No More Learning

38 This whole account savours much of
that romance, with which several of the saints' acts abound
gloire
"
d'avoir eu n—otre Saint (scil. S.
faisoit
Germain) pour maitre. " Histoire raire de la France," tome ii. , p. 260.
34 Having given this account contained in the text, the writer of her Latin acts states : " Sed tamen quod per armillam illam crebra miracula facta sint, et adhuc fiunt, satis est compertum. "—" Vita S. Begse," p. 48.
35 Previous to a. d. 875, several petty sovereignties were in Norway, and at that
Lite-
time Harold Harrfagar united them under his sway. He was born about a. d. 853 or 854, and he lived to a. d. 931. There are said to have been no fixed points of history in the North before his time. See "The Heims kringla ; or Chronicle of the Kings of Nor- way," translated from the Icelandic of Snorro Sturleson, with a preliminary Dissertation,
ii2 LIVESOF7HEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
the Lord, she poured forth her soul in fervent prayer to the Son of God and to the Virgin, that she would deign to preserve her chastity, through which
so many great saints had triumphed, and by which His own graces had been magnified. Therefore to His blessed keeping she commended her virginity, and sought His direction for her future guidance. In the silence of night, and when all were asleep in her parental mansion, St. Bega had a heavenly admonition, which urged her to seek in exile the destination to which she had been called. She heard a voice from heaven, and it directed her to leave her father's house, to go from kingdom to kingdom, and from Ireland to Britain, where her days were to end, when she should be taken into the
:
fellowship of angels. It was added " Arise, therefore, and take the
bracelet by which thou art pledged to me, and descending to the sea, thou shalt find a ship ready prepared, and which shall transport thee into Britain. "39 She obeyed the Divine monition, and resolved to remove clandestinely from her parents and their home. At that moment, not alone the inmates
of the castle were asleep, but even the outer guards who were appointed to "
keepwatch,and thekeyofDavid,atthetouchofthebracelet,openedall the doors to the beautiful virgin going forth. " Directing her course to the seashore, and coming to a port, she found a ship destined for her departure. *
St. Bega or Beia thus left her worldly friends and native country, for the
sakeofher
winds and a
had heard, that the faith of Christ was being propagated in the province of Northumbria, owing to the zealous ministrations of its Apostle, the holy Bishop Aiden. *3 She resolved on leading an anchoretical life, and for this
purpose, she sought the shores of Anglia, and landed in Cumbria,** in the province called Copeland,4^ and settled on the coast in the western division
6
of Cumberland. *
which she found covered with dense woods, and very suitable for a solitary habitation. Desirous of devoting herself to God alone, she constructed a cell, or perhaps appropriated to herself one of the caverns placed at a spot sufficiently woody, and near the seashore. There she passed many years in strict seclusion,*? conversing only with the Lord. There freed from all worldly cares and ambitious desires, she dwelt in peace, drawn to Him in the odour of His ointments, and altogether absorbed in His love. *8
Heavenly Spouse. prosperous voyage,
She overto passed
1 with through prayer. *
"
39 See Tomlinson's Sancta Bega," pp. 6 to io.
*° See her Acts, in the Aberdeen Breviary, lect- *•
43 See his Acts, in the Eighth Volume of this Work, at the 31st August, Art. i.
44 << Nomen ab incolis traxit, qui veri et Germani Britanni fuerunt et se sua lingua Kutnbri et Kambri indigitarunt"—William
41 " See Bishop Challoner's
Britannnia
Sancta," part ii. , p. 120.
** " When Bega sought of yore the Cum-
brian coast,
Tempestuous winds her holy errand
Camden's "
Amstelodami, ANNO clD Idclix. fol.
Editio
crossed : — She knelt in prayer
wrath
And, from her vow well weighed in
Heaven's decrees,
Rose, when she touched the strand,
the Chantry of St. Bees. " —"Poetical Works of William Words- worth," edited by William Knight, LL. D. , vol. vii. Stanzas suggested in a steamboat off St. Bees' Heads, on the coast of Cumber-
land, p. 343.
*s See " Vita S. Begre," p. 53. William Camden writes: " Copeland et Coupland dicitur, eo quod acuminatis montibus, quos
appease ;
Kopa
ut aliis
vel,
placet Copdand quasi Copper-
which she obtained
Having disembarked, she explored the maritime district,
Life and Miracles of
the waves their
Britanni vocant, suum exerit, caput
Britain,*
favouring 2 She
Britannia,** p. 325.
land ob opulenta neris vena. "
p. 325.
—
"Britannia,"
46 See Rt< Rev# patrick F. Moran's "Early Irish Missions," No. i. , p. 17.
47 The Aberdeen Breviary adds: "In
jejuniis et vigiliis et orationibus continuis
corpus suum castigando," lect. ii.
*s gee Tomlinson's " Life and Miracles of
St. Bega," p. 12.
September 6. ] LIVES 01* THK IRISH SAINTS. 113
The monastery was situated in a narrow dell, with low and marshy lands towardstheeast; whilethewestisexposedtostormsfromtheIrishChannel. The site was about four miles from the present Whitehaven.
FromhertheplacewascalledSt. Bega'sorBees/9 Thisisnowaparish, comprising the town of Whitehaven, and the townships of St. Bees, Ennerdale, Eskdale, Wasdale-Head, Hensingham, Kinneyside, Lowside Quarter, Nether Wasdale, Preston Quarter, Rottington, Sandwith and Weddiker. The parish now extends for about ten miles along the coast, which in some places is rocky and precipitous. 50 The parish church is said to have been built on the site of that conventual church, belonging to the Monastery of St. Bega, or Begogh, an Irish female. The latter was founded about the year 650. 5' The present church is cruciform, and has a strong tower of early Norman
architecture ; the rest of the edifice is in the early English style. *
2
It is
subsequently destroyed by fire, was rebuilt in 1822,—on a promontory called St. Bees' Head. " Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of England," vol. i. , p. 199.
character in the
51 See Bishop Tanner's " Notitia Mon- astica," with additions by Rev. James Naswith, M. A. , Cumberland, ii. St. Bees'.
Cambridge, 1787, fol.
s* There is a beautiful copper- plate en-
Copeland Priory, England.
built of red free-stone, and it consists of a nave, transept, and chancel only, without side-aisles. The nave is used as the Protestant parish church, and the transept as a place of sepulture j the east end is unroofed and in ruins. 53 The great west door seems a part of the founder's building : it is ornamented with grotesque heads and chevron mouldings. 54 The east end of the chancel, with three long narrow windows, enriched with double mouldings and
4* See Rt. Rev. Patrick F. Moran's " of the of St. Bees, Cumber- Early graving Priory
Irish Missions," No. i. , p. 17. land, N. W. view, presenting an ancient 50 " A lighthouse erected in 1717, and door-way, of a markedly Irish- Romanesque
"
Monasticon Anglicanum," published originally in Latin by Sir William Dugdale, Kt. New edition by John Calev, Esq. , F. R. S. ; Henry Ellis, LL. B. ; and the Rev. Bulkeley Bandinel, M . A. , vol. iii. , p. 5 74.
53 See ibid. , p. 576.
54 The accompanying illustration of this church has been drawn on the wool And engraved by Gregor Grey.
ii4 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
pilasters, is apparently of the thirteenth century. Considerable remains of monastic buildings are to be seen on the south side.
There St. Bega lived, and became illustrious on account of the many miracles she wrought. Said to have been skilled in the use of herbs and simples, wonderful cures were effected by her in favour of those who sought that place of retreat. The holy virgin thus wished to soothe and comfort the afflicted. Moreover, tradition has it, that the sea-mews brought food from the ocean, and even the wolves abounding in that region crouched at her sainted feet and ceased to roar, becoming also purveyors of sustenance to the pious and solitary virgin. 55 About the period of St. Bega's arrival, the inhabitants who lived on the islands near Cumberland, held frequent inter- course with Ireland. 56 Many of them were originally Irish, while others took wives from our Island. 5 ? When she had lived there for a considerable time in justice and holiness, the shores»of that region were infested by pirates, who committed great depredations on the inhabitants. Feeling how lonely and unprotected she was, and how dissolute were the morals of such sea-rovers, Bega resolved to withdraw from their power, to preserve her honour and virtue from their assaults. Moreover, she was guided by a Divine monition to seek elsewhere a place for settlement. In leaving, however, she forgot to bring with her the bracelet, which remained there as a sacred relic, and which in after time was held in great popular estimation.
At this time, the illustrious Christian king, St. Oswald,58 ruled over the
KingdomofNorthumbria. HewasdelightedtosecondalltheeffortsofSt.
Aidaninthepromotionofreligionthroughouthisdominions. Tothelatter,
Bega directed her course, so that she might reveal to him the secrets of her
heart, as also to seek his advice and direction for her future guidance. He
enjoined her to doff the dress she had heretofore worn, and to assume the
religious habit. With this advice she complied. She therefore received the
habit and veil from St. Aidan. She was the first nun in Northumbria, according
to the testimony of Venerable Bede,59 and she established the first nunnery in
Northumbria. ItwasconsecratedbySt. Aidan,anditissaidtohavebeen
called 60 which has been 61 and in her Latin Heriteseia, interpreted Hartlepool,
life " Insula Cervi. "62 This place was found to be in every respect suitable for a monastic institute, and it was asked from the religious King Oswald,
throughBishopAidan. Soonwasshejoinedbyanumberofpiousvirgins, who desired to consecrate themselves to Christ under her direction. Even many left the conjugal state to embrace a life of seclusion, and several
55 See Tomlinson's " Life and Miracles of
Saint Bega, "p. 12,
56 See Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the
Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints," vol. ix. , September vi. , note.
57 Similar remarks are applicable to this
English locality, even at the present day,
s8 He is honoured with a festival, on the
5th of August. See his Acts, in the Eighth Volume of this work, at that date, Art. ii. 59 Called by him Heru, and the nunnery which she built is designated Heruteu. See "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum,"
lib. iv. , cap. xxiii.
60 See Tomlinson's " Life and Miracles of
Sancta Bega," p. 14.
61 Now a and sea-port
city. It is situated on a bold and nearly insulated promontory, which forms the north horn of a fine bay. At present, its import and export trade is very considerable. Sec "Gazetteer of the World," vol. vi. , pp, 821,822.
62
The Aberdeen Breviary calls it : "in insula quadam deserta," which the Bol- landist editor states to have been the place where the Monastery of Heorthensis had been founded ; although he wonders, why it had been established on a desert island, and adds, "an forte prima S. Begae cella, quam num. 13 Commentarii Camdenus collocat in promontoriolo oceani, cum
Heorthensi confunditur, et qui—a in mare "
procurrebat, insula appellatur ? I-ect. iii. , and n. (d).
in the Palatine of Durham, 18 miles E. S. E. of that
parish
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
penitents were known to have visited her, and to have remained in her
63
community.
Over all these Bega presided with a mother's care and tenderness, and
she acted the part of a servant rather than of a mistress ; by example rather than by precept, she enforced discipline and study.
She ministered as a cook in the kitchen, and prepared food, which she served to the workmen. She taught her disciples to avoid idleness, and with them engaged in washing, making and mending the church vestments, and in supplying altar decora- tions. With such offices were combined fasts and vigils, the singing of psalms, hymns and canticles, the assiduous reading of the Sacred Scriptures and other books of devotion. Thus, she united the busy works of Martha with the contemplative life of Mary; she charmed all with her humility ; and she was an object of love and admiration to the Almighty and to her fellow- creatures. It pleased not only King Oswald, but also his successor, Oswin,6* to bestow gifts and possessions on St. Bega's Monastery.
CHAPTER II.
ST. HRRU DEEMED TO BE IDENTICAL WITH ST. BEES—SHE RESIGNS HERETU TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ST. HILDA—AFTERWARDS HERU RETIRES TO CALCARIA— FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN ST. HILDA AND ST. BEGHU—VISION REGARDING ST. HILDA'S DEATH—DEATH OF ST. BEES AND TRANSLATION OF HER RELICS—SUBSEQUENT MIRACLES—FESTIVALS AND COMMEMORATIONS OF THE HOLY VIRGIN—CON- CLUSION.
13
It is stated, that Heru, having founded the Monastery of Heruteu, wished
to relinquish its government, and to seek elsewhere a place for her pious exer-
cises. Heiu is also a name given to her, yet whether she is to be confounded
with St. Begu or Bees has yet to be clearly determined. 3 The celebrated
St. Hilda,* having resolved on a religious life, spent some time in the province
oftheEastAngles. ThenceshewascalledbyBishopAidan,tofounda
monastery on the north side of the River Wire, and there she led a monastic
life with very few companions. So charmed was St. Bees with her virtues
and capacity for government, that she visited St. Aidan, and procured from
him the favour of retiring from her own charge, and of devoting herself in
subjection to the tranquillity of a contemplative life. 5 Hilda was then set
over the of Hereteu, while Heru left for the of 6 monastery city Calcaria,
63 " Sic sponsa Christi quae in amore founded by Heru, identical with St. Bees, sponsi languebat, hujusmodi fulciri floribus See his "Church History of Brittany," stipari malis ardenter satagebat. "—Vita S. part ii. , book xv. , chap, xxi. , p. 373.
Begse, p. 55.
64 He was king of Deira, the brother of
St. Oswald, and he began to reign a. d. 642.
He was slain in 651, by Oswio, the seventh
Bietwalda. After a reign of twenty-eight
However, Leland makes them different, in his M De Rebus Britannicis Collectanea," tomus hi. , p. 39. Both Leland and Camden think Heortu to have been Hartlepool.
vears, the latter died a. d. 670. See Lingard's Moines d'Occident," tome v. , liv. xvii. ,
"
History of England," vol. i. , chap, ii. , pp. 93to103. —
Chapter ii. St. Bees, it is thought,
has been alluded to under this name by date, in the Eleventh Volume of this Venerable Bede, and on his authority follows work. Other festivals have been assigned a similar statement in the Manuscript Latin her, at the 5th of March, and at the 25th of Life of that holy virgin. According to August.
Alford and Suysken, she was also known as 5 See the Aberdeen Breviary, lect. vii.
Heyne.
2 Sometimes written Heorthu. Dean Benedicti," tomus i. , lib. xiv. , sect, xxxix. ,
Cressy thinks this place to have been p. 435.
3 See Le Comte de Montalembert, M Les chap, i. , sect, ii. , pp. 264, 265.
4
November. See an account of her, at that
Her festival occurs on the 18th of
6"
See Mabillon's Annales Ordinis S.
16 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
called the Kalcacestir,? and there fixed her 8 There, for by Angles dwelling.
many years, she passed a life of great perfection^ and her house was under the government of the Abbess Hilda. According to some writers, she retired to Tadcaster 10 it is not certain, that such had been the —
; yet, place denoted in her Ac—ts. Others state, that Newton Kyme" and Aberford"
bothinYorkshire aretheplacestowhichreferencehasbeenmade. Again,
1 1*
it has been stated, * that St. Bees visited Beal, alias Beag Hall, a parish in
the township of Killington, near Pontefract,xs in the West Riding of
16
Yorkshire.
Meanwhile, St. Hilda had been invited to found a noble monastery, at a
placethenknownasStreneshalch,nowcalledWhitby. BetweentheAbbess
Hilda and Beghu a firm friendship and intimacy existed ; for although they severally lived a distance from each other, this did not prevent a frequent exchange of visits, which were mostly employed in consultations and conversations relating to the sanctification of their own and the souls of others. However, a mortal distemper had seized on the Abbess, and she borewithgreatresignationandpatiencethismalady. Towardsthecloseof her life, a St. Bega had visited a convent of nuns at some distance from her own. 1 ? According to Venerable Bede, this place of habitation was called Hacanos, now Hackness'8—about thirteen miles distant from Whitby—and it seems to have been founded by St. Hilda, the very year of her death, which
1
happened A. D. 680. While Begu ? slept in the dormitory of those sisters,
suddenly she heard the well-known sound of a bell in the air, and which used to awake and call to prayers, when any of them had been taken out of the world. On awaking, she saw the top of the house to open, and a strong light to pour in from above. Then looking intently on that light, she beheld there the soul of St. Hilda, attended and conducted to Heaven by angels. After awaking, finding all the sisters lying around her, Begu perceived, that whatsheexperiencedhadbeeneitheradreamoravision. Inagreatfright, she arose and awoke Frigyth, a virgin who then presided in the nunnery, and
I By some of the Saxons styled Hel- bridge, on the south side of the river Aire,
See Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dic-
tionary of England," vol. i. , p. 182
' 5 This considerable town appears to have 9 Although Bede only states "ibique risen from the ruins of Legeolium, a Roman mansionem sibi instituit," yet, it is reason- station in the neighbourhood, now called able to suppose, that St. Bega had there a Castleford. By the Saxons it was known as cell or small nunnery, in which in solitude, Kirkby, and after the Conquest, it was
cacester.
8"
See Venerable Bede's Historia Ecclesi-
astica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iv. , cap. xxiii.
or, with some nuns, she spent the rest of her life.
10 Now a market-town and parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It formed the Roman station Calcaria, and so called, because the soil abounded in calx, or lime- stone. Roman coins have been here found, at different times. The town is situated on the navigable river Wharfe. See Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of Eng- land," vol. iv. , pp. 294, 295.
II A
denominated Pontefrete by the Normans,
See ibid. , vol. iii. , pp. 587 to 589.
,6 See Tomlinson's " Life and Miracles of
Sancta Bega," pp. 17, 18 and notes.
' 7 According to Rev. Alban Butler, the Bega, whom Venerable Bede places at Hacanos upon the death of St. Hilda, and who then had served God in the monastic state for more than thirty years, seems to have been different from St. Bees, as St. Aiden died one hundred years before her. See "Lives of the Fathers, and other
l8 Now a parish, in the Liberty of Whitby- Strand, in the North Riding of Yorkshire,
The village is romantically situated in a valley, through which the Uerwent flows. See Samuel Lewis' " Topographical Die- tionary of England," vol. ii. , p. 364,
in the West Riding of York- shire, about two miles from Tadcaster, towards the west. See ibid. , vol. iii. , p. 41 1. " A parish, in the West Riding of York- shire. The town is built near the small
river Cock. See ibid. , vol. i. , p. 4.
13 By Strype, in his Life of Archbishop Grindall.
Martyrs Principal Saints," vol. ix. , September vi.
parish,
1 * It is four miles eastwards from Ferry-
»9 According to some statements, Frigyth.
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 117
who represented the Abbess. With many sighs and tears she announced, that the Abbess Hilda, the mother of them all, had departed this life, and
that in her sight, with a great light and with angels accompanying, she had ascended to eternal bliss. Having heard such statement, Frigyth awoke the other sisters, and called them to the church, where she admonished them to pray and sing psalms for Hilda's happy repose. This they did during the remainder of that night. When morning came, the brothers arrived from Whitby with a message announcing her death. The nuns then related the vision, which had already assured it to them, and also at that very hour which the messengers had reported. Thus, adds Venerable Bcde, while some witnessed her departure out of this world, others became acquainted with her admittance into the spiritual and eternal life. 20
21
According to the Legend of her Life, and to local tradition, St. Bega remained in that monastery of Acconos,22 in which she had such a vision. We are told, the day of her death happened on that before the November Kalends. 2 3 There, too, it is said, she was interred. However, some suppose St. Bega had not been buried at Hackness, but rather at Calcaria, and that probably her remains had been removed to Heorthu for interment. 24 But the ravages of the Danes25 effaced all recollection of the exact place of her sepulture. Four hundred and sixty years had elapsed after her decease, before it had been resolved to seek that spot in the cemetery of Hackness,
so that her remains be transferred to might
Whitby.
twelfth century, having unearthed a sarcophagus, the workmen found
:
engraved on its lid " Hoc est sepulchrum Begu. " Having removed that
covering, they found within the tomb the dust of her sacred body, with the veil upon her skull almost whole. A most agreeable odour proceeded from the remains. Then a procession was formed, and with hymns and canticles,
2 they were borne to Whitby, and reverently placed in a suitable position. ?
It is possible, that this Translation of St. Bega's relics may have taken place, onthe6thdayofSeptember. TheholyIrishvirginisthoughtbymanyto
have died at Calcaria, about the year 680.
28
Father Suysken places it
after that year.
20 3° If, however, she had been identical with that virgin,
20 "
See Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum," lib. iv. , cap. xxiii.
translatum est in monasterio de Witbe in
magno habetur pretio, languidis in praesens sanitatem prsebens," lect. viii.
*7 The writer of St. Bega's Life then
declares, that as he had not sufficient know-
ledge of the miracles wrought and particulars of that tranlation, he should leave the task of writing to those who were witnesses and who were present. But, the miracles per- formed at Kirkebibeghoc (St. Bees), in Coupland, where first she led a solitary life, and where her memory was held in great veneration by the people, he would attempt to record for the instruction of posterity, and regarding which he had a more accurate
21
As already remarked, it seems not so
probable, that she had been identical with
the Irish St. Bega, the first nun in North-
umberland.
22 ''
Mabillon, who calls her Heru, alias
Bega," states " obiit apud Hacanos monas-
terium virginum, tertio apud Scardoburgo millaria. "—" Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
tomus i. , lib. xiv. , sect, xxxix. , pp. 435, 436. 23 See the Aberdeen Breviary, lect. viii.