St Bede, or
the Venerable Bede, as he is often called, was born in
673 A.D. on the land of the
monastery of Saints Peter and Paul in Wearmouth. At the age of 7 he was
entrusted to the care of Benedict Biscop, the founder of the monastery, and then
to Ceolfrith who in 681 was appointed Abbot of the monastery’s new foundation in
Jarrow. Bede spent the rest of his life in the monastery. He was ordained
deacon at the age of 19 and priest at 30...
In addition
to his commitments as a monk and priest, he worked as a scholar and teacher. In
his writings he explains that "I have made it my business, for my own
benefit and that of my brothers, to make brief extracts from the works of the
venerable fathers on the holy scriptures, or to add notes of my own to clarify
their sense and interpretation". Bishop Boniface wrote that Bede
"shone forth as a beacon of the church by his scriptural commentary";
and his biblical exegeses were widely sought and widely circulated. But St Bede
is best known for his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’, which is
to this day our primary source for understanding the beginnings of the English
people and the coming of Christianity to England. It is also the first work of
history in which the A.D. system of dating is used.
But the
range of Bede's astonishing scholarship went far beyond history. He wrote also
of nature. He knew that the earth was a sphere. He knew that the moon
influenced the cycle of the tides. He wrote on calculating time and his
exposition of the Great Cycle of 532 years was of fundamental value to the Church
in the task of calculating the date of Easter. He also wrote a textbook for his
students on poetic metres.
Bede died
in his cell at the monastery in the year 735 just after he finished dictating
the last words of his commentary on the Gospel of John.
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