|
Bede,
The Ecclesiastical History
of the English People, Book 3, Chapter 23. This is
Bede's
account of the foundation of Lastingham Church.
The reference to 'in the place where dragons lay...'
is a quote from Isaiah chapter 35 (see right hand
column). |
Chapter 23
Bishop Cedd, having a place
given him by King Ethelwald, consecrates it to our
Lord with prayer and fasting. His death.
Cedd, whilst he was bishop among the East
Saxons, also used often to visit his own
country, Northumberland, to preach there. Ethelwald,
the son of King Oswald, who reigned among the Deiri,
finding him a holy, wise, and good man, asked him to
accept some land on which to build a monastery, to which the
King
himself might frequently resort, to offer his prayers and
hear the word, and be buried in it when he died. Ethelwald
believed that he would receive much benefit by the
prayers of those who were to serve God in that place.
The
King had with him a brother of the same bishop,
called Celin, a man equally devoted to God. He was a
priest, and used to administer to him the word and the
sacraments of the Faith. It was as a result of this that he chiefly came to
know and love the bishop. That prelate, therefore,
complying with the King's desires, chose himself a place
to build a monastery among some steep and remote hills,
which looked more like lurking-places for robbers, and
retreats for wild beasts, than habitations for men. And he
thought that, as the prophet Isaiah says, In the
habitations where once dragons dwelt, there might be grass
with reeds and rushes; in other words, the fruits of good
work should spring up where before beasts used to
dwell -
or men who lived after the manner of beasts.
This man
of God desired first to cleanse the site for the
monastery from former crimes by prayer and fasting, so that
it might become acceptable to our Lord. Therefore,
before laying the
foundations of the monastery, he asked the King to allow him
leave to reside there throughout all the coming season Lent,
in order to
pray. Each day, except Sunday, he fasted till the
evening, according to custom. He took no other
sustenance than a little bread, one hen's egg, and a
little milk mixed with water. This, he said, was the
custom of those of whom he had learned the rule of regular
discipline; that one must first consecrate to our Lord, by prayer
and fasting, the places newly received for
building a monastery or a church. When there were ten days
of Lent remaining, there came a messenger to call
Cedd to the king; and he, so that the religious work might not
be interrupted on account of the King's affairs, asked his
assistant priest Cynebil, who was also his own
brother, to complete the holy work he himself had begun. Cynebil readily complied.
When the time of fasting and
prayer was over,
Cedd built the monastery, which is
now called Lastingham, and established there the
religious customs of Lindisfarne, where they had been
brought up.
Cedd had
been Bishop of the East Saxons for many years and Abbot of this monastery, over which he had placed
superiors. It happened that he came there at a time when
the plague was raging, and he fell sick and died. He was
at first buried in the open air. But in course of time a
stone church was built for the monastery, dedicated to
the Mother of God. Cedd's his body was re-buried within it on
the right hand of the altar.
The
bishop had left the monastery to be governed by his
brother Chad, who was afterwards made bishop, as shall be
said later. For the four brothers we have
mentioned, Cedd and Cynebil, Celia and Chad were all celebrated
priests of our Lord - a rare thing to find - and two of them also came to be
bishops.
When
the brethren who were in his monastery in
the province of the East Saxons heard that the bishop was
dead in the province of the Northumbrians, about thirty
men of that monastery came there, desiring either
to live near the body of their father (if it should please
God), or to die there and be buried. Being lovingly
received by their brethren and fellow soldiers in Christ,
all of them died there by the same plague.
All, that is, except
one little boy. He was delivered from death by his
father's prayers. For when he had lived there a long time
after, and applied himself to the reading of holy
scripture,
he was informed that he had not been regenerated by the
water of baptism, and being then washed in the water of
salvation, he was afterwards promoted to the order of
priesthood, and proved very useful to many in the church.
I do not doubt that he was delivered at the point of
death, as I have said, by the prayers of his father,
whilst he was embracing his dear body; and by this means
he intended to avoid for himself avoid eternal death; and by teaching,
he would exhibit the ministry of life and salvation to others of
the brethren. |