Saint Benedict Biscop

Catholic Saint

st.Benedict Biscop-Benedictine abbot

Feast Day : January 12

Patronage: musicians, painters

Name meaning: Blessed

A monastic founder, Benedict Biscop was born John Biscop Baducing ca. 628 in England to a family of Anglo-Saxon nobility that had close ties to the court of King Oswy of Northumbria. He spent much of his youth at court, serving the king as a warrior. In 653, at age 25, Biscop was inspired to make the first of five pilgrimages to Rome with St. Wilfrid. His trips inspired him to become a monk and bring Roman elements of worship, including rituals and chant, to England. After his return to Britain, Biscop traveled again to Rome with Alcfrith, the son of Oswy. After his return in 666, he took the habit and was tonsured at St.-Honorat at Lérins, where he took the monastic name Benedict. He made a third trip to Rome where he quickly found favor with Pope Vitalian, who in 668 sent him to serve as adviser to Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury. Theodore appointed Benedict abbot of SS. Peter and Paul monastery in Canterbury (now St.Augustine’s). In 671 he resigned the post in order to make another pilgrimage to Rome.

On a fourth trip to Rome in 679, he assured Pope Agatho of the orthodoxy of the English Church. On this and his last two pilgrimages, he collected numerous relics, books and paintings. Many of these were given to two Benedictine monasteries he founded in England: Wearmouth in 674 and Jarrow in 682. He also introduced the teaching of Gregorian chant and the Divine Rule in these monasteries, under the direction of Abbot John of Rome. He is credited with introducing stone churches and glass church windows to England. Benedict was paralyzed for the last three years of his life. He became a mentor to St. Bede the Venerable, who wrote his biography. Benedict died on January 12, c. 690. Around 980, his relics were translated from Wearmouth to Thorney. Glastonbury also claims his relics.