Father and Doctor of the Church
(673-735)
Saint Bede, the illustrious ornament of the Anglo-Saxon Church and its first English historian, was consecrated to God in 680 at the age of seven, and entrusted to the care of Saint Benedict Biscop at Weremouth. He became a monk in the sister-house of Jarrow, which he would never leave, and there he trained no fewer than six hundred scholars, whom his piety, learning, and sweet disposition had gathered around him.
He was ordained a priest in 702. To the toils of teaching and the exact observance of his Rule he added long hours of private prayer, with the study of every branch of science and literature then known. He was familiar with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In a treatise which he compiled for his scholars, still extant, he assembled all that the world had then conserved of history, chronology, physics, music, philosophy, poetry, arithmetic, and medicine. In his Ecclesiastical History he has left us beautiful lives of Anglo-Saxon Saints and holy Fathers, while his commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures are still in use by the Church.
It was to the study of the Divine Word that he devoted the whole energy of his soul, and at times his compunction was so overpowering that his voice would break with weeping, while the tears of his scholars mingled with his own. Once he was accused of heresy by certain jealous ones, but this scholar who had always made a great effort not to depart from tradition, wrote a letter which vindicated him and stopped the bad reports. He had little aid from others, and during his later years suffered from constant illness; yet he worked and prayed up to his last hour. It has been said of him that it is easier to admire him in thought than to do him justice in expression.
The Saint was employed in translating the Gospel of Saint John from the Greek, even to the hour of his death, which took place on the eve of the Ascension in the year 735. "He spent that day joyfully," writes one of his scholars. In the middle of the afternoon he said: "It is time that I return to the One who gave me being, creating me out of nothing... The moment of my liberty is approaching; I desire to be freed from the bonds of the body and to join Jesus Christ. Yes, my soul longs to see Jesus Christ its king, in the splendor of His glory." In the evening a scribe attending him said, "Dear master, there is yet one chapter unwritten; would you be disturbed if we asked you additional questions?" He answered, "No; take your pen, and write quickly. It is finished. Take my head in thy hands and support me over against the Oratory, for it is a great place where I have so often prayed Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." The disciple did. He prayed then until his last breath. His body gave forth a very sweet odour of sanctity.
The Imitation of Christ says: "The more a man is at peace within himself and interiorly simple, the more and deeper things does he understand without labor; for he receives the light of understanding from on high."
Following are some quotes from this great student of divinity:
He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.
And I pray thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face.
“Whenever we enter the church and draw near to the heavenly mysteries, we ought to approach with all humility and fear, both because of the presence of the angelic powers and out of the reverence due to the sacred oblation; for as the Angels are said to have stood by the Lord’s body when it lay in the tomb, so we must believe that they are present in the celebration of the Mysteries of His most sacred Body at the time of consecration.” (I truly believe this. In my early years of being a Catholic, I had volunteered to be Commentator at the N.O. Mass. I had been told that, at the Consecration, angels were present. This made sense, but I understood very little concerning the Faith at that time. However, on Easter one year, I was up on the altar, receiving while kneeling and on the tongue, the Holy Eucharist. After receiving Him, I returned to my spot on the side. A man approached on my left carrying a little of approx. 3-4 years of age. The little boy pointed at the area above the altar and asked his dad: "Who are all those people?" All there was at this church was a Crucifix and nothing else. The father replied: "There's nobody there." I know that this was a message for me. The angels ARE there! Too bad the father didn't have the Faith! And, woe to those who were supposed to teach him.)
“‘You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and they tremble.’ (James 2:19)
They alone know how to believe in God who love God, who are Christians not only in name but also in action and [way of] life, because without love faith is empty. With love, it is the faith of a Christian —without love, the faith of a demon.”
“Better a stupid and unlettered brother who, working the good things he knows, merits life in Heaven than one who though being distinguished for his learning in the Scriptures, or even holding the place of a doctor, lacks the Bread of love.”
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