Today
we remember and give thanks for the Venerable Bede. Bede (673-735) was the last of the early church fathers and the
first to compile the history of the English church. Born in Northumbria, Bede was given by his parents to a
monastery in Northern England at the age of
seven. He rarely left the monastery and devoted the rest of his life to
teaching and writing. The most learned man of his time, he was a prolific
writer of history, whose careful use of sources provided a model for historians
in the Middle Ages. Known best for his book, The Ecclesiastical History of
the English People, he was also a profound interpreter of Scripture;
his commentaries are still fresh today. His most famous disciple, Cuthbert,
reported that Bede was working on a translation of John's Gospel into English
when death came, and that he died with the words of the Gloria Patri on his
lips. He received the title "Venerable" within two generations of his
death and is buried in Durham Cathedral as one of England's greatest saints.
Collect
of the Day:
Heavenly Father, when he was still a child You
called Your servant Bede to devote his life to serve You in the venerable
disciplines of theology and scholarship.
As he labored in the Spirit to bring the riches of Your truth to his
generation, grant that we may also strive to make You known in all the world in
our various vocations; through
Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
(Treasury of
Daily Prayer, 1299)
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