St Cedd, Founder of Lastingham,
Bishop and Apostle of the East Saxons was born in Northumbria, England and died
October 26, 664. Cedd was raised together with his brother Saint Chad. He
became a monk at Lindisfarne and in 653 was sent with three other priests to
evangelize the Middle Angles when their King Peada was baptized by Saint Finan
of Lindisfarne in 653, at the court of his father-in-law, Oswy of Northumbria.
After working in that field for a
time he was called to harvest a new one in East Anglia (Essex), when King
Sigebert was converted and baptized by Finan. He and another priest travelled
throughout the midlands to evaluate the situation. Then Cedd returned to
Lindisfarne to confer with Finan, who consecrated him bishop of the East Saxons
in 654. Cedd returned to Essex and spent the rest of his life with the
Saxons--building churches, founding monasteries (at Bradwell-on-the-Sea
(Ythancaestir, Othona), Tilbury, and Lastingham), and ordaining priests and
deacons to continue the work of evangelisation.
Lastingham, originally called
Laestingaeu, was built in 658 on a tract of inaccessible land in Yorkshire
donated by King Ethelwald of Deira. Here Cedd spent 40 days in prayer and fasting
to consecrate the place to God according to the custom of Lindisfarne, derived
from Saint Columba. All three of the monasteries he built were destroyed by the
Danes and never restored.
He attended the Synod of Whitby
in 664, where he accepted the Roman observances, and died of the plague at
Lastingham, Yorkshire. At the news of his death, 30 of his brethren among the
East Saxons came to Lastingham to consecrate their lives where their holy
father in faith had died. But they, too, were all killed by the same plague,
except one unbaptized boy, who lived to become a priest and zealous missionary
(Delaney, Walsh).[1]
No comments:
Post a Comment