was made bishop of the same church of Lindisfarne. Colman carried home with him part of the
bones of the most reverend Father Aidan, and left part of them in the church where he had presided,
ordering them to be interred in the sacristy.
The place which they governed shows how frugal and temperate he and his predecessors were,
for there were very few houses besides the church found at their departure; indeed, no more than
were barely sufficient to make civilized life possible; they had also no money, but only cattle; for
if they received any money from rich persons, they immediately- gave it to the poor; there being
no need to gather money, or provide houses for the entertainment of the great men of the world;
for such never resorted to the church, except to pray and hear the Word of God. The king himself,
when occasion required, came only with five or six servants, and having performed his devotions
in the church, departed. But if they happened to take a repast there, they were satisfied with the
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plain, daily food of the brethren, and required no more. For the whole care of those teachers was
to serve God, not the world to feed the soul, and not the belly.
For this reason the religious habit was at that time held in great veneration; so that wheresoever
any clerk or monk went, he was joyfully received by all men, as God s servant; and even if they
chanced to meet him upon the way, they ran to him, and with bowed head, were glad to be signed
with the cross by his hand, or blessed by his lips. Great attention was also paid to their exhortations;
and on Sundays they flocked eagerly to the church, or the monasteries, not to feed their bodies, but
to hear the Word of God; and if any priest happened to come into a village, the inhabitants came
together and asked of him the Word of life; for the priests and clerks went to the villages for no
other reason than to preach, baptize, visit the sick, and, in a word, to take care of souls; and they
were so purified from all taint of avarice, that none of them received lands and possessions for
building monasteries, unless they were compelled to do so by the temporal authorities; which
custom was for some time after universally observed in the churches of the Northumbrians. But
enough has now been said on this subject.
CHAP. XXVII. How Egbert, a holy man of the English nation, led a monastic life in Ireland.
[664 A.D.]
IN the same year of our Lord 664, there happened an eclipse of the sun, on the third day of
May, about the tenth hour of the day. In the same year, a sudden pestilence depopulated first the
southern parts of Britain, and afterwards attacking the province of the Northumbrians, ravaged the
country far and near, and destroyed a great multitude of men. By this plague the aforesaid priest
of the Lord, Tuda, was carried off, and was honourably buried in the monastery called Paegnalaech.2
Moreover, this plague prevailed no less disastrously in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility,
and of the lower ranks of the English nation, were there at that time, who, in the days of the Bishops
Finan and Colman, forsaking their native island, retired thither, either for the sake of sacred studies,
or of a more ascetic life; and some of them presently devoted themselves faithfully to a monastic
life, others chose rather to apply themselves to study, going about from one master s cell to another.
The Scots willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with daily food without cost,
as also to furnish them with books for their studies, and teaching free of charge.
Among these were Ethelhun and Egbert, two youths of great capacity, of the English nobility.
The former of whom was brother to Ethelwin, a man no less beloved by God, who also at a later
time went over into Ireland to study, and having been well instructed, returned into his own country,
and being made bishop in the province of Lindsey, long and nobly governed the Church. These
two being in the monastery which in the language of the Scots is called Rathmelsigi, and having
lost all their companions, who were either cut off by the plague, or dispersed into other places,
were both seized by the same sickness, and grievously afflicted. Of these, Egbert, (as I was informed
by a priest venerable for his age, and of great veracity, who declared he had heard the story from
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his own lips,) concluding that he was at the point of death, went out of the chamber, where the sick
lay, in the morning, and sitting alone in a fitting place, began seriously to reflect upon his past
actions, and, being full of compunction at the remembrance of his sins, bedewed his face with tears,
and prayed fervently to God that he might not die yet, before he could forthwith more fully make
amends for the careless offences which he had committed in his boyhood and infancy, or might
further exercise himself in good works. He also made a vow that he would spend all his life abroad
and never return into the island of Britain, where he was born; that besides singing the psalms at
the canonical hours, he would, unless prevented by bodily infirmity, repeat the whole Psalter daily
to the praise of God; and that he would every week fast one whole day and night. Returning home, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]