HumanitiesWeb.org - Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book III (Chapter III) by Venerable Bede
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book III Chapter III
by Venerable Bede
THE SAME KING OSWALD, ASKING A BISHOP OF THE SCOTTISH NATION, HAD AIDAN SENT HIM, AND
GRANTED HIM AN EPISCOPAL SEE IN THE ISLE OF LINDISFARNE. [A.D. 635.]
THE same Oswald, as soon as he ascended the throne, being desirous that all his nation
should receive the Christian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in vanquishing
the barbarians, sent to the elders of the Scots, among whom himself and his followers,
when in banishment, had received the sacrament of baptism, desiring they would send him a
bishop, by whose instruction and ministry the English nation, which he governed, might be
taught the advantages, and receive the sacraments of the Christian faith. Nor were they
slow in granting his request; but sent him Bishop Aidan, a man of singular meekness,
piety, and moderation; zealous in the cause of God, though not altogether according to
knowledge; for he was wont to keep Easter Sunday according to the custom of his country,
which we have before so often mentioned, from the fourteenth to the twentieth moon; the
northern province of the Scots, and all the nation of the Picts, celebrating Easter then
after that manner, and believing that they therein followed the writings of the holy and
praiseworthy Father Anatolius; the truth of which every skillful person can discern. But
the Scots which dwelt in the South of Ireland had long since, by the admonition of the
bishop of the Apostolic See, learned to observe Easter according to the canonical custom.
On the arrival of the bishop, the king appointed him his episcopal see in the isle of
Lindisfarne, as he desired. Which place, as the tide flows and ebbs twice a day, is
enclosed by the waves of the sea like an island; and again, twice in the day, when the
shore is left dry, becomes contiguous to the land. The king also humbly and willingly in
all cases giving ear to his admonitions, industriously applied himself to build and extend
the church of Christ in his kingdom; wherein, when the bishop, who was not skillful in the
English tongue, preached the gospel, it was most delightful to see the king himself
interpreting the word of God to his commanders and ministers, for he had perfectly learned
the language of the Scots during his long banishment. From that time many of the Scots
came daily into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word to those provinces of
the English, over which King Oswald reigned, and those among them that had received
priest's orders, administered to them the grace of baptism. Churches were built in several
places; the people joyfully flocked together to hear the word; money and lands were given
of the king's bounty to build monasteries; the English, great and small, were, by their
Scottish masters, instructed in the rules and observance of regular discipline; for most
of them that came to preach were monks. Bishop Aidan was himself a monk of the island
called Hii, whose monastery was for a long time the chief of almost all those of the
northern Scots, and all those of the Picts, and had the direction of their people. That
island belongs to Britain, being divided from it by a small arm of the sea, but had been
long since given by the Picts, who inhabit those parts of Britain, to the Scottish monks,
because they had received the faith of Christ through their preaching.