Saint
Benedict Biscop
Born: c628 England
Died: c690
Wearmouth, England
Feast Day:
12th January
Patron
Saint: English Benedictines, musicians, painters, and (since 24 March
2004) the City of Sunderland St Benet Biscop Catholic
Academy in Northumberland
Shrine: Abbey of
Thornley, Isle of Ely or Glastonbury
Also Known
As: Benet Biscop, Biscop Baducing
Saint
Benedict Biscop was born c628 in Northumbria, was a nobleman and thane of King
Osiu of Northumbia before renouncing a worldly life and embracing Christianity.
He went to Rome in 653 accompanying Saint Wilfred, and after his second visit
became a monk at Lerins, France (666-667), where he took the name Benedict as
he admired Saint Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine monks. He stayed there for 2 years before returning
to Northumbria. His third visit to Rome
coincided with the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Saint Theodore was to take his position but
needed a translator and aide, the Pope asked Benedict to do this which he did. He remained in Canterbury for two years as
abbot of SS Peter & Paul (now St Augustines).
He used
his influence and wealth to promote Christian teaching in the North East of
England. Biscop founded two abbeys, one
in Sunderland in 674 on land granted to him by King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, dedicated
to Saint Peter, where he introduced the Benedictine rule and one in Jarrow in
682 as a sister foundation and dedicated to Saint Paul, also on land granted to
him by the King. He was a great scholar
and brought back books, music, paintings, and stained glass from his trips to
Rome and France. He was the first to use
stained glass in an abbey and brought masons and glass workers from Europe to
England to teach the local Anglo-Saxons.
Using his influence, he was partly responsible for the English church
adopting Roman practices at the Whitby synod in 664 and is considered the
father of English Benedictines.
Biscop’s
most famous pupil was St Bede, who was the first to benefit from the vast
number of books. He wrote “Benedict Biscop,
a devout follower of Christ, inspired by grace from on high founded a monastery
in honour of the most blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, on the north bank
of the Wear, towards the mouth of the river, with the help of the venerable and
holy king Egfrid who donated the land for it.”
“He
(Benedict) brought back many holy pictures of the saints to adorn the church of
St Peter he had built: a painting of the Mother of God, the blessed Mary, ever
virgin, and one of each of the twelve apostles which he fixed round the central
arch on a wooden entablature reaching from wall to wall: pictures of incidents
in the gospels with which he decorated the south wall, and scenes from St
John’s vision of the Apocalypse for the north wall. Thus, all who entered the
church, even those who could not read, were able, whichever way they looked to
contemplate the dear face of Christ and his saints.”
He was
crippled in 686 and remained bedridden for 3 years until his death but would ask
the monks to come into his room to sing the psalms which he would join in with
as best he could. His relics were believed to have been moved in 970 to the
Abbey of Thorney, Isle of Ely, although Glastonbury also claim to have them.
References: https://celticsaints.org/2014/0112b.html
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