January c.
653—664 A.D. Bishop
Cedd—19th Bishop of London; Born in Northumbria; Raised at Lindisfarne; Key Participant in
Synod of Whitby; Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History; King Oswiu; Bishop of East
Saxons
Cedd
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
|
Cedd
|
|
Modern icon image of
Cedd
|
|
|
Diocese
|
Diocese of London
|
|
Installed
|
c654
|
|
Term ended
|
664
|
|
Predecessor
|
|
|
Successor
|
|
|
Personal details
|
|
|
Born
|
c. 620
Northumbria |
|
Died
|
26 October 664
Lastingham |
|
Sainthood
|
|
|
Feast day
|
26 October
|
|
Venerated in
|
|
|
Title as Saint
|
|
|
Attributes
|
Bishop holding a model of the church at Bradwell-on-Sea
|
|
Patronage
|
|
|
Shrines
|
Lastingham. Shrine destroyed in
Danish period but corresponding to the crypt of the present parish church
|
Cedd (c. 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which resolved important differences
within the Church in England. He is venerated by Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians.
Contents
Background
The little that is known about
Cedd comes to us mainly from the writing of Bede in his Ecclesiastical History Of The English People. The following account is based entirely on Book 3 of Bede's History.
Cedd was born in the kingdom
of Northumbria and brought up on the island of Lindisfarne by Aidan of the Irish Church. He was one of four brothers: Chad (transcribed into Bede's Latin text as Ceadda), Cynibil and Caelin being his siblings.[1] The first datable reference to Cedd by Bede makes
clear that he was a priest by the year 653.[2] This probably pushes his birth date back to the
early 620s. It is likely that Cedd was oldest of the brothers and was acknowledged
the head of the family. He seems to have taken the lead, while Chad was his
chosen successor.
Aidan had come to Northumbria
from Iona, bringing with him a set of practices that are known as the Celtic Rite. As well as superficial differences over the Computus (calculation of the date of Easter), and the cut of the tonsure, these involved a pattern of Church organization fundamentally different
from the diocesan structure that was evolving on the continent of Europe.
Activity was based in monasteries, which supported peripatetic missionary
bishops. There was a strong emphasis on personal asceticism, on Biblical exegesis, and on eschatology. Aidan was well known for his personal austerity
and disregard for the trappings of wealth and power. Bede several times
stresses that Cedd and Chad absorbed his example and traditions. Bede tells us
that Chad and many other Northumbrians went to study with the Irish after the
death of Aidan[3] (651).
Cedd is not mentioned as one
of the wandering scholars. He is portrayed by Bede as very close to Aidan's
successor, Finan. So it is highly likely
that he owed his entire formation as a priest and scholar to Aidan and to Lindisfarne.
Mission to Mercia
In 653, Cedd was sent by King Oswiu with three other priests, to evangelise the Middle Angles,[2] who were one of the core ethnic groups of Mercia, based on the mid-Trent valley. Peada, son of Penda was sub-king of the Middle Angles. Peada had agreed to become a Christian in return for the hand of Oswiu's daughter,
Alchflaed, in marriage. This was a time of growing Northumbrian power, as Oswiu
reunited and consolidated the Northumbrian kingdom after its earlier (641/2)
defeat by Penda. Peada travelled to Northumbria to negotiate his marriage and
baptism.
Cedd, together with the
priests, Adda, Betti and Diuma, accompanied Peada back to Middle Anglia, where they won numerous converts
of all classes. Bede relates that the pagan Penda did not obstruct preaching
even among his subjects in Mercia proper, and portrays him as generally
sympathetic to Christianity at this point - a very different view from the
general estimate of Penda as a devoted pagan. But, the mission apparently made
little headway in the wider Mercian polity. Bede credits Cedd's brother Chad with the effective evangelization of Mercia more than a decade later. To
make progress among the general population, Christianity appeared to need
positive royal backing, including grants of land for monasteries, rather than a
benign attitude from leaders.
Bishop of the East Saxons
Cedd was soon recalled from
the mission to Mercia by Oswiu, who sent him on a mission with one other priest
to the East Saxon
kingdom. The priests had been
requested by King
Sigeberht to re-convert his people.[4]
The East Saxon kingdom was
originally converted by missionaries from Canterbury, where St. Augustine had established a Roman mission in 597. The first bishop of the Roman Rite was Mellitus, who arrived in Essex in 604. After a decade, he was driven out of the
area. The religious destiny of the kingdom was constantly in the balance, with
the royal family itself divided among Christians, pagans, and some wanting to
tolerate both.
Bede tells us that Sigeberht's
decision to be baptized and to reconvert his kingdom was at the initiative of
Oswiu. Sigeberht travelled to Northumbria to accept baptism from Bishop Finan of
Lindisfarne. Cedd went to the East Saxons
partly as an emissary of the Northumbrian monarchy. Certainly his prospects
were helped by the continuing military and political success of Northumbria,
especially the final defeat of Penda in 655. Practically, Northumbria gained
hegemony among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
After making some conversions,
Cedd returned to Lindisfarne to report to Finan. In recognition of his success,
Finan ordained him bishop, calling in two other Irish bishops to assist at the
rite. Cedd was appointed bishop of the East Saxons. As a result, he is generally listed among the bishops
of London, a part of the East Saxon kingdom. Bede, however, generally uses
ethnic descriptions for episcopal responsibilities when dealing with the
generation of Cedd and Chad.
Bede's record makes clear that
Cedd demanded personal commitment and that he was unafraid to confront the
powerful. He excommunicated a thegn who was in an unlawful marriage and forbade Christians to accept the man's
hospitality. According to Bede, when Sigeberht continued to visit the man's
home, Cedd went to the house to denounce the king, foretelling that he would
die in that house. Bede asserts that the King's subsequent murder (660) was his
penance for defying Cedd's injunction.
After the death of Sigeberht,
there were signs that Cedd had a more precarious position. The new king, Swithelm, who had assassinated Sigeberht, was a pagan. He had long been a client of Ethelwald, king of the East Angles, who was increasingly dependent on Wulfhere, the Christian king of a newly resurgent Mercia.
After some persuasion from Ethelwald, Swithelm accepted baptism from Cedd. The
bishop traveled into East Anglia to baptize the king at Ethelwald's home. For a
time, the East Saxon kingdom remained Christian.
Bede presents Cedd's work as
decisive in the conversion of the East Saxons, although it was preceded by
other missionaries, and eventually followed by a revival of paganism. Despite
the substantial work, the future suggested that all could be undone.
Monastic foundations
Cedd founded many churches. He
also founded monasteries at Tilaburg (probably East Tilbury, but possibly West Tilbury) and Ithancester (almost certainly Bradwell-on-Sea).
Cedd was appointed as abbot of
the monastery of Lastingham in his native Northumbria at the request of Ethelwald, the sub-king of Deira. Bede records the foundation of this monastery in some detail,[1] showing that Ethelwald was put in contact with Cedd
through Caelin, one of the bishop's brothers, who was on the king's staff. Cedd
undertook a 40-day fast to purify the site, although urgent royal business took
him away after 30 days, and Cynibil took over the fast for him.
Cedd occupied the position of
abbot of Lastingham to the end of his life, while maintaining his position as
missionary bishop and diplomat. He often traveled far from the monastery in
fulfillment of these other duties. His brother Chad, who succeeded him as abbot,
did the same. Cedd and his brothers regarded Lastingham as a monastic base,[5] providing intellectual and spiritual support, and a
place of retreat. Cedd delegated daily care of Lastingham to other
priests, and it is likely that Chad operated similarly.
Final years
Cedd had been brought up in
the Celtic Rite which differed from the Roman Rite in the dating of the religious calendar and other
practices, including the tonsure of monks. Supporters of each rite met at a council
within the Northumbrian kingdom known as the Synod of Whitby. The proceedings of the council were hampered by
the participants' mutual incomprehension of each other's languages, which
probably included Gaelic, Old English, Frankish and Early Welsh, as well as Latin. Bede recounted that Cedd interpreted for both sides.[6] Cedd's facility with the languages, together with
his status as a trusted royal emissary, likely made him a key figure in the
negotiations. His skills were seen as an eschatological sign of the presence of
the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the Biblical account of Babel.[7] When the council ended, Cedd returned to Essex.
According to Bede, Cedd
accepted the Roman dating of the observance of Easter.[8] He returned to his work as bishop, abandoning the
practices of the Scots (Irish from the Kingdom of Dál Riata).
A short time later, he
returned to Northumbria and the monastery at Lastingham. He fell ill with the plague and died on 26 October 664.[1][9] Bede records that immediately after Cedd's death a
party of thirty monks travelled up from Essex to Lastingham to do homage.[10] All but one small boy died there, also of the
plague. Cedd was initially buried at Lastingham in a grave. Later, when a stone
church was built, his body was moved and re-interred in a shrine inside the
church of the monastery. Chad succeeded his brother as abbot at Lastingham.
King Swithelm died at about
the same time as Cedd. He was succeeded by the joint kings Sighere and Sebbi. Some people reverted to paganism, which Bede said was due to the effects
of the plague. Mercia under King Wulfhere was the dominant force south of the Humber, so it
fell to Wulfhere to take prompt action. He dispatched Bishop Jaruman to take over Cedd's work among the East Saxons.
Jaruman, working (according to Bede) with great discretion, toured Essex,
negotiated with local magnates, and soon restored Christianity.[11]
Notes
5.
Jump up^ Mayr-Harting, Henry. The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. 1991. Pennsylvania State University
Press.ISBN 978-0-271-00769-4. P.253
10.
Jump up^ Robinson, C.H.R. The Conversion of Europe. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1917,
p.148
References
- Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum, Liber Tertius Latin Library version of original Latin text.
- HISTORIAM ECCLESIASTICAM GENTIS ANGLORUM LIBRI III, IV Internet Archive download of Latin text of Books 3 and 4 in PDF, TXT and other formats.
- Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
External links
Background Reading
- Bassett, Steven, Ed. The Origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Leicester University Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-7185-1367-2. Studies on state formation that provide important political background to the conversion.
- Fletcher, Richard. The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386. . HarperCollins, 1997. ISBN 0-00-255203-5. Places the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons in the widest possible context, and places Cedd's family incidentally but tellingly within the author's overall interpretation.
- Mayr-Harting, Henry. The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. 1991. Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN 978-0-271-00769-4. Cedd and Chad are strongly featured in this widely-recommended narrative account of the conversion, much revised since its first publication in 1972, and giving a clear picture of the political and cultural context.
|
Preceded by
Mellitus |
Bishop of London
654–664 |
Succeeded by
Wine |
No comments:
Post a Comment