Britain, and with great devotion preached the word to A.D. 635. 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. CHAP. IV.-WHEN THE NATION OF THE PICTS RECEIVED THE FAΙΤΗ. converts the A.D. 565. N the year of our Lord 565, when st. Columba Justin, the younger, the successor Picts. of Justinian, had the government of the Roman empire, there came into Britain a famous priest and abbot, a monk by habit and life, whose name was Columba, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts, who are separated from the southern parts by steep and rugged mountains; for the southern Picts, who dwell on this side of those mountains, had long before, as is reported, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the truth, by the preaching of triæ, fidem veritatis acceperant, prædicante eis verbum Ninia episcopo reverendissimo et sanctissimo viro, de natione Britonum, qui erat Romæ regulariter fidem et mysteria veritatis edoctus; cujus sedem episcopalem, (Sancti Martini episcopi nomine et ecclesia insignem, ubi ipse etiam corpore una cum pluribus sanctis requiescit,) jam nunc Anglorum gens obtinet. Qui locus, ad provinciam Berniciorum pertinens, vulgo vocatur "Ad Candidam Casam," eo quod ibi ecclesiam de lapide, insolito Britonibus more, fecerit. Venit autem Britanniam Columba, regnante Pictis Bridio filio Meilochon, rege potentissimo, nono anno regni ejus, gentemque illam verbo et exemplo ad fidem Christi convertit; unde et præfatam insulam ab eis in possessionem monasterii faciendi accepit. Neque enim magna est, sed quasi familiarum quinque, juxta æstimationem Anglorum; quam successores ejus usque hodie tenent, ubi et ipse sepultus est, cum esset annorum septuaginta septem, post annos circiter triginta et duos ex quo ipse Britanniam prædicaturus adiit. Fecerat autem, priusquam Britanniam veniret, monasterium nobile in Hibernia, quod a copia roborum "Dearmach" lingua Scotorum, hoc est, "Campus Roborum," cognominatur. Ex quo utroque monasterio perplurima exinde monasteria per discipulos ejus et in Britannia et in Hibernia propagata sunt; in quibus omnibus idem monasterium insulanum, in quo ipse requiescit corpore, principatum tenet. Habere autem solet ipsa insula rectorem semper abbatem presbyterum, cujus juri et omnis provincia, et ipsi etiam episcopi, ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris illius, qui non episcopus, sed presbyter, exstitit et monachus; de cujus vita et verbis nonnulla a discipulis ejus feruntur scripta haberi. Verum qualiscunque fuerit ipse, nos hoc de illo certum tenemus, quod reliquit successores magna continentia ac divino amore regularique institutione insignes. In tem Ninias, a most reverend bishop and holy man of the A. D. 565. British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Rome, in the faith and mysteries of the truth; whose episcopal see, named after St. Martin the bishop, and famous for a stately church, (wherein he and many other saints rest in the body,) is still in existence among the English nation. The place belongs to the province of the Bernicians, and is generally called the White House, because he there built a church of stone, which was not usual among the Britons. Columba came into Britain in the ninth year of the reign of Bridius, who was the son of Meilochon, and the powerful king of the Pictish nation, and he converted that nation to the faith of Christ, by his preaching and example, whereupon he also received of them the aforesaid island for a monastery, for it is not very large, but contains about five families, according to the English computation. His successors hold the island to this day; he was also buried therein, having died at the age of seventy-seven, about thirty-two years after he came into Britain to preach. Before he passed over into Britain, he had built a noble monastery in Ireland, which, from the great number of oaks, is in the Scottish tongue called Dearm-ach-The Field of Oaks. From both which monasteries, many others had their beginning through his disciples, both in Britain and Ireland; but the monastery in the island where his body lies, is the principal of them all. That island has for its ruler an abbot, who is a priest, to whose direction all the province, and even the bishops, contrary to the usual method, are subject, according to the example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop, but a priest and monk; of whose life and discourses some writings are said to be preserved by his disciples. But whatsoever he was himself, this we know for certain, that he left successors renowned for their continency, their love of God, and observance of monastic rules. It is pore quidem summæ festivitatis dubios circulos sequentes, utpote quibus longe ultra orbem positis nemo synodalia Paschalis observantiæ decreta porrexerat; tantum ea, quæ in propheticis, evangelicis et apostolicis literis discere poterant, pietatis et castitatis opera diligenter observantes. Permansit autem hujusmodi observantia Paschalis apud eos tempore non pauco, hoc est, usque ad annum Dominicæ incarnationis septingentesimum decimum quintum, per annos centum quinquaginta. At tunc, veniente ad eos reverendissimo et sanctissimo patre et sacerdote Egberto, de natione Anglorum, qui in Hibernia diutius exsulaverat pro Christo, eratque et doctissimus in Scripturis et longe vitæ perfectione eximius, correcti sunt per eum et ad verum canonicumque Paschæ diem translati; quem tamen et antea non semper in luna quarta decima cum Judæis, ut quidam rebantur, sed in die quidem Dominica, alia tamen quam decebat hebdomada, celebrabant. Sciebant enim, ut Christiani, resurrectionem Dominicam, quæ prima Sabbati facta est, prima Sabbati semper esse celebrandam; sed ut barbari et rustici, quando eadem prima Sabbati, ea quæ nunc Dominica dies cognominatur, veniret, minime didicerant. Verum quia gratia caritatis fervere non omiserunt, et hujus quoque rei notitiam ad perfectum percipere meruerunt, juxta promissum apostoli dicentis, [Phil. iii. 15,] Et si quid aliter sapitis, et hoc quoque vobis Deus revelabit. De quo plenius in sequentibus suo loco dicendum true they followed uncertain rules in their observance A.D. 565. of the great festival, as having none to bring them the synodal decrees for the observance of Easter, by reason of their being so far away from the rest of the world; wherefore they only practised such works of piety and chastity as they could learn from the prophetical, evangelical, and apostolical writings. This manner of keeping Easter continued among them for the space of 150 years, till the year of our Lord's incarnation 715. But then the most reverend and holy father and priest, Egbert, of the English nation, who had long lived in banishment in Ireland for the sake of Christ, and was most learned in the Scriptures, and renowned for long perfection of life, came among them, corrected their error, and reduced them to the true and canonical day of Easter; the which they nevertheless did not always keep on the fourteenth moon with the Jews, as some imagined, but on Sunday, although not in the proper week. For, as Christians, they knew that the resurrection of our Lord, which happened on the first day after the Sabbath, was always to be celebrated on the first day after the Sabbath; but being rude and barbarous, they had not learned when that same first day after the Sabbath, which is now called the Lord's day, should come. But because they had not laid aside the fervent grace of charity, they were worthy to be informed in the true knowledge of this particular, according to the promise of the apostle, saying, "And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." Of which we shall speak more fully in its proper place. CHAP. V. OF THE LIFE OF BISHOP AIDAN. Aidan. FROM the aforesaid island, and college of monks, was The life of Aidan sent to instruct the English nation in Christ, A.D. 635. having received the dignity of a bishop at the time when Segenius, abbot and priest, presided over that monastery; whence, among other instructions for life, he left |