No More Learning

G. T. Stokes' " Ireland
and the Anglo-Norman Church. " A History of Ireland and Irish Christianity from the
Anglo-Norman Conquest to the Dawn of the Reformation," lect. xv. , p. 352.
4s See Venerable Bede's " Historia Eccle- siasticaGentis Anglorum,"lib. iii. , cap. xxvi. , lib. iv. , cap. i. , and lib. v. , cap. xxi.
46 See St. Gregory of Tours, " Historia Francorum," lib. x. , cap. ix.
who practised it,before he built the monastery at Lestignau. See Venerable Bede's "His- toria Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib.
iii. , cap. xxiii. , pp. 350, 351.
s2 See ibid,, cap. v. , pp. 276, 277. On this,
Dean Cressy remarks : "It is very probable
that from his example proceeded the custom
in Brittany, not only of abstaining from flesh, but also fasting on Fridays, which is not practised in Catholick countreys abroad :
47 See Concilium Toletanum, iv. , a. d. Though he then added Wednesdays also to
633, can. xli.
48 See Dr. William Smith's and Very Rev.
Samuel Cheetham's "Dictionary of Chris- tian Antiquities," vol. ii:, Art. " Tonsure," pp; 1989, 1990. London, 1875, I 88o, 8vo.
49 See the Sixth Volume of this work, at
that austerity. "—" The Church History of Brittany," part iii. , book xv. , chap, iii. , sect. n, p. 349.
53 See Rev. Dr. Gordon's " Scotichro- nicon," vol. i,, pp. 56 to 58.
54 See Harris' Ware, vol. ii. " Writers
the 9th day of June, Art. i. Life of St. of Ireland," book i. , chap, iv. , p. 31. For
Columkille or Columba, Abbot of Iona, and Apostle of Caledonia, chap. ix.
50 Thus we are informed, that he estab-
this statement, Elise Trickingham, Annals
MS. , is quoted.
ss When consulted by Augustine to learn
lished the
" per totum annum, how should live with their
practice
excepta remissionequinquagesimse Paschalis,
bishops Gregory replied :
debet a clericis suis ; in ecclesia Anglorum quae, auctore Deo, nuper adhuc ad fidem perducta est, hanc debes conversationem irstituere, quae initio nascentis ecclesiae fuit patribus nostris, in quibus nullus eorum ex
his, quae possidebant, aliquid suum esse dicebat, sed erant illis omnia communia. "
quarta et sexta Sabbati jejunium ad nonam usque horam protelare. "—Bede's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. v.
s1 Such was the fast observed by Bishop Cedd, who adopted the custom of the monks at Lindisfarne, from whom he had learned the rule of regular discipline ; and
clerics, Sed quia tua fraternitas, monasterii regulis erudita, seorsum fieri non
"
4*4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
Bishop and Abbot over Lindisfarne, the practice of choosing a Bishop and an Abbot from the same community, for that diocese and monastery, . was con- tinued to the time of Venerable Bede. Thus, all the priests, deacons, choristers, lectors, and ecclesiastics of the house were accustomed to observe
monastic in all rule,
the 6 From this Bishop. *
with their
monastery, all the churches of Bernicia, or the northern part of the kingdom
of the Northumbers from the Tyne to the Firth of Edinburgh, had their beginning; as had some also of those belonging to Deiri, who inhabited the southern part of the same kingdom from the Tyne to the Humbert Even to places still more remote, missionaries from Lindisfame
carried the light of the Gospel. *
8
In that Irish establishment the branches
things,
superior,
oflearningthenknownweretaught; andthereIrishmastersgaveinstruction
to the children of Northumbrian converts ; for education was an important
feature of Aidan's system. 59 For thirty years after its commencement, in th—at
great region, those masters were the spiritual instructors of the Saxons
while and 60
teaching, preaching monastery-building.
Among those who had been educated in the school, established at Lindis-
fame by St. Aidan, were §t. Cedda or Chad,61 first bishop of Lichfield, and ApostleoftheMercians; asalsohisbrother,likewisenamedChadorCedd,62 Bishop and Apostle of the East Saxons. Two other holy brothers, named
Cynebil
63 and
Celin,
6* were 6°
Os\vy,
6s
moreover,
of the
St.
66 St. 6? Edilhun,
and brother of
Diuma,
and St. Ethelwin 68 ;
priests ;
King
Egbert, Northumbrians/
St. Oswald the four first — the Middle
St. students in the school of Lindisfarne. Bishop Eata? was also one of St. Aidan's twelve boys of the JEnglish nation, whom he received to be instructed in the
;
bishops among Angles,
St.
Kellach, Trumhere and Jaruman
; all of these were 1
probably
faith of 2 when he first became Christ,?
there. Even St.
who was born a. d. 634, entered the monastery of Lindisfarne at the age of
s6 See " The Miscellaneous Works of Venerable Bede," edited by Rev. J. A. Giles, D. C. L. , vol. iv. " De Vita et Mira- culis Sancti Cuthberti, Episcopi Lindisfar- nensis," cap. xvi. , pp. 256 to 259.
57 See Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints," vol. viii. , August xxxi.
farne, where they had both been educated, were established.
64 He was wont to administer the word and sacraments of the faith to Ethelwald, the son of King Oswald, and who ruled over the Deiri. He was also a man eminently devoted to God.
65 See Venerable Bede's " Historia Eccle- s8 See Rev. Dr. George T. Stokes' " Ire- siastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap.
land and the Celtic Church. " A History of
xxiii. , pp. 350, 351.
t6 See the Life of St. Priest and Egbert,
Monk of Iona, Scotland, at the 24th of April, the day for his feast, in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. i.
67 His feast occurs, on the 21st of Septem-
Ireland from St. Patrick to the Conquest in 1172, sect, viii. , pp. 161, 162. London, 1886, 8vo.
59 See "A Dictionary of Christian Bio- graphy, &c. ," edited by William Smith,
English
D. C. L. , LL. D. , and Henry Wace, M. A, ber. He died of the great pestilence in
vol. i. , p. 66.
Ireland.
68 His feast is
"
See his Life, written for the 2nd of
60 See
book i. , chap, vi. , p. 298. London, 1864, He returned from Ireland and afterwards
8vo. 51
Henry Morley's
English Writers,"
of
became bishop of Lindsey.
69 He was educated by the Scots, and most
probably in Lindisfarne.
7° See Venerable Bede's " Historia Eccle-
March, the date for his festival, in the Third
Volume of this work, Art. i.
62
See his Acts, on the day of his festival, siastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap.
January 7th, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i.
xxvii. , xxix.
71 Afterwards, he became bishop of Lindis-
farne, succeeding St. Colman. See Vener-
able Bede's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xxvi.
73 It is probable, these were designed for
the priesthood.
63
cluded a Lenten fast commenced by his brother Cedd, Bishop of the East Saxons, before the monastery of Lestignau was built. There, too, the religious customs of Lindis-
Venerable Bede states, that he con-
bishop
Wilfrid^
held,
29th
July.
on the
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 485
fourteen, and while St. Aidan himself was living, to receive his early instruc- tion. There, too, he remained as a student for some years,? * before he went to Rome, whence he afterwards returned, and succeeded in changing the Scottish usages of Lindisfarne for the Roman discipline and observance. 75
St. Aidan made preparation to commence his mission, by engaging the services of many monks and priests. These Scottish missionaries chiefly arrived from Ireland, as seems probable, and formed his staff of auxiliaries. ? 6 With great zeal and earnestness, they preached truths of Divine faith to the subjects of King Oswald. Their gentleness, their humility and simplicity, their diligent study of Scripture, their freedom from all selfishness and avarice, their honest boldness in dealing with the great, their tenderness and charity towards the poor, as also their strict and self-denying lives, are especially commended. ? ? By some writers, they have been styled Culdees, or Servants of God, which is only a generic designation for a term applied to Monks, Servi Dei, in the Latin Church, as Antilles Dei had been reserved for nuns. ? 8 It is stated, by the learned Dr. Reeves, that to Pope Gregory the Great may be referred the introduction of such meaning and expression into Ireland, which created the Celtic compound of C£le-D£, that possessed all the latitude of its model. In the lapse of ages, it underwent all the modifications or limitations of meaning, which the changes of time and circumstances, or local usages, produced in the class to whom the epithet had referenced All of those writers,80 who have studied these subjects impartially, speak of the illustrious missionaries, who preached to the Anglo- Saxons during the seventh century, under the general denominatton of Irish. Wherefore, when treating on this subject of ecclesiastical history, the Abbe Fleury takes care to make the Scots mentioned as being. . identical with the Irish.
81 After their early impress on the religion of Northumbria had been in a great measure obliterated in that Saxon province, the Colidei were con- nected with its churches ; while in Wales, likewise, the Ccelibes or Colidei,
82
are mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis, as existing there late in the twelfth
century.
83 The British in the time of St. Aidan, were not Scots,
sufficiently
73 His feast occurs on the 1 2th of October.
74 See Vita S. Wilfridi Episcopi Ebora-
censis, auctore Eddio Stephano, cap. ii. , iii. Thomas Gale's " Historian Britannicse, Sax-
onicse, Anglo- Danicse, Scriptores xv. ," vol. i. , p. 41.
life. Thenceforward, the terms were ad- mitted into the familiar language of the Church ; and, we observe it in this limita- tion of sense, running through the works of the Latin Fathers, the Acts of Councils, and the biographies of saints.
? 9 See the Rev. Dr. William Reeves, " The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear inHistory: withanAppendixofEvidences,"
75 See Les Petits Bollandistes, " Vies des
Saints," tome xii. , xii
e
d'Octobre,
jour
p. 296.
? 6 Bede writes :" Exin coepere plures per part i. , sect, i. , pp. I, 2, and Evidences,
dies de Scotorum regione venire Britanniam
A. Servus Dei, &c, pp. 64, 65.
8l
atque illis Anglorum provinciis, quibus reg-
navit rex Oswaldus, magna devotione ver-
bum fidei prsedicare et credentibus gratiam
baptismi, quicunque sacerdotali erant gradu missioners, il envoya aux anciens des prsediti, ministrare. * * * Nammonachi Eccossois, cet a dire, des Irlandois, ch—ez
erant maxime, qui ad predicandum venerant. " —" Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo-
rum," lib. iii. , cap. iii.
77 See Rev. James Craigie Robertson's
" History of the Christian Church from the election of Pope Gregory the Great to the Concordat of Worms," a. d. 590-1122, vol. ii. , book i. , chap, iii. , p. 63.
78 Thus, in the writings of St. Augustine, the expressions in the text are frequently used, and applied to those leading a Monastic
8o
Ussher, Sir James Ware, &c.
Such as William Camden, Archbishop
Writing about Oswald's desire to have "
avoit recu
" Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome viii. , liv.
See Itinerarium Cambriae," lib. ii. , cap. 6, p. 824. See "Opera," vol. vi. , edited by James F. Dimock, M. A.
83 On this whole subject, the writer is indebted for enlightenment to the learned and lamented historian of the Culdees. We are greatly pleased to know, that his friend, Lady Ferguson, has written an interesting
lesquels il
xxxviii. , sect, xviii. , p. 345. 8z "
le bapteme," &c.
486 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 3 i.
settledtocultivatesacredorotherstudies. Theyreceivedtheirchiefclericsand
teachers either from Hy or from the Columbian monasteries of Ireland. 8* As
those preachers came over from the land of the Scots to England, it is plain that
they arrived there from Ireland,8* for the land of the British Scots was itself
in Britain. 86 There is no ancient authority for styling St. Aidan's monks at
Lindisfarne Culdees, as the term has had a great diversity in its application,
during the range of time in which it is on record : sometimes it was borne by
hermits, sometimes by conventuals ; in one situation it implies the condition
ofcelibacy,inanotherit isunderstoodofmarriedmen;insomeinstances
it denotes regulars, in others seculars ; some bearing the name were bound
by obligations of poverty, while others were free to accumulate property ; at
one period, it was held high in honour as implying self-denial, at another it
was regarded with contempt as a designation for the loose and worldly-
minded. Some,whowouldcontendfortheuniformityofanorderhaving
the name Celi-d^ endeavour to reconcile those incompatibilities by supposing
the existence of two classes in the order, the one of stricter, and the other
of laxer discipline. However, this expedient is unsupported by any record
Antiquaries
On this question of the Irish Culdees,
8? A
deal of
ignorance
has been writers displayed by many
great
authority of Rev. Dr. Reeves, that only one solitary passage in the page of
8
history records the existence of Culdees in that Island. ? Without a precise
knowledge, and with a direct misrepresentation, of what is here treated about, a certain write—r states, that those assistants who arrived daily from Ireland were Culdees and he absurdly imagines these to have been an order of monks, who existed there, nearly a hundred years before the mission of St. Patrick, and independent of the See of Rome,9° However, one who has thoroughly examined this subject, and who has investigated it so learnedly and impartially, states, that the earliest instance in which he has observed the
1
adoption of the Latin term, Servus Dei? by an Irish writer, is in Tirechan's
Memoirs of St. 2 written in the half of the In Patrick,? early eighth century.
" 8<s"
Life of the Right Rev. William Reeves, See Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,"
D. D. , Lord Bishop of Down, Connor, and vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , n. 103, p, 421. Dromore, President of the Royal Irish 87 See Rev. Dr. William Reeves' "The Academy ; LL. D. of the Universities of Culdees of the British Islands, as they Dublin and Edinburgh, Honoris Causa ;
Hon. Member of the Zurich Society of
Hon. Member of the Society
of Antiquaries, Scotland, M. B. ; Hon. the Rev. Edward Ledwich treats at some
authority.
regarding the Culdees,88 who are supposed to have been brought by St. Aidan into Lindisfarne from Iona. Now, it appears, from the unquestioned
;
Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, Ire- land," Dublin, 1893, 8vo.
84 The Rev. Dr. Lanigan remarks : "Mr. Lingard would have done well in his short sketch of the proceedings of those mission- aries, to have explained what he meant by the name of Scottish monks, as he usually calls them, ex. c. ch. i. and iv. He should have let the reader know, that those Scots or Scot- tish monks, so often mentioned by Bede, were the Irish Scots. "—" Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , sect. xii. ,n. 101, p. 420.
length, and quite unrestrained by any cor- rect knowledge of the subject, in his so- called "Antiquities of Ireland," pp. 102 to 120.
** See " The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History : with an Appendix of Evidences," Preface, p. v.
*> For this absurd statement, the authority of O'Connor is given, but without any reference to his identity or work. See the Very Rev. Dr. Richard Murray's " Outlines of the History of the Catholic Church in Ireland," chap, ii. , pp. 32, 43, London, 1840, i2mo.
85
ofAedancame out of Ireland. See "His-
torical Accounts of Church Government,"
chap, v. , sect. 5. Thus, also, Fleury calls
them "missionaries Irelandois. "—•' His- Dei, socius Patricii. Book of Armagh, fol. toire Ecclesiastique," tome viii. , liv. nba.
xxxviii. , sect, xix. , p. 347. * In another part of this ancient and
Thus, Lloyd states, that these auxiliaries
appear in History : with an Appendix of
Evidences," part i. , sect, i. , pp. 2, 3. 88
»» When the bishop, from whom Killes-
pugbrone, in the County of Sligo, derives its name is called Bronus, filius lent, servus
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 487
after times, the word Cele is of frequent recurrence in the earliest Irish manuscripts, and it is used to designate the words socius and maritus, where these occur. 93 The cognate Welsh word cilid, the Cornish gele, and the Breton §7'/<f, are only found in the secondary pronominal use of alius, alter, and the adverbial of seorsum. ^ From Ireland, the term Culdee had been imported to Scotland, and later still to England.
. During St. Aidan's missionary career, it is stated, that the good King Oswald, who understood Irish very wellss, often acted for his chiefs and
6 before the latter had a acquired
servants as to the interpreter
Bishop,*
sufficient knowledge of the British or Saxon language. " Their united
exertions were attended with marked success. *
8
After many apostolic labours,
St. Aidan succeeded in establishing Christianity throughout the whole of Northumberland ; although, doubtless, in his time, many of its inhabitants were not entirely reclaimed from their errors ot paganism.
CHAPTER III.
MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS OF ST. AIDAN—HE IS CHARGED WITH THE ADMINISTRA- TION OF YORK DIOCESE, DURING THE ABSENCE OF ST. PAULINUS—ST. AIDAN'S VIRTUES AND MANNER OF LIVING—HIS RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT FORMED AT LINDISFARNE ON THE IRISH MODEL—FEMALE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN NORTHUMBRIA.
The Angles of Northumbria were still mostly pagan, when St. Aidan
came amongst them * but as their Apostle, God gave him very great graces,
and blessed his labours with admirable fruits. 2 He afforded most examples of abstinence and purity to the clergy, over whom he was placed. Suchpracticalobservanceshadtheirusualeffect,byinducingall underhis rule, to conform themselves to his saintly example. Above all things, he loved and sought not human considerations, or things of this world.
valuable compilation, there is an example of the Irish term—one of the earliest instances
M. A. , vol. i. , p. 278.
perfect
"
Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," who had lost his life, Tirechan states, vol. i. , part, i. , Ecclesiastical and Literary
found by Rev. Dr. Reeves. Speaking of a lad
£ot\OT\choti5Aj\c fop CeXe nDe* oia mum- ci]\ . 1. mAlAch Ojucc a chooiufcu, which is'thus rendered into English : "He ordered a c£le-de of his family, namely, Malach the Briton, to restore him to life. "
« As in an Irish Manuscript copy of St.
Priscian, belonging to St. Gall.
** See Rev. Dr. William Reeves, " The
Culdeesofthe British Islands, as they ap-
in with an of pear History: Appendix
Evidences," parti. , sect, i. , ii. , pp. 3, 4, and Evidences, B. , pp. 63, 64.
95 As Bede remarks, "quia nimirum tam
longo exilii sui tempore linguam Scotorum jam plene didicerat. "—" Historia Ecclesi-
astica Gentis Anglorum," lib. Hi. , cap. iii.