Benedict Biscop
| Benedict Biscop Biscop Baducing |
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|---|---|
Benedict Biscop
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| Born | c. 628 Northumbria |
| Died | 12 January 690 St Peter's, Wearmouth (Sunderland) |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Church of England, Orthodox Church |
| Major shrine | Wearmouth 690 – c.980; translated c. 980 from there to Thorney Abbey (Glastonbury Abbey also claims his relics) |
| Feast | 12 January (C of E calendar) |
| Patronage | English Benedictines, musicians, painters, and (since 24 March 2004) the City of SunderlandSt Benet Biscop Catholic Academy in Northumberland |
Benedict Biscop (c. 628 – 690), also known as Biscop Baducing, was an Anglo-Saxon abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory (where he also founded the famous library) and was considered a saint after his death.
Benedict was born of a noble Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu. At the age of 25 Benedict made the first of five trips to Rome, accompanying his friend Saint Wilfrid the Elder. However Wilfrid was detained in Lyon en route. Benedict completed the journey on his own and, when he returned to England, he was "full of fervour and enthusiasm ... for the good of the English Church."
Benedict made a second journey to Rome twelve years later, this time accompanied by Alchfrith of Deira, a son of King Oswiu. On this trip he met Acca and Wilfrid. On his return journey to England Benedict stopped at Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence. During his two-year stay there, from 665 to 667, he underwent a course of instruction, taking monastic vows and the name of "Benedict".
Following the two years in Lérins Benedict made his third trip to Rome. At this time he was commissioned by the pope to accompany Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus back to Canterbury in 669. On their return Benedict was appointed abbot of SS. Peter and Paul's, Canterbury, by Archbishop Theodore, a role he held for two years.
Benedict Biscop, the Bibliophile, assembled a library from his travels. His second trip to Rome had been a book buying trip. Overall, the collection had an estimated 250 titles of mostly service books. The library included scripture, classical, and secular works.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Pre-Romanesque style. Benedict made his fifth and final trip to Rome in 679 to bring back books for a library, saintly relics, stonemasons, glaziers, and a grant from Pope Agatho granting his monastery certain privileges. Benedict made five overseas voyages in all to stock the library.
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