were, the
brightness of a star shining amidst the darkness; which waxing greater by
degrees, came rapidly towards me: and when it drew near, all those evil
spirits, that sought to carry me away with their tongs, dispersed and
fled.

“Now he, whose approach put them to flight, was the same that led me
before; who, then turning towards the right, began to lead me, as it were,
towards the rising of the winter sun, and having soon brought me out of
the darkness, led me forth into an atmosphere of clear light. While he
thus led me in open light, I saw a vast wall before us, the length on
either side, and the height whereof, seemed to be altogether boundless. I
began to wonder why we went up to the wall, seeing no door in it, nor
window, nor any way of ascent. But when we came to the wall, we were
presently, I know not by what means, on the top of it, and lo! there was a
wide and pleasant plain full of such fragrance of blooming flowers that
the marvellous sweetness of the scents immediately dispelled the foul
stench of the dark furnace which had filled my nostrils. So great was the
light shed over all this place that it seemed to exceed the brightness of
the day, or the rays of the noontide sun. In this field were innumerable
companies of men clothed in white, and many seats of rejoicing multitudes.
As he led me through the midst of bands of happy inhabitants, I began to
think that this perchance might be the kingdom of Heaven, of which I had
often heard tell. He answered to my thought, saying, ‘Nay, this is not the
kingdom of Heaven, as you think. ’

“When we had also passed those mansions of blessed spirits, and gone
farther on, I saw before me a much more beautiful light than before, and
therein heard sweet sounds of singing, and so wonderful a fragrance was
shed abroad from the place, that the other which I had perceived before
and thought so great, then seemed to me but a small thing; even as that
wondrous brightness of the flowery field, compared with this which I now
beheld, appeared mean and feeble. When I began to hope that we should
enter that delightful place, my guide, on a sudden stood still; and
straightway turning, led me back by the way we came.

“In our return, when we came to those joyous mansions of the white-robed
spirits, he said to me, ‘Do you know what all these things are which you
have seen? ’ I answered, ‘No,’ and then he said, ‘That valley which you
beheld terrible with flaming fire and freezing cold, is the place in which
the souls of those are tried and punished, who, delaying to confess and
amend their crimes, at length have recourse to repentance at the point of
death, and so go forth from the body; but nevertheless because they, even
at their death, confessed and repented, they shall all be received into
the kingdom of Heaven at the day of judgement; but many are succoured
before the day of judgement, by the prayers of the living and their alms
and fasting, and more especially by the celebration of Masses. Moreover
that foul flaming pit which you saw, is the mouth of Hell, into which
whosoever falls shall never be delivered to all eternity. This flowery
place, in which you see this fair and youthful company, all bright and
joyous, is that into which the souls of those are received who, indeed,
when they leave the body have done good works, but who are not so perfect
as to deserve to be immediately admitted into the kingdom of Heaven; yet
they shall all, at the day of judgement, behold Christ, and enter into the
joys of His kingdom; for such as are perfect in every word and deed and
thought, as soon as they quit the body, forthwith enter into the kingdom
of Heaven; in the neighbourhood whereof that place is, where you heard the
sound of sweet singing amidst the savour of a sweet fragrance and
brightness of light. As for you, who must now return to the body, and
again live among men, if you will seek diligently to examine your actions,
and preserve your manner of living and your words in righteousness and
simplicity, you shall, after death, have a place of abode among these
joyful troops of blessed souls which you behold. For when I left you for
awhile, it was for this purpose, that I might learn what should become of
you. ’ When he had said this to me, I much abhorred returning to the body,
being delighted with the sweetness and beauty of the place which I beheld,
and with the company of those I saw in it. Nevertheless, I durst not ask
my guide anything; but thereupon, on a sudden, I found myself, I know not
how, alive among men. ”

Now these and other things which this man of God had seen, he would not
relate to slothful men, and such as lived negligently; but only to those
who, being terrified with the dread of torments, or ravished with the hope
of everlasting joys, would draw from his words the means to advance in
piety. In the neighbourhood of his cell lived one Haemgils, a monk, and
eminent in the priesthood, whose good works were worthy of his office: he
is still living, and leading a solitary life in Ireland, supporting his
declining age with coarse bread and cold water. He often went to that man,
and by repeated questioning, heard of him what manner of things he had
seen when out of the body; by whose account those few particulars which we
have briefly set down came also to our knowledge. And he related his
visions to King Aldfrid,(845) a man most learned in all respects, and was
by him so willingly and attentively heard, that at his request he was
admitted into the monastery above-mentioned, and received the crown of the
monastic tonsure; and the said king, whensoever he came into those parts,
very often went to hear him. At that time the abbot and priest
Ethelwald,(846) a man of godly and sober life, presided over that
monastery. He now occupies the episcopal see of the church of Lindisfarne,
leading a life worthy of his degree.

He had a place of abode assigned him apart in that monastery, where he
might give himself more freely to the service of his Creator in continual
prayer. And inasmuch as that place was on the banks of the river, he was
wont often to go into the same for the great desire he had to do penance
in his body, and oftentimes to plunge in it, and to continue saying psalms
or prayers in the same as long as he could endure it, standing still,
while the waves flowed over him, sometimes up to the middle, and sometimes
even to the neck in water; and when he went ashore, he never took off his
cold, wet garments till they grew warm and dry on his body. And when in
the winter the cracking pieces of ice were floating about him, which he
had himself sometimes broken, to make room to stand or plunge in the
river, and those who beheld it would say, “We marvel, brother Drythelm
(for so he was called), that you are able to endure such severe cold;” he
answered simply, for he was a simple and sober-spirited man, “I have seen
greater cold. ” And when they said, “We marvel that you choose to observe
so hard a rule of continence,” he replied, “I have seen harder things. ”
And so, until the day of his calling hence, in his unwearied desire of
heavenly bliss, he subdued his aged body with daily fasting, and forwarded
the salvation of many by his words and life.




Chap. XIII. How another contrarywise before his death saw a book
containing his sins, which was shown him by devils. [704-709 A. D. ]


But contrarywise there was a man in the province of the Mercians, whose
visions and words, but not his manner of life, were of profit to others,
though not to himself. In the reign of Coenred,(847) who succeeded
Ethelred, there was a layman who was a king’s thegn, no less acceptable to
the king for his outward industry, than displeasing to him for his neglect
of his own soul. The king diligently admonished him to confess and amend,
and to forsake his evil ways, lest he should lose all time for repentance
and amendment by a sudden death. But though frequently warned, he despised
the words of salvation, and promised that he would do penance at some
future time. In the meantime, falling sick he betook himself to his bed,
and was tormented with grievous pains. The king coming to him (for he
loved the man much) exhorted him, even then, before death, to repent of
his offences. But he answered that he would not then confess his sins, but
would do it when he was recovered of his sickness, lest his companions
should upbraid him with having done that for fear of death, which he had
refused to do in health. He thought he spoke very bravely, but it
afterwards appeared that he had been miserably deceived by the wiles of
the Devil.

The disease increasing, when the king came again to visit and instruct
him, he cried out straightway with a lamentable voice, “What will you now?
What are you come for? for you can no longer do aught for my profit or
salvation. ” The king answered, “Say not so; take heed and be of sound
mind. ” “I am not mad,” replied he, “but I now know the worst and have it
for certain before my eyes. ” “What is that? ” said the king. “Not long
since,” said he, “there came into this room two fair youths, and sat down
by me, the one at my head, and the other at my feet. One of them drew
forth a book most beautiful, but very small, and gave it me to read;
looking into it, I there found all the good actions I had ever done in my
life written down, and they were very few and inconsiderable. They took
back the book and said nothing to me. Then, on a sudden, appeared an army
of evil spirits of hideous countenance, and they beset this house without,
and sitting down filled the greater part of it within. Then he, who by the
blackness of his gloomy face, and his sitting above the rest, seemed to be
the chief of them, taking out a book terrible to behold, of a monstrous
size, and of almost insupportable weight, commanded one of his followers
to bring it to me to read. Having read it, I found therein most plainly
written in hideous characters, all the crimes I ever committed, not only
in word and deed, but even in the least thought; and he said to those
glorious men in white raiment who sat by me, ‘Why sit ye here, since ye
know of a surety that this man is ours? ’ They answered, ‘Ye speak truly;
take him and lead him away to fill up the measure of your damnation. ’ This
said, they forthwith vanished, and two wicked spirits arose, having in
their hands ploughshares, and one of them struck me on the head, and the
other on the foot. And these ploughshares are now with great torment
creeping into the inward parts of my body, and as soon as they meet I
shall die, and the devils being ready to snatch me away, I shall be
dragged into the dungeons of hell. ”

Thus spoke that wretch in his despair, and soon after died, and now in
vain suffers in eternal torments that penance which he failed to suffer
for a short time with the fruits of forgiveness. Of whom it is manifest,
that (as the blessed Pope Gregory writes of certain persons) he did not
see these things for his own sake, since they did not avail him, but for
the sake of others, who, knowing of his end, should be afraid to put off
the time of repentance, whilst they have leisure, lest, being prevented by
sudden death, they should perish impenitent. And whereas he saw diverse
books laid before him by the good and evil spirits, this was done by
Divine dispensation, that we may keep in mind that our deeds and thoughts
are not scattered to the winds, but are all kept to be examined by the
Supreme Judge, and will in the end be shown us either by friendly angels
or by the enemy. And whereas the angels first drew forth a white book, and
then the devils a black one; the former a very small one, the latter one
very great; it is to be observed, that in his first years he did some good
actions, all which he nevertheless obscured by the evil actions of his
youth. If, contrarywise, he had taken care in his youth to correct the
errors of his boyhood, and by well-doing to put them away from the sight
of God, he might have been admitted to the fellowship of those of whom the
Psalm says, “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose
sins are covered. ”(848) This story, as I learned it of the venerable
Bishop Pechthelm,(849) I have thought good to set forth plainly, for the
salvation of such as shall read or hear it.




Chap. XIV. How another in like manner, being at the point of death, saw
the place of punishment appointed for him in Hell.


I myself knew a brother, would to God I had not known him, whose name I
could mention if it were of any avail, dwelling in a famous monastery, but
himself living infamously. He was oftentimes rebuked by the brethren and
elders of the place, and admonished to be converted to a more chastened
life; and though he would not give ear to them, they bore with him long
and patiently, on account of their need of his outward service, for he was
a cunning artificer. But he was much given to drunkenness, and other
pleasures of a careless life, and more used to stop in his workshop day
and night, than to go to church to sing and pray and hear the Word of life
with the brethren. For which reason it befell him according to the saying,
that he who will not willingly humble himself and enter the gate of the
church must needs be led against his will into the gate of Hell, being
damned. For he falling sick, and being brought to extremity, called the
brethren, and with much lamentation, like one damned, began to tell them,
that he saw Hell opened, and Satan sunk in the depths thereof; and
Caiaphas, with the others that slew our Lord, hard by him, delivered up to
avenging flames. “In whose neighbourhood,” said he, “I see a place of
eternal perdition prepared for me, miserable wretch that I am. ” The
brothers, hearing these words, began diligently to exhort him, that he
should repent even then, whilst he was still in the flesh. He answered in
despair, “There is no time for me now to change my course of life, when I
have myself seen my judgement passed. ”

Whilst uttering these words, he died without having received the saving
Viaticum, and his body was buried in the farthest parts of the monastery,
nor did any one dare either to say Masses or sing psalms, or even to pray
for him. (850) Oh how far asunder hath God put light from darkness! The
blessed Stephen, the first martyr, being about to suffer death for the
truth, saw the heavens opened, and the glory of God, and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God;(851) and where he was to be after death, there he
fixed the eyes of his mind, that he might die the more joyfully. But this
workman, of darkened mind and life, when death was at hand, saw Hell
opened, and witnessed the damnation of the Devil and his followers; he saw
also, unhappy wretch! his own prison among them, to the end that,
despairing of salvation, he might himself die the more miserably, but
might by his perdition afford cause of salvation to the living who should
hear of it. This befell of late in the province of the Bernicians, and
being noised abroad far and near, inclined many to do penance for their
sins without delay. Would to God that this also might come to pass through
the reading of our words!




Chap. XV. How divers churches of the Scots, at the instance of Adamnan,
adopted the Catholic Easter; and how the same wrote a book about the holy
places. [703 A. D. ]


At this time a great part of the Scots in Ireland,(852) and some also of
the Britons in Britain,(853) by the grace of God, adopted the reasonable
and ecclesiastical time of keeping Easter. For when Adamnan,(854) priest
and abbot of the monks that were in the island of Hii, was sent by his
nation on a mission to Aldfrid, king of the English,(855) he abode some
time in that province, and saw the canonical rites of the Church.
Moreover, he was earnestly admonished by many of the more learned sort,
not to presume to live contrary to the universal custom of the Church,
either in regard to the observance of Easter, or any other ordinances
whatsoever, with those few followers of his dwelling in the farthest
corner of the world. Wherefore he so changed his mind, that he readily
preferred those things which he had seen and heard in the English
churches, to the customs which he and his people had hitherto followed.
For he was a good and wise man, and excellently instructed in knowledge of
the Scriptures. Returning home, he endeavoured to bring his own people
that were in Hii, or that were subject to that monastery, into the way of
truth, which he had embraced with all his heart; but he could not prevail.
He sailed over into Ireland,(856) and preaching to those people, and with
sober words of exhortation making known to them the lawful time of Easter,
he brought back many of them, and almost all that were free from the
dominion of those of Hii, from the error of their fathers to the Catholic
unity, and taught them to keep the lawful time of Easter.

Returning to his island, after having celebrated the canonical Easter in
Ireland, he was instant in preaching the Catholic observance of the season
of Easter in his monastery, yet without being able to achieve his end; and
it so happened that he departed this life before the next year came
round,(857) the Divine goodness so ordaining it, that as he was a great
lover of peace and unity, he should be taken away to everlasting life
before he should be obliged, on the return of the season of Easter, to be
at greater variance with those that would not follow him into the truth.

This same man wrote a book concerning the holy places, of great profit to
many readers; his authority was the teaching and dictation of Arculf, a
bishop of Gaul,(858) who had gone to Jerusalem for the sake of the holy
places; and having wandered over all the Promised Land, travelled also to
Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria, and many islands in the sea, and
returning home by ship, was cast upon the western coast of Britain by a
great tempest. After many adventures he came to the aforesaid servant of
Christ, Adamnan, and being found to be learned in the Scriptures, and
acquainted with the holy places, was most gladly received by him and
gladly heard, insomuch that whatsoever he said that he had seen worthy of
remembrance in the holy places, Adamnan straightway set himself to commit
to writing. Thus he composed a work, as I have said, profitable to many,
and chiefly to those who, being far removed from those places where the
patriarchs and Apostles lived, know no more of them than what they have
learnt by reading. Adamnan presented this book to King Aldfrid, and
through his bounty it came to be read by lesser persons. (859) The writer
thereof was also rewarded by him with many gifts and sent back into his
country. I believe it will be of advantage to our readers if we collect
some passages from his writings, and insert them in this our History. (860)




Chap. XVI. The account given in the aforesaid book of the place of our
Lord’s Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection.


He wrote concerning the place of the Nativity of our Lord, after this
manner:(861) “Bethlehem, the city of David, is situated on a narrow ridge,
encompassed on all sides with valleys, being a mile in length from west to
east, and having a low wall without towers, built along the edge of the
level summit. In the eastern corner thereof is a sort of natural half
cave, the outward part whereof is said to have been the place where our
Lord was born; the inner is called the manger of our Lord. This cave
within is all covered with rich marble, and over the particular spot where
our Lord is said to have been born, stands the great church of St. Mary. ”
He likewise wrote about the place of His Passion and Resurrection in this
manner: “Entering the city of Jerusalem on the north side, the first place
to be visited, according to the disposition of the streets, is the church
of Constantine, called the Martyrium. It was built by the Emperor
Constantine, in a royal and magnificent manner, because the Cross of our
Lord was said to have been found there by his mother Helena. Thence, to
the westward, is seen the church of Golgotha, in which is also to be found
the rock which once bore the Cross to which the Lord’s body was nailed,
and now it upholds a large silver cross, having a great brazen wheel with
lamps hanging over it. Under the place of our Lord’s Cross, a crypt is
hewn out of the rock, in which the Sacrifice is offered on an altar for
the dead that are held in honour, their bodies remaining meanwhile in the
street. To the westward of this church is the round church of the
Anastasis or Resurrection of our Lord, encompassed with three walls, and
supported by twelve columns. Between each of the walls is a broad passage,
which contains three altars at three different points of the middle wall;
to the south, the north, and the west. It has eight doors or entrances in
a straight line through the three walls; four whereof face the south-east,
and four the east. (862) In the midst of it is the round tomb of our Lord
cut out of the rock, the top of of which a man standing within can touch
with his hand; on the east is the entrance, against which that great stone
was set. To this day the tomb bears the marks of the iron tools within,
but on the outside it is all covered with marble to the very top of the
roof, which is adorned with gold, and bears a large golden cross. In the
north part of the tomb the sepulchre of our Lord is hewn out of the same
rock, seven feet in length, and three hand-breadths above the floor; the
entrance being on the south side, where twelve lamps burn day and night,
four within the sepulchre, and eight above on the edge of the right side.
The stone that was set at the entrance to the tomb is now cleft in two;
nevertheless, the lesser part of it stands as an altar of hewn stone
before the door of the tomb; the greater part is set up as another altar,
four-cornered, at the east end of the same church, and is covered with
linen cloths. The colour of the said tomb and sepulchre is white and red
mingled together. ”(863)




Chap. XVII. What he likewise wrote of the place of our Lord’s Ascension,
and the tombs of the patriarchs.


Concerning the place of our Lord’s Ascension, the aforesaid author writes
thus. “The Mount of Olives is equal in height to Mount Sion, but exceeds
it in breadth and length; it bears few trees besides vines and olives, and
is fruitful in wheat and barley, for the nature of that soil is not such
as to yield thickets,(864) but grass and flowers. On the very top of it,
where our Lord ascended into heaven, is a large round church,(865) having
round about it three chapels with vaulted roofs. For the inner building
could not be vaulted and roofed, by reason of the passage of our Lord’s
Body; but it has an altar on the east side, sheltered by a narrow roof. In
the midst of it are to be seen the last Footprints of our Lord, the place
where He ascended being open to the sky; and though the earth is daily
carried away by believers, yet still it remains, and retains the same
appearance, being marked by the impression of the Feet. Round about these
lies a brazen wheel, as high as a man’s neck, having an entrance from the
west, with a great lamp hanging above it on a pulley and burning night and
day. In the western part of the same church are eight windows; and as many
lamps, hanging opposite to them by cords, shine through the glass as far
as Jerusalem; and the light thereof is said to thrill the hearts of the
beholders with a certain zeal and compunction. Every year, on the day of
the Ascension of our Lord, when Mass is ended, a strong blast of wind is
wont to come down, and to cast to the ground all that are in the church. ”

Of the situation of Hebron, and the tombs of the fathers,(866) he writes
thus. “Hebron, once a habitation and the chief city of David’s kingdom,
now only showing by its ruins what it then was, has, one furlong to the
east of it, a double cave in the valley, where the sepulchres of the
patriarchs are encompassed with a wall four-square, their heads lying to
the north. Each of the tombs is covered with a single stone, hewn like the
stones of a church, and of a white colour, for the three patriarchs.
Adam’s is of meaner and poorer workmanship, and he lies not far from them
at the farthest end of the northern part of that wall. There are also some
poorer and smaller monuments of the three women. The hill Mamre is a mile
from these tombs, and is covered with grass and flowers, having a level
plain on the top. In the northern part of it, the trunk of Abraham’s oak,
being twice as high as a man, is enclosed in a church. ”

Thus much, gathered from the works of the aforesaid writer, according to
the sense of his words, but more briefly and in fewer words, we have
thought fit to insert in our History for the profit of readers. Whosoever
desires to know more of the contents of that book, may seek it either in
the book itself, or in that abridgement which we have lately made from it.




Chap. XVIII. How the South Saxons received Eadbert and Eolla, and the West
Saxons, Daniel and Aldhelm, for their bishops; and of the writings of the
same Aldhelm. [705 A. D. ]


In the year of our Lord 705, Aldfrid, king of the Northumbrians, died(867)
before the end of the twentieth year of his reign. His son Osred,(868) a
boy about eight years of age, succeeding him in the throne, reigned eleven
years. In the beginning of his reign, Haedde, bishop of the West
Saxons,(869) departed to the heavenly life; for he was a good man and a
just, and his life and doctrine as a bishop were guided rather by his
innate love of virtue, than by what he had gained from books. The most
reverend bishop, Pechthelm, of whom we shall speak hereafter in the proper
place,(870) and who while still deacon or monk was for a long time with
his successor Aldhelm,(871) was wont to relate that many miracles of
healing have been wrought in the place where he died, through the merit of
his sanctity; and that the men of that province used to carry the dust
thence for the sick, and put it into water, and the drinking thereof, or
sprinkling with it, brought health to many sick men and beasts; so that
the holy dust being frequently carried away, a great hole was made there.

Upon his death, the bishopric of that province was divided into two
dioceses. (872) One of them was given to Daniel,(873) which he governs to
this day; the other to Aldhelm, wherein he presided most vigorously four
years; both of them were fully instructed, as well in matters touching the
Church as in the knowledge of the Scriptures. Aldhelm, when he was as yet
only a priest and abbot of the monastery which is called the city of
Maildufus,(874) by order of a synod of his own nation, wrote a notable
book(875) against the error of the Britons, in not celebrating Easter at
the due time, and in doing divers other things contrary to the purity of
doctrine and the peace of the church; and through the reading of this book
many of the Britons, who were subject to the West Saxons, were led by him
to adopt the Catholic celebration of our Lord’s Paschal Feast. He likewise
wrote a famous book on Virginity,(876) which, after the example of
Sedulius,(877) he composed in twofold form, in hexameters and in prose. He
wrote some other books, being a man most instructed in all respects, for
he had a polished style,(878) and was, as I have said, of marvellous
learning both in liberal and ecclesiastical studies. On his death,
Forthere(879) was made bishop in his stead, and is living at this time,
being likewise a man very learned in the Holy Scriptures.

Whilst they administered the bishopric, it was determined by a synodal
decree, that the province of the South Saxons, which till that time
belonged to the diocese of the city of Winchester, where Daniel then
presided, should itself have an episcopal see, and a bishop of its
own. (880) Eadbert, at that time abbot of the monastery of Bishop Wilfrid,
of blessed memory, called Selaeseu,(881) was consecrated their first
bishop. On his death, Eolla succeeded to the office of bishop. He also
died some years ago, and the bishopric has been vacant to this day. (882)




Chap. XIX. How Coinred, king of the Mercians, and Offa, king of the East
Saxons, ended their days at Rome, in the monastic habit; and of the life
and death of Bishop Wilfrid. [709 A. D. ]


In the fourth year of the reign of Osred,(883) Coenred,(884) who had for
some time nobly governed the kingdom of the Mercians, much more nobly
quitted the sceptre of his kingdom. For he went to Rome, and there
receiving the tonsure and becoming a monk, when Constantine(885) was pope,
he continued to his last hour in prayer and fasting and alms-deeds at the
threshold of the Apostles. He was succeeded in the throne by Ceolred,(886)
the son of Ethelred, who had governed the kingdom before Coenred. With him
went the son of Sighere,(887) the king of the East Saxons whom we
mentioned before, by name Offa, a youth of a most pleasing age and
comeliness, and greatly desired by all his nation to have and to hold the
sceptre of the kingdom. He, with like devotion, quitted wife, and lands,
and kindred and country, for Christ and for the Gospel, that he might
“receive an hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come life
everlasting. ”(888) He also, when they came to the holy places at Rome,
received the tonsure, and ending his life in the monastic habit, attained
to the vision of the blessed Apostles in Heaven, as he had long desired.

The same year that they departed from Britain, the great bishop, Wilfrid,
ended his days in the province called Inundalum,(889) after he had been
bishop forty-five years. (890) His body, being laid in a coffin, was
carried to his monastery, which is called Inhrypum,(891) and buried in the
church of the blessed Apostle Peter, with the honour due to so great a
prelate. Concerning whose manner of life, let us now turn back, and
briefly make mention of the things which were done. (892) Being a boy of a
good disposition, and virtuous beyond his years, he conducted himself so
modestly and discreetly in all points, that he was deservedly beloved,
respected, and cherished by his elders as one of themselves. (893) At
fourteen years of age he chose rather the monastic than the secular life;
which, when he had signified to his father, for his mother was dead, he
readily consented to his godly wishes and desires, and advised him to
persist in that wholesome purpose. Wherefore he came to the isle of
Lindisfarne, and there giving himself to the service of the monks, he
strove diligently to learn and to practise those things which belong to
monastic purity and piety; and being of a ready wit, he speedily learned
the psalms and some other books, having not yet received the tonsure, but
being in no small measure marked by those virtues of humility and
obedience which are more important than the tonsure; for which reason he
was justly loved by his elders and his equals. Having served God some
years in that monastery, and being a youth of a good understanding, he
perceived that the way of virtue delivered by the Scots was in no wise
perfect, and he resolved to go to Rome, to see what ecclesiastical or
monastic rites were in use at the Apostolic see. When he told the
brethren, they commended his design, and advised him to carry out that
which he purposed.
He forthwith went to Queen Eanfled, for he was known to
her, and it was by her counsel and support that he had been admitted into
the aforesaid monastery, and he told her of his desire to visit the
threshold of the blessed Apostles. She, being pleased with the youth’s
good purpose, sent him into Kent, to King Earconbert,(894) who was her
uncle’s son, requesting that he would send him to Rome in an honourable
manner. At that time, Honorius,(895) one of the disciples of the blessed
Pope Gregory, a man very highly instructed in ecclesiastical learning, was
archbishop there. When he had tarried there for a space, and, being a
youth of an active spirit, was diligently applying himself to learn those
things which came under his notice, another youth, called Biscop, surnamed
Benedict,(896) of the English nobility, arrived there, being likewise
desirous to go to Rome, of whom we have before made mention.

The king gave him Wilfrid for a companion, and bade Wilfrid conduct him to
Rome. When they came to Lyons, Wilfrid was detained there by
Dalfinus,(897) the bishop of that city; but Benedict hastened on to Rome.
For the bishop was delighted with the youth’s prudent discourse, the grace
of his comely countenance, his eager activity, and the consistency and
maturity of his thoughts; for which reason he plentifully supplied him and
his companions with all necessaries, as long as they stayed with him; and
further offered, if he would have it, to commit to him the government of
no small part of Gaul, to give him a maiden daughter of his own
brother(898) to wife, and to regard him always as his adopted son. But
Wilfrid thanked him for the loving-kindness which he was pleased to show
to a stranger, and answered, that he had resolved upon another course of
life, and for that reason had left his country and set out for Rome.

Hereupon the bishop sent him to Rome, furnishing him with a guide and
supplying plenty of all things requisite for his journey, earnestly
requesting that he would come that way, when he returned into his own
country. Wilfrid arriving at Rome, and daily giving himself with all
earnestness to prayer and the study of ecclesiastical matters, as he had
purposed in his mind, gained the friendship of the most holy and learned
Boniface, the archdeacon,(899) who was also counsellor to the Apostolic
Pope, by whose instruction he learned in their order the four Gospels, and
the true computation of Easter; and many other things appertaining to
ecclesiastical discipline, which he could not learn in his own country, he
acquired from the teaching of that same master. When he had spent some
months there, in successful study, he returned into Gaul, to
Dalfinus;(900) and having stayed with him three years, received from him
the tonsure, and Dalfinus esteemed him so highly in love that he had
thoughts of making him his heir; but this was prevented by the bishop’s
cruel death, and Wilfrid was reserved to be a bishop of his own, that is,
the English, nation. For Queen Baldhild(901) sent soldiers with orders to
put the bishop to death; whom Wilfrid, as his clerk, attended to the place
where he was to be beheaded, being very desirous, though the bishop
strongly opposed it, to die with him; but the executioners, understanding
that he was a stranger, and of the English nation, spared him, and would
not put him to death with his bishop.

Returning to Britain, he won the friendship of King Alchfrid,(902) who had
learnt to follow always and love the catholic rules of the Church; and
therefore finding him to be a Catholic, he gave him presently land of ten
families at the place called Stanford;(903) and not long after, the
monastery, with land of thirty families, at the place called
Inhrypum;(904) which place he had formerly given to those that followed
the doctrine of the Scots, to build a monastery there. But, forasmuch as
they afterwards, being given the choice, had rather quit the place than
adopt the Catholic Easter and other canonical rites, according to the
custom of the Roman Apostolic Church, he gave the same to him whom he
found to be instructed in better discipline and better customs.

At the same time, by the said king’s command, he was ordained priest in
the same monastery, by Agilbert,(905) bishop of the Gewissae
above-mentioned, the king being desirous that a man of so much learning
and piety should attend him constantly as his special priest and teacher;
and not long after, when the Scottish sect had been exposed and
banished,(906) as was said above, he, with the advice and consent of his
father Oswy, sent him into Gaul, to be consecrated as his bishop,(907)
when he was about thirty years of age, the same Agilbert being then bishop
of the city of Paris. Eleven other bishops met at the consecration of the
new bishop, and that function was most honourably performed. Whilst he yet
tarried beyond the sea, the holy man, Ceadda,(908) was consecrated bishop
of York(909) by command of King Oswy, as has been said above; and having
nobly ruled that church three years, he retired to take charge of his
monastery of Laestingaeu, and Wilfrid was made bishop of all the province
of the Northumbrians.

Afterwards, in the reign of Egfrid, he was expelled from his bishopric,
and others were consecrated bishops in his stead, of whom mention has been
made above. (910) Designing to go to Rome, to plead his cause before the
Apostolic Pope, he took ship, and was driven by a west wind into
Frisland,(911) and honourably received by that barbarous people and their
King Aldgils, to whom he preached Christ, and he instructed many thousands
of them in the Word of truth, washing them from the defilement of their
sins in the Saviour’s font. Thus he began there the work of the Gospel
which was afterwards finished with great devotion by the most reverend
bishop of Christ, Wilbrord. (912) Having spent the winter there
successfully among this new people of God, he set out again on his way to
Rome,(913) where his cause being tried before Pope Agatho and many
bishops,(914) he was by the judgement of them all acquitted of all blame,
and declared worthy of his bishopric.

At the same time, the said Pope Agatho assembling a synod at Rome, of one
hundred and twenty-five bishops, against those who asserted that there was
only one will and operation in our Lord and Saviour,(915) ordered Wilfrid
also to be summoned, and, sitting among the bishops, to declare his own
faith and the faith of the province or island whence he came; and he and
his people being found orthodox in their faith, it was thought fit to
record the same among the acts of that synod, which was done in in this
manner: “Wilfrid, the beloved of God, bishop of the city of York,
appealing to the Apostolic see, and being by that authority acquitted of
every thing, whether specified against him or not, and being appointed to
sit in judgement with one hundred and twenty-five other bishops in the
synod, made confession of the true and catholic faith, and confirmed the
same with his subscription in the name of all the northern part of Britain
and Ireland, and the islands inhabited by the nations of the English and
Britons, as also by the Scots and Picts. ”

After this, returning into Britain,(916) he converted the province of the
South Saxons from their idolatrous worship to the faith of Christ. (917) He
also sent ministers of the Word to the Isle of Wight;(918) and in the
second year of Aldfrid, who reigned after Egfrid, was restored to his see
and bishopric by that king’s invitation. (919) Nevertheless, five years
after, being again accused, he was deprived of his bishopric by the same
king and certain bishops. (920) Coming to Rome,(921) he was allowed to make
his defence in the presence of his accusers, before a number of bishops
and the Apostolic Pope John. (922) It was shown by the judgement of them
all, that his accusers had in part laid false accusations to his charge;
and the aforesaid Pope wrote to the kings of the English, Ethelred and
Aldfrid, to cause him to be restored to his bishopric, because he had been
unjustly condemned. (923)

His acquittal was much forwarded by the reading of the acts of the synod
of Pope Agatho,(924) of blessed memory, which had been formerly held, when
Wilfrid was in Rome and sat in council among the bishops, as has been said
before. For the acts of that synod being, as the case required, read, by
order of the Apostolic Pope, before the nobility and a great number of the
people for some days, they came to the place where it was written,
“Wilfrid, the beloved of God, bishop of the city of York, appealing to the
Apostolic see, and being by that authority acquitted of everything,
whether specified against him or not,” and the rest as above stated. This
being read, the hearers were amazed, and the reader ceasing, they began to
ask of one another, who that Bishop Wilfrid was. Then Boniface, the Pope’s
counsellor,(925) and many others, who had seen him there in the days of
Pope Agatho, said that he was the same bishop that lately came to Rome, to
be tried by the Apostolic see, being accused by his people, and “who, said
they, having long since come here upon the like accusation, the cause and
contention of both parties being heard and examined, was proved by Pope
Agatho, of blessed memory, to have been wrongfully expelled from his
bishopric, and was held in such honour by him, that he commanded him to
sit in the council of bishops which he had assembled, as a man of
untainted faith and an upright mind. ” This being heard, the Pope and all
the rest said, that a man of so great authority, who had held the office
of a bishop for nearly forty years, ought by no means to be condemned, but
being altogether cleared of the faults laid to his charge, should return
home with honour.

When he came to Gaul, on his way back to Britain, on a sudden he fell
sick, and the sickness increasing, he was so weighed down by it, that he
could not ride, but was carried in his bed by the hands of his servants.
Being thus come to the city of Maeldum,(926) in Gaul, he lay four days and
nights, as if he had been dead, and only by his faint breathing showed
that he had any life in him. Having continued thus four days, without meat
or drink, without speech or hearing, at length, on the fifth day, at
daybreak, as it were awakening out of a deep sleep, he raised himself and
sat up, and opening his eyes, saw round about him a company of brethren
singing psalms and weeping. Sighing gently, he asked where Acca,(927) the
priest, was. This man, straightway being called, came in, and seeing him
somewhat recovered and able to speak, knelt down, and gave thanks to God,
with all the brethren there present. When they had sat awhile and begun to
discourse, with great awe, of the judgements of heaven, the bishop bade
the rest go out for a time, and spoke to the priest, Acca, after this
manner:

“A dread vision has even now appeared to me, which I would have you hear
and keep secret, till I know what God will please to do with me. There
stood by me a certain one, glorious in white raiment, and he told me that
he was Michael, the Archangel, and said, ‘I am sent to call you back from
death: for the Lord has granted you life, through the prayers and tears of
your disciples and brethren, and the intercession of His Blessed Mother
Mary, of perpetual virginity; wherefore I tell you, that you shall now
recover from this sickness; but be ready, for I will return and visit you
at the end of four years. And when you come into your country, you shall
recover the greater part of the possessions that have been taken from you,
and shall end your days in peace and quiet. ’ ” The bishop accordingly
recovered, whereat all men rejoiced and gave thanks to God, and setting
forward on his journey, he arrived in Britain.

Having read the letters which he brought from the Apostolic Pope,
Bertwald, the archbishop, and Ethelred,(928) sometime king, but then
abbot, readily took his part; for the said Ethelred, calling to him
Coenred,(929) whom he had made king in his own stead, begged him to be
friends with Wilfrid, in which request he prevailed; nevertheless Aldfrid,
king of the Northumbrians, disdained to receive him. But he died soon
after,(930) and so it came to pass that, during the reign of his son
Osred,(931) when a synod was assembled before long by the river Nidd,(932)
after some contention on both sides, at length, by the consent of all, he
was restored to the government of his own church;(933) and thus he lived
in peace four years, till the day of his death. He died in his monastery,
which he had in the province of Undalum,(934) under the government of the
Abbot Cuthbald;(935) and by the ministry of the brethren, he was carried
to his first monastery which is called Inhrypum,(936) and buried in the
church of the blessed Apostle Peter, hard by the altar on the south side,
as has been mentioned above, and this epitaph was written over him:

“Here rests the body of the great Bishop Wilfrid, who, for love of piety,
built these courts and consecrated them with the noble name of Peter, to
whom Christ, the Judge of all the earth, gave the keys of Heaven. And
devoutly he clothed them with gold and Tyrian purple; yea, and he placed
here the trophy of the Cross, of shining ore, uplifted high; moreover he
caused the four books of the Gospel to be written in gold in their order,
and he gave a case meet for them of ruddy gold. And he also brought the
holy season of Easter, returning in its course, to accord with the true
teaching of the catholic rule which the Fathers fixed, and, banishing all
doubt and error, gave his nation sure guidance in their worship. And in
this place he gathered a great throng of monks, and with all diligence
safeguarded the precepts which the Fathers’ rule enjoined. And long time
sore vexed by many a peril at home and abroad, when he had held the office
of a bishop forty-five years, he passed away and with joy departed to the
heavenly kingdom. Grant, O Jesus, that the flock may follow in the path of
the shepherd. ”




Chap. XX. How Albinus succeeded to the godly Abbot Hadrian, and Acca to
Bishop Wilfrid. [709 A. D. ]


The next year after the death of the aforesaid father,(937) which was the
fifth year of King Osred, the most reverend father, Abbot Hadrian,(938)
fellow labourer in the Word of God with Bishop Theodore(939) of blessed
memory, died, and was buried in the church of the Blessed Mother of God,
in his own monastery,(940) this being the forty-first year after he was
sent by Pope Vitalian with Theodore, and the thirty-ninth after his
arrival in England. Among other proofs of his learning, as well as
Theodore’s, there is this testimony, that Albinus,(941) his disciple, who
succeeded him in the government of his monastery, was so well instructed
in literary studies, that he had no small knowledge of the Greek tongue,
and knew the Latin as well as the English, which was his native language.

Acca,(942) his priest, succeeded Wilfrid in the bishopric of the church of
Hagustald, being likewise a man of zeal and great in noble works in the
sight of God and man. He enriched the structure of his church, which is
dedicated in honour of the blessed Apostle Andrew with manifold adornments
and marvellous workmanship. For he gave all diligence, as he does to this
day, to procure relics of the blessed Apostles and martyrs of Christ from
all parts, and to raise altars in their honour in separate side-chapels
built for the purpose within the walls of the same church. Besides which,
he industriously gathered the histories of their martyrdom, together with
other ecclesiastical writings, and erected there a large and noble
library. He likewise carefully provided holy vessels, lamps, and other
such things as appertain to the adorning of the house of God. He in like
manner invited to him a notable singer called Maban,(943) who had been
taught to sing by the successors of the disciples of the blessed Pope
Gregory in Kent, to instruct himself and his clergy, and kept him twelve
years, to the end that he might teach such Church music as they did not
know, and by his teaching restore to its former state that which was
corrupted either by long use, or through neglect. For Bishop Acca himself
was a most skilful singer, as well as most learned in Holy Writ, sound in
the confession of the catholic faith, and well versed in the rules of
ecclesiastical custom; nor does he cease to walk after this manner, till
he receive the rewards of his pious devotion. For he was brought up from
boyhood and instructed among the clergy of the most holy and beloved of
God, Bosa, bishop of York. (944) Afterwards, coming to Bishop Wilfrid in
the hope of a better plan of life, he spent the rest of his days in
attendance on him till that bishop’s death, and going with him to Rome,
learned there many profitable things concerning the ordinances of the Holy
Church, which he could not have learned in his own country.




Chap. XXI. How the Abbot Ceolfrid sent master-builders to the King of the
Picts to build a church, and with them an epistle concerning the Catholic
Easter and the Tonsure. [710 A. D. ]


At that time,(945) Naiton, King of the Picts, who inhabit the northern
parts of Britain, taught by frequent meditation on the ecclesiastical
writings, renounced the error whereby he and his nation had been holden
till then, touching the observance of Easter, and brought himself and all
his people to celebrate the catholic time of our Lord’s Resurrection. To
the end that he might bring this to pass with the more ease and greater
authority, he sought aid from the English, whom he knew to have long since
framed their religion after the example of the holy Roman Apostolic
Church. Accordingly, he sent messengers to the venerable Ceolfrid,(946)
abbot of the monastery of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, which
stands at the mouth of the river Wear, and near the river Tyne, at the
place called Ingyruum,(947) which he gloriously governed after
Benedict,(948) of whom we have before spoken; desiring, that he would send
him a letter of exhortation, by the help of which he might the better
confute those that presumed to keep Easter out of the due time; as also
concerning the form and manner of tonsure whereby the clergy should be
distinguished,(949) notwithstanding that he himself had no small knowledge
of these things. He also prayed to have master-builders sent him to build
a church of stone in his nation after the Roman manner,(950) promising to
dedicate the same in honour of the blessed chief of the Apostles.
Moreover, he and all his people, he said, would always follow the custom
of the holy Roman Apostolic Church, in so far as men so distant from the
speech and nation of the Romans could learn it. The most reverend Abbot
Ceolfrid favourably receiving his godly desires and requests, sent the
builders he desired, and likewise the following letter:(951)

“_To the most excellent lord, and glorious King Naiton, Abbot Ceolfrid,
greeting in the Lord. _ We most readily and willingly endeavour, according
to your desire, to make known to you the catholic observance of holy
Easter, according to what we have learned of the Apostolic see, even as
you, most devout king, in your godly zeal, have requested of us. For we
know, that whensoever the lords of this world labour to learn, and to
teach and to guard the truth, it is a gift of God to his Holy Church. For
a certain profane writer(952) has most truly said, that the world would be
most happy if either kings were philosophers, or philosophers were kings.
Now if a man of this world could judge truly of the philosophy of this
world, and form a right choice concerning the state of this world, how
much more is it to be desired, and most earnestly to be prayed for by such
as are citizens of the heavenly country, and strangers and pilgrims in
this world, that the more powerful any are in the world the more they may
strive to hearken to the commands of Him who is the Supreme Judge, and by
their example and authority may teach those that are committed to their
charge, to keep the same, together with themselves.

“There are then three rules given in the Sacred Writings, whereby the time
of keeping Easter has been appointed for us and may in no wise be changed
by any authority of man; two whereof are divinely established in the law
of Moses; the third is added in the Gospel by reason of the Passion and
Resurrection of our Lord. For the law enjoined, that the Passover should
be kept in the first month of the year, and the third week of that month,
that is, from the fifteenth day to the one-and-twentieth. It is added, by
Apostolic institution, from the Gospel, that we are to wait for the Lord’s
day in that third week, and to keep the beginning of the Paschal season on
the same. Which threefold rule whosoever shall rightly observe, will never
err in fixing the Paschal feast. But if you desire to be more plainly and
fully informed in all these particulars, it is written in Exodus, where
the people of Israel, being about to be delivered out of Egypt, are
commanded to keep the first Passover,(953) that the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, saying, ‘This month shall be unto you the beginning of months;
it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a
lamb for an house. ’ And a little after,(954) ‘And ye shall keep it up
until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. ’ By which words it
most plainly appears, that in the Paschal observance, though mention is
made of the fourteenth day, yet it is not commanded that the Passover be
kept on that day; but on the evening of the fourteenth day, that is, when
the fifteenth moon, which is the beginning of the third week, appears in
the sky, it is commanded that the lamb be killed; and that it was the
night of the fifteenth moon, when the Egyptians were smitten and Israel
was redeemed from long captivity. He says,(955) ‘Seven days shall ye eat
unleavened bread. ’ By which words all the third week of that same first
month is appointed to be a solemn feast. But lest we should think that
those same seven days were to be reckoned from the fourteenth to the
twentieth, He forthwith adds,(956) ‘Even the first day ye shall put away
leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the
first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel;’
and so on, till he says,(957) ‘For in this selfsame day I will bring your
army out of the land of Egypt. ’

“Thus he calls that the first day of unleavened bread, in which he was to
bring their army out of Egypt. Now it is evident, that they were not
brought out of Egypt on the fourteenth day, in the evening whereof the
lamb was killed, and which is properly called the Passover or Phase, but
on the fifteenth day, as is most plainly written in the book of
Numbers:(958) ‘and they departed from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the
first month, on the morrow after the Passover the Israelites went out with
an high hand. ’ Thus the seven days of unleavened bread, on the first
whereof the people of the Lord were brought out of Egypt, are to be
reckoned from the beginning of the third week, as has been said, that is,
from the fifteenth day of the first month, till the end of the
one-and-twentieth of the same month. But the fourteenth day is named apart
from this number, by the title of the Passover, as is plainly shown by
that which follows in Exodus:(959) where, after it is said, ‘For in this
self-same day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt;’ it is
forthwith added, ‘And ye shall observe this day in your generations by an
ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the
month, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one-and-twentieth day of
the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your
houses. ’ Now, who is there that does not perceive, that there are not only
seven days, but rather eight, from the fourteenth to the
one-and-twentieth, if the fourteenth be also reckoned in the number? But
if, as appears by diligent study of the truth of the Scriptures, we reckon
from the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the
one-and-twentieth, we shall certainly find, that, while the Paschal feast
begins on the evening of the fourteenth day, yet the whole sacred
solemnity contains no more than only seven nights and as many days.
Wherefore the rule which we laid down is proved to be true, when we said
that the Paschal season is to be celebrated in the first month of the
year, and the third week of the same. For it is in truth the third week,
because it begins on the evening of the fourteenth day, and ends on the
evening of the one-and-twentieth.

“But since Christ our Passover is sacrificed,(960) and has made the Lord’s
day, which among the ancients was called the first day of the week, a
solemn day to us for the joy of His Resurrection, the Apostolic tradition
has included it in the Paschal festival; yet has decreed that the time of
the legal Passover be in no wise anticipated or diminished; but rather
ordains, that according to the precept of the law, that same first month
of the year, and the fourteenth day of the same, and the evening thereof
be awaited. And when this day should chance to fall on a Saturday, every
man should take to him a lamb, according to the house of his fathers, a
lamb for an house, and he should kill it in the evening, that is, that all
the Churches throughout the world, making one Catholic Church, should
provide Bread and Wine for the Mystery of the Flesh and Blood of the
spotless Lamb ‘that hath taken away the sins of the world;’(961) and after
a fitting solemn service of lessons and prayers and Paschal ceremonies,
they should offer up these to the Lord, in hope of redemption to come. For
this is that same night in which the people of Israel were delivered out
of Egypt by the blood of the lamb; this is the same in which all the
people of God were, by Christ’s Resurrection, set free from eternal death.
Then, in the morning, when the Lord’s day dawns, they should celebrate the
first day of the Paschal festival; for that is the day on which our Lord
made known the glory of His Resurrection to His disciples, to their
manifold joy at the merciful revelation. The same is the first day of
unleavened bread, concerning which it is plainly written in
Leviticus,(962) ‘In the fourteenth day of the first month, at even, is the
Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast
of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened
bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation. ’

“If therefore it could be that the Lord’s day should always happen on the
fifteenth day of the first month, that is, on the fifteenth moon, we might
always celebrate the Passover at one and the same time with the ancient
people of God, though the nature of the mystery be different, as we do it
with one and the same faith. But inasmuch as the day of the week does not
keep pace exactly with the moon, the Apostolic tradition, which was
preached at Rome by the blessed Peter, and confirmed at Alexandria by Mark
the Evangelist,(963) his interpreter, appointed that when the first month
was come, and in it the evening of the fourteenth day, we should also wait
for the Lord’s day, between the fifteenth and the one-and-twentieth day of
the same month. For on whichever of those days it shall fall, Easter will
be rightly kept on the same; seeing that it is one of those seven days on
which the feast of unleavened bread is commanded to be kept. Thus it comes
to pass that our Easter never falls either before or after the third week
of the first month, but has for its observance either the whole of it, to
wit, the seven days of unleavened bread appointed by the law, or at least
some of them. For though it comprises but one of them, that is, the
seventh, which the Scripture so highly commends, saying,(964) ‘But the
seventh day shall be a more holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work
therein,’ none can lay it to our charge, that we do not rightly keep
Easter Sunday, which we received from the Gospel, in the third week of the
first month, as the Law prescribes.

“The catholic reason of this observance being thus explained, the
unreasonable error, on the other hand, of those who, without any
necessity, presume either to anticipate, or to go beyond the term
appointed in the Law, is manifest. For they that think Easter Sunday is to
be observed from the fourteenth day of the first month till the twentieth
moon, anticipate the time prescribed in the law, without any necessary
reason; for when they begin to celebrate the vigil of the holy night from
the evening of the thirteenth day, it is plain that they make that day the
beginning of their Easter, whereof they find no mention in the commandment
of the Law; and when they avoid celebrating our Lord’s Easter on the
one-and-twentieth day of the month, it is surely manifest that they wholly
exclude that day from their solemnity, which the Law many times commends
to be observed as a greater festival than the rest; and thus, perverting
the proper order, they sometimes keep Easter Day entirely in the second
week, and never place it on the seventh day of the third week. And again,
they who think that Easter is to be kept from the sixteenth day of the
said month till the two-and-twentieth(965) no less erroneously, though on
the other side, deviate from the right way of truth, and as it were
avoiding shipwreck on Scylla, they fall into the whirlpool of Charybdis to
be drowned. For when they teach that Easter is to be begun at the rising
of the sixteenth moon of the first month, that is, from the evening of the
fifteenth day, it is certain that they altogether exclude from their
solemnity the fourteenth day of the same month, which the Law first and
chiefly commends; so that they scarce touch the evening of the fifteenth
day, on which the people of God were redeemed from Egyptian bondage, and
on which our Lord, by His Blood, rescued the world from the darkness of
sin, and on which being also buried, He gave us the hope of a blessed rest
after death.

“And these men, receiving in themselves the recompense of their error,
when they place Easter Sunday on the twenty-second day of the month,
openly transgress and do violence to the term of Easter appointed by the
Law, seeing that they begin Easter on the evening of that day in which the
Law commanded it to be completed and brought to an end; and appoint that
to be the first day of Easter, whereof no mention is any where found in
the Law, to wit, the first of the fourth week. And both sorts are
mistaken, not only in fixing and computing the moon’s age, but also
sometimes in finding the first month; but this controversy is longer than
can be or ought to be contained in this letter. I will only say thus much,
that by the vernal equinox, it may always be found, without the chance of
an error, which must be the first month of the year, according to the
lunar computation, and which the last. But the equinox, according to the
opinion of all the Eastern nations, and particularly of the
Egyptians,(966) who surpass all other learned men in calculation, falls on
the twenty-first day of March, as we also prove by horological
observation. Whatsoever moon therefore is at the full before the equinox,
being on the fourteenth or fifteenth day, the same belongs to the last
month of the foregoing year, and consequently is not meet for the
celebration of Easter; but that moon which is full after the equinox, or
at the very time of the equinox, belongs to the first month, and on that
day, without a doubt, we must understand that the ancients were wont to
celebrate the Passover; and that we also ought to keep Easter when the
Sunday comes. And that this must be so, there is this cogent reason. It is
written in Genesis,(967) ‘And God made two great lights; the greater light
to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. ’ Or, as another
edition(968) has it, ‘The greater light to begin the day, and the lesser
to begin the night. ’ As, therefore, the sun, coming forth from the midst
of the east, fixed the vernal equinox by his rising, and afterwards the
moon at the full, when the sun set in the evening, followed from the midst
of the east; so every year the same first lunar month must be observed in
the like order, so that its full moon must not be before the equinox; but
either on the very day of the equinox, as it was in the beginning, or
after it is past. But if the full moon shall happen to be but one day
before the time of the equinox, the aforesaid reason proves that such moon
is not to be assigned to the first month of the new year, but rather to
the last of the preceding, and that it is therefore not meet for the
celebration of the Paschal festival.

“Now if it please you likewise to hear the mystical reason in this matter,
we are commanded to keep Easter in the first month of the year, which is
also called the month of new things, because we ought to celebrate the
mysteries of our Lord’s Resurrection and our deliverance, with the spirit
of our minds renewed to the love of heavenly things. We are commanded to
keep it in the third week of the same month, because Christ Himself, who
had been promised before the Law, and under the Law, came with grace, in
the third age of the world, to be sacrificed as our Passover; and because
rising from the dead the third day after the offering of His Passion, He
wished this to be called the Lord’s day, and the Paschal feast of His
Resurrection to be yearly celebrated on the same; because, also, we do
then only truly celebrate His solemn festival, if we endeavour with Him to
keep the Passover, that is, the passing from this world to the Father, by
faith, hope, and charity. We are commanded to observe the full moon of the
Paschal month after the vernal equinox, to the end, that the sun may first
make the day longer than the night, and then the moon may show to the
world her full orb of light; inasmuch as first ‘the Sun of righteousness,
with healing in His wings,’(969) that is, our Lord Jesus, by the triumph
of His Resurrection, dispelled all the darkness of death, and so ascending
into Heaven, filled His Church, which is often signified by the name of
the moon, with the light of inward grace, by sending down upon her His
Spirit. Which order of our salvation the prophet had in his mind, when he
said ‘The sun was exalted and the moon stood in her order. ’(970)

“He, therefore, who shall contend that the full Paschal moon can happen
before the equinox, disagrees with the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, in
the celebration of the greatest mysteries, and agrees with those who trust
that they may be saved without the grace of Christ preventing them,(971)
and who presume to teach that they might have attained to perfect
righteousness, though the true Light had never by death and resurrection
vanquished the darkness of the world. Thus, after the rising of the sun at
the equinox, and after the full moon of the first month following in her
order, that is, after the end of the fourteenth day of the same month, all
which we have received by the Law to be observed, we still, as we are
taught in the Gospel, wait in the third week for the Lord’s day; and so,
at length, we celebrate the offering of our Easter solemnity, to show that
we are not, with the ancients, doing honour to the casting off of the yoke
of Egyptian bondage; but that, with devout faith and love, we worship the
Redemption of the whole world, which having been prefigured in the
deliverance of the ancient people of God, was fulfilled in Christ’s
Resurrection, and that we may signify that we rejoice in the sure and
certain hope of our own resurrection, which we believe will likewise
happen on the Lord’s day.

“Now this computation of Easter, which we set forth to you to be followed,
is contained in a cycle of nineteen years, which began long since to be
observed in the Church, to wit, even in the time of the Apostles,
especially at Rome and in Egypt, as has been said above. (972) But by the
industry of Eusebius,(973) who took his surname from the blessed martyr
Pamphilus,(974) it was reduced to a plainer system; insomuch that what
till then used to be enjoined every year throughout all the Churches by
the Bishop of Alexandria, might, from that time forward, be most easily
known by all men, the occurrence of the fourteenth moon being regularly
set forth in its course. This Paschal computation, Theophilus,(975) Bishop
of Alexandria, made for the Emperor Theodosius, for a hundred years to
come. Cyril(976) also, his successor, comprised a series of ninety-five
years in five cycles of nineteen years. After whom, Dionysius Exiguus(977)
added as many more, in order, after the same manner, reaching down to our
own time. The expiration of these is now drawing near, but there is at the
present day so great a number of calculators, that even in our Churches
throughout Britain, there are many who, having learned the ancient rules
of the Egyptians, can with great ease carry on the Paschal cycles for any
length of time, even to five hundred and thirty-two years,(978) if they
will; after the expiration of which, all that appertains to the succession
of sun and moon, month and week, returns in the same order as before. We
therefore forbear to send you these same cycles of the times to come,
because, desiring only to be instructed respecting the reason for the
Paschal time, you show that you have enough of those catholic cycles
concerning Easter.

“But having said thus much briefly and succinctly, as you required,
concerning Easter, I also exhort you to take heed that the tonsure,
concerning which likewise you desired me to write to you, be in accordance
with the use of the Church and the Christian Faith. And we know indeed
that the Apostles were not all shorn after the same manner, nor does the
Catholic Church now, as it agrees in one faith, hope, and charity towards
God, use one and the same form of tonsure throughout the world. Moreover,
to look back to former times, to wit, the times of the patriarchs, Job,
the pattern of patience, when tribulation came upon him, shaved his
head,(979) and thus made it appear that he had used, in time of
prosperity, to let his hair grow. But concerning Joseph, who more than
other men practised and taught chastity, humility, piety, and the other
virtues, we read that he was shorn when he was to be delivered from
bondage,(980) by which it appears, that during the time of his bondage, he
was in the prison with unshorn hair. Behold then how each of these men of
God differed in the manner of their appearance abroad, though their inward
consciences agreed in a like grace of virtue. But though we may be free to
confess, that the difference of tonsure is not hurtful to those whose
faith is pure towards God, and their charity sincere towards their
neighbour, especially since we do not read that there was ever any
controversy among the Catholic fathers about the difference of tonsure, as
there has been a contention about the diversity in keeping Easter, and in
matters of faith; nevertheless, among all the forms of tonsure that are to
be found in the Church, or among mankind at large, I think none more meet
to be followed and received by us than that which that disciple wore on
his head, to whom, after his confession of Himself, our Lord said,(981)
‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates
of Hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of Heaven. ’ Nor do I think that any is more rightly to be
abhorred and detested by all the faithful, than that which that man used,
to whom that same Peter, when he would have bought the grace of the Holy
Ghost, said,(982) ‘Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought
that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this word. ’ Nor do we shave ourselves in the form of a crown
only because Peter was so shorn; but because Peter was so shorn in memory
of the Passion of our Lord, therefore we also, who desire to be saved by
the same Passion, do with him bear the sign of the same Passion on the top
of our head, which is the highest part of our body. For as all the Church,
because it was made a Church by the death of Him that gave it life, is
wont to bear the sign of His Holy Cross on the forehead, to the end, that
it may, by the constant protection of His banner, be defended from the
assaults of evil spirits, and by the frequent admonition of the same be
taught, in like manner, to crucify the flesh with its affections and
lusts;(983) so also it behoves those, who having either taken the vows of
a monk, or having the degree of a clerk, must needs curb themselves the
more strictly by continence, for the Lord’s sake, to bear each one of them
on his head, by the tonsure, the form of the crown of thorns which He bore
on His head in His Passion, that He might bear the thorns and thistles of
our sins, that is, that he might bear them away and take them from us; to
the end that they may show on their foreheads that they also willingly,
and readily, endure all scoffing and reproach for his sake; and that they
may signify that they await always ‘the crown of eternal life, which God
hath promised to them that love him,’(984) and that for the sake of
attaining thereto they despise both the evil and the good of this world.
But as for the tonsure which Simon Magus is said to have used, who is
there of the faithful, I ask you, who does not straightway detest and
reject it at the first sight of it, together with his magic? Above the
forehead it does seem indeed to resemble a crown; but when you come to
look at the neck, you will find the crown cut short which you thought you
saw; so that you may perceive that such a use properly belongs not to
Christians but to Simoniacs, such as were indeed in this life by erring
men thought worthy of the glory of an everlasting crown; but in that which
is to follow this life are not only deprived of all hope of a crown, but
are moreover condemned to eternal punishment.

“But do not think that I have said thus much, as though I judged them
worthy to be condemned who use this tonsure, if they uphold the catholic
unity by their faith and works; nay, I confidently declare, that many of
them have been holy men and worthy servants of God. Of which number is
Adamnan,(985) the notable abbot and priest of the followers of Columba,
who, when sent on a mission by his nation to King Aldfrid, desired to see
our monastery, and forasmuch as he showed wonderful wisdom, humility, and
piety in his words and behaviour, I said to him among other things, when I
talked with him, ‘I beseech you, holy brother, how is it that you, who
believe that you are advancing to the crown of life, which knows no end,
wear on your head, after a fashion ill-suited to your belief, the likeness
of a crown that has an end? And if you seek the fellowship of the blessed
Peter, why do you imitate the likeness of the tonsure of him whom St.
Peter anathematized? and why do you not rather even now show that you
choose with all your heart the fashion of him with whom you desire to live
in bliss for ever. ’ He answered, ‘Be assured, my dear brother, that though
I wear the tonsure of Simon, according to the custom of my country, yet I
detest and abhor with all my soul the heresy of Simon; and I desire, as
far as lies in my small power, to follow the footsteps of the most blessed
chief of the Apostles. ’ I replied, ‘I verily believe it; nevertheless it
is a token that you embrace in your inmost heart whatever is of Peter the
Apostle, if you also observe in outward form that which you know to be
his. For I think your wisdom easily discerns that it is much better to
estrange from your countenance, already dedicated to God, the fashion of
his countenance whom with all your heart you abhor, and of whose hideous
face you would shun the sight; and, on the other hand, that it beseems you
to imitate the manner of his appearance, whom you seek to have for your
advocate before God, even as you desire to follow his actions and his
teaching. ’

“This I said at that time to Adamnan, who indeed showed how much he had
profited by seeing the ordinances of our Churches, when, returning into
Scotland,(986) he afterwards by his preaching led great numbers of that
nation to the catholic observance of the Paschal time; though he was not
yet able to bring back to the way of the better ordinance the monks that
lived in the island of Hii over whom he presided with the special
authority of a superior. He would also have been mindful to amend the
tonsure, if his influence had availed so far.

“But I now also admonish your wisdom, O king, that together with the
nation, over which the King of kings, and Lord of lords, has placed you,
you strive to observe in all points those things which are in accord with
the unity of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; for so it will come to
pass, that after you have held sway in a temporal kingdom, the blessed
chief of the Apostles will also willingly open to you and yours with all
the elect the entrance into the heavenly kingdom. The grace of the eternal
King preserve you in safety, long reigning for the peace of us all, my
dearly beloved son in Christ. ”

This letter having been read in the presence of King Naiton and many
learned men, and carefully interpreted into his own language by those who
could understand it, he is said to have much rejoiced at the exhortation
thereof; insomuch that, rising from among his nobles that sat about him,
he knelt on the ground, giving thanks to God that he had been found worthy
to receive such a gift from the land of the English. “And indeed,” he
said, “I knew before, that this was the true celebration of Easter, but
now I so fully learn the reason for observing this time, that I seem in
all points to have known but little before concerning these matters.
Therefore I publicly declare and protest to you that are here present,
that I will for ever observe this time of Easter, together with all my
nation; and I do decree that this tonsure, which we have heard to be
reasonable, shall be received by all clerks in my kingdom. ” Without delay
he accomplished by his royal authority what he had said. For straightway
the Paschal cycles of nineteen years were sent by command of the State
throughout all the provinces of the Picts to be transcribed, learned, and
observed, the erroneous cycles of eighty-four years being everywhere
blotted out. (987) All the ministers of the altar and monks were shorn
after the fashion of the crown; and the nation thus reformed, rejoiced, as
being newly put under the guidance of Peter, the most blessed chief of the
Apostles, and committed to his protection.




Chap. XXII. How the monks of Hii, and the monasteries subject to them,
began to celebrate the canonical Easter at the preaching of Egbert. [716
A. D. ]


Not long after, those monks also of the Scottish nation, who lived in the
isle of Hii, with the other monasteries that were subject to them, were by
the Lord’s doing brought to the canonical observance with regard to
Easter, and the tonsure. For in the year of our Lord 716, when Osred(988)
was slain, and Coenred(989) took upon him the government of the kingdom of
the Northumbrians, the father and priest,(990) Egbert, beloved of God, and
worthy to be named with all honour, whom we have before often mentioned,
came to them from Ireland, and was honourably and joyfully received. Being
a most gracious teacher, and most devout in practising those things which
he taught, and being willingly heard by all, by his pious and diligent
exhortations, he converted them from that deep-rooted tradition of their
fathers, of whom may be said those words of the Apostle, “That they had a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ”(991) He taught them to
celebrate the principal solemnity after the catholic and apostolic manner,
as has been said, wearing on their heads the figure of an unending
crown. (992) It is manifest that this came to pass by a wonderful
dispensation of the Divine goodness; to the end, that the same nation
which had willingly, and without grudging, taken heed to impart to the
English people that learning which it had in the knowledge of God, should
afterwards, by means of the English nation, be brought, in those things
which it had not, to a perfect rule of life. Even as, contrarywise, the
Britons, who would not reveal to the English the knowledge which they had
of the Christian faith, now, when the English people believe, and are in
all points instructed in the rule of the Catholic faith, still persist in
their errors, halting and turned aside from the true path, expose their
heads without a crown, and keep the Feast of Christ apart from the
fellowship of the Church of Christ. (993)

The monks of Hii, at the teaching of Egbert, adopted the catholic manner
of conversation, under Abbot Dunchad, about eighty years after they had
sent Bishop Aidan to preach to the English nation. (994) The man of God,
Egbert, remained thirteen years in the aforesaid island, which he had thus
consecrated to Christ, as it were, by a new ray of the grace of fellowship
and peace in the Church; and in the year of our Lord 729, in which Easter
was celebrated on the 24th of April, when he had celebrated the solemnity
of the Mass, in memory of the Resurrection of our Lord, that same day he
departed to the Lord and thus finished, or rather never ceases endlessly
to celebrate, with our Lord, and the Apostles, and the other citizens of
heaven, the joy of that greatest festival, which he had begun with the
brethren, whom he had converted to the grace of unity. And it was a
wonderful dispensation of the Divine Providence, that the venerable man
passed from this world to the Father, not only at Easter, but also when
Easter was celebrated on that day,(995) on which it had never been wont to
be celebrated in those parts. The brethren rejoiced in the sure and
catholic knowledge of the time of Easter, and were glad in that their
father, by whom they had been brought into the right way, passing hence to
the Lord should plead for them. He also gave thanks that he had so long
continued in the flesh, till he saw his hearers accept and keep with him
as Easter that day which they had ever before avoided. Thus the most
reverend father being assured of their amendment, rejoiced to see the day
of the Lord, and he saw it and was glad.




Chap. XXIII. Of the present state of the English nation, or of all
Britain. [725-731 A. D. ]


In the year of our Lord 725, being the seventh year of Osric,(996) king of
the Northumbrians, who had succeeded Coenred, Wictred,(997) the son of
Egbert, king of Kent, died on the 23rd of April, and left his three sons,
Ethelbert, Eadbert, and Alric,(998) heirs of that kingdom, which he had
governed thirty-four years and a half. The next year Tobias,(999) bishop
of the church of Rochester, died, a most learned man, as has been said
before; for he was disciple to those masters of blessed memory, Theodore,
the archbishop, and Abbot Hadrian, wherefore, as has been said, besides
having a great knowledge of letters both ecclesiastical and general, he
learned both the Greek and Latin tongues to such perfection, that they
were as well known and familiar to him as his native language. He was
buried in the chapel of St. Paul the Apostle, which he had built within
the church of St. Andrew(1000) for his own place of burial. After him
Aldwulf(1001) took upon him the office of bishop, having been consecrated
by Archbishop Bertwald.

In the year of our Lord 729, two comets appeared about the sun, to the
great terror of the beholders. One of them went before the sun in the
morning at his rising, the other followed him when he set in the evening,
as it were presaging dire disaster to both east and west; or without doubt
one was the forerunner of the day, and the other of the night, to signify
that mortals were threatened with calamities at both times. They carried
their flaming brands towards the north, as it were ready to kindle a
conflagration.