Sunday 26 May 2013

A Bede-y eye

I was up earlyish this morning, so, for the first time, I think, I'm posting this first thing on a Sunday morning. Looking out of my office window the sun is shining in a beautiful blue sky, and all the trees that face me have that green which is special to spring. Today is Trinity Sunday, and we all certainly have so much to praise God for, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Yesterday was the feast of a saint special to me as a past student of the Beda in Rome. St Bede, better known as the Venerable Bede, is the patron of the Pontificio Collegio Beda, to give it its full name in Italian. Why was this Roman seminary dedicated to Bede? He lived around 700AD, and is one of the greatest English saints. He was a monk at the monasteries of the north-east,at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth in present-day Sunderland. It's believed that he never travelled far from there, yet managed to leave behind him one of teh great classics of religious and historical writing. "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People" is a principal source for all we know about Britain after the Romans, and brought him the title of "Father of British History". A profound theologian and skilled translator, he is the only English-born Doctor of the Church.  He is also credited with popularising the use of "A.D." in our date system. He is buried at the magnificent Durham Cathedral.
You can find out more about Bede here a very good Wikipedia article. To find out more about the Beda in Rome, my seminary, visit their website here.
The pic shows Bede's shrine at Durham Cathedral

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