![[St. Pachomius Library]](title.gif)
St. Benedict Biscop
VII Century
Born Biscop Baducing c. 628, St. Benedict Biscop served King Oswui of
Northumbria as a warrior until 653 when he accompanied St. Wilfrid on a
pilgrimage to Rome. After their return to Britain, Baducing travelled
again to Rome with Alcfrith, the son of Oswui, and in 666, Biscop was
tonsured at St.-Honorat at Lérins, where he took the monastic name
Benedict. He made a third trip to Rome and returned in 669 with
Theodore of Tarsus,
who had recently been appointed archbishop of Canterbury.
Theodore appointed Benedict abbot of Sts. Peter and Paul monastery in
Canterbury (now St. Augustine's). In Benedict of Nursia and on the rules
of seventeen other monasteries he had visited in his travels. On a fourth
trip to Rome in 679, he assured Pope Agatho of the orthodoxy of the
English church, and he returned with books and pictures that created
cultural ties between Britain and the Continent. John, the abbot of St.
Martin's in Rome, came to Britain with Biscop to teach the monks Roman
rubrics and script. Benedict's last trip to Rome (685) resulted in many
additions to the libraries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, which Biscop had
founded in 682. Benedict died c. 689/90, and his relics were translated c.
980 from Wearmouth to Thorney. Glastonbury also claims his relics.
Karen Rae Keck
0
Return to St Pachomius Library.