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Benedict Biscop ( – 690), also known as Biscop Baducing, was an Anglo-Saxons abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory (where he also founded the famous library) and was considered a saint after his death.
It has been suggested that Baducing appears as Biscop Beding the son of Beda Bubbing, King of Mercia in the Lyndsey/Lindfearnan lists of genealogy held by the Anglian Collection and great-grandfather of Alfred The Great. The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists, DAVID N. DUMVILLE, 1976, Cambridge University Press
Benedict made a second journey to Rome twelve years later. Alchfrith of Deira, a son of King Oswiu, intended to accompany him, but the king refused to grant permission. On this trip Biscop met Acca and Wilfrid. On his return journey to England Benedict stopped at Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence, which had by then adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. During his two-year stay there, from 665 to 667, he underwent a course of instruction, taking monastic vows Ott, Michael. "St. Benedict Biscop." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 23 January 2020 and the name of "Benedict".
Following the two years in Lérins, Benedict made his third trip to Rome. At this time Pope Vitalian commissioned him to accompany Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus back to Canterbury in 669. On their return Archbishop Theodore appointed Benedict as abbot of SS. Peter and Paul's, Canterbury, a role he held for two years. HAbb, II–III; Blair, pp. 156–159
In 682 Benedict appointed Eosterwine as his Abbot and the King was so delighted at the success of St Peter's, he gave him land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery. Benedict erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow. He appointed Ceolfrid as the superior, who left Wearmouth with 20 monks to start the foundation in Jarrow. Bede, one of Benedict's pupils, tells us that he brought builders and glass-workers from Francia to erect the buildings in stone. HAbb, IV–VI; Blair, p. 161.
He drew up a rule for his community, based on that of Benedict and the customs of seventeen monasteries he had visited. He also engaged Abbot John, Arch-cantor of St. Peter's in Rome, to teach Roman chant at these monasteries.
In 685, Ecgfrith granted the land south of the River Wear to Biscop. Separated from the monastery, this would be known as the "sundered land," which in time would become the name of the wider urban area.
Benedict's idea was to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Church in Europe. It was the first ecclesiastical building in Britain to be built in stone, and the use of glass was a novelty for many in 7th-century England. It eventually possessed what was a large library for the time – several hundred volumes – and it was here that Benedict's student Bede wrote his famous works. The library became world-famous and manuscripts that had been copied there became prized possessions throughout Europe, HAbb, IV & VI; Blair, pp. 165ff. including especially the Codex Amiatinus, the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate version.
Benedict is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 12 January. The parish church in Wombourne is the only one in England dedicated to Benedict.
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates him as a saint and celebrates his feast day on 12th January on the New Calendar.
Death
For the last three years of his life Benedict was bed-ridden. He suffered his affliction with great patience and faith. He died on 12 January 690. AVCeol, 18; Blair, p. 177.
Veneration
A sermon of Bede (Homily 17) indicates that there was a very early public cult of Biscop; for his feast, but it became more widespread only after the translation of his relics to Thorney under Ethelwold . "Benedict Biscop", The Oxford Dictionary of Saints He is recognised as a saint by the Christian Church, which holds his feast day on 12 January.
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Categories: 628 Births, 690 Deaths, Abbots Of St Augustine's, Abbots Of Wearmouth, Northumbrian Saints, Anglo-saxon Benedictines, Benedictine Abbots, Benedictine Scholars, Benedictine Saints, Anglo-saxon Saints, English Chroniclers, People From Northumberland, 7th-century Christian Saints, Burials At Monkwearmouth-jarrow Abbey, Anglican Saints, 7th-century Christian Abbots
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