St. Bede the
Venerable, England, 672-735
Feastday
25th May
Born 672 or 673
Died 735
Born around the time England was finally completely
Christianized. Raised from age seven in the abbey of Saints Peter and Paul at
Wearmouth-Jarrow, and lived there his whole life. Benedictine monk. Spiritual
student of the founder, Saint Benedict Biscop. Ordained in 702 by Saint John of
Beverley. Teacher and author, he wrote about history, rhetoric, mathematics,
music, astronomy, poetry, grammar, philosophy, hagiography, homiletics, and
Bible commentary. He was known as the most learned man of his day, and his
writings started the idea of dating this era from the incarnation of Christ.
The central theme of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica is of the Church using the
power of its spiritual, doctrinal, and cultural unity to stamp out violence and
barbarism. Our knowledge of England before the 8th century is mainly the result
of Bede's writing. He was declared a Doctor of the Church on 13 November 1899
by Pope Leo XIII. 1
1. Taken from the Patron Saints Index at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb10.htm
“And then will arise a king by name and of steadfast mind. The same will be the steadfast king of the Romans and Greeks... and the King himself will have before his eyes the scripture saying: “The king of the Romans will claim for himself the whole kingdom of the lands; therefore he will lay waste all the islands and cities, and destroy all the temples of the false gods, and all the pagans will he call to baptism, and the cross of Christ shall be raised over all the temples...” 1
“For
he (antichrist) shall work such
stupendous marvels, as to bid fire to come down from heaven... and the dead
shall rise... he shall raise the dead, not verily, but the devil shall enter
some dead man's body... and speak in him, that he may seem alive...” 2
“There
shall go forth the two most glorious men Enoch and Elias to announce the advent
of the Lord, and them shall the Antichrist slay, and after three days they
shall be resuscitated...” 3
“The
sign of the doom: the earth shall be moist with sweat; from heaven the king
shall come to reign forever... At midnight in the hour when the angel made
Egypt desolate, and when the Lord despoiled hell, in the same hour He shall
deliver His elect from this world...” 4
“Fire
shall burn up earth and sea and heaven... The springs shall fail, and the
everlasting flame consume; He shall cast down the hills, and raise up valleys
from the depth... From the heavens shall fall both fire and a sulfur stream. “ 5
“As
long as the Coliseum stands Rome will stand; when Rome falls, the world will
fall….” 6
References
1. Honorius of Autun’s Elucidorum and Godfrey
of Citerbo’s Monumentum 22: 146
2.
ibid
3.
ibid
4.
ibid
5.
ibid
6.
ibid