THE VENERABLE BEDE

Evening Star, Issue 22456, 29 September 1936, Page 6

THE VENERABLE BEDE

HISTORIAN AND TRANSLATOR NOTABLE FIGURE IN EARLY LITERATURE At the meeting of the Otago Classical Association, held last night in the Museum lecture room, the Rev. W. A. Curzon-Siggers gave a lecture on ‘ The Venerable Bede; Historian and‘Translator.’ The lecturer commenced by recalling that last year was the twelve-hundredth anniversary of the death of the Venerable Bede, and in England there were special services and ceremonies in connection with this. As a Latin writer with an evident knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, Bede was worthy of commemoration among classical scholars of England. He also translated various works into English for the benefit and instruction of his countrymen. Milman, in his ‘ History of Latin Christianity,’ said of Bede: “Not much more than 70 years after the landing of Augustine on the savage, turbulent, and heathen island, in a remote part of one of the northern kingdoms, a native Saxon is devoting a long and peaceful life to the cultivation of letters, makes himself master of the whole range of existing knowledge in science and history, as well aa in theology, and writes Latin both in prose and verse in a style equal to that of most of his contemporaries. The whole theology of some of the native teachers was contained 'in the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and for them Bede himself translated these all-sufficient manuals of Christian faith into Anglo-Saxon. Bede was the parent of theology in England.” There were very few references to incidents in Bede’s life. It was thought that he was the child referred to in a story dealing with the effects of the plague at Jarrow in 686 A.n. Bede woujd bo about 15, and appeared to have helped Abbot Ceolfrid to keep up all the monastic services, though no other monks Were available. Bede’s life was a quiet and uneventful one. He did not seem to have travelled far, probably only to Lindisfarne and York. He must have been held in great esteem as a young student, for he was ordained deacon at the age of 19, four years before the canonical age, an extraordinary deviation from the rule, no doubt due to his diligence and piety, which commended him to both bishop and abbot. He refused later to be made an abbot, on the ground that the care of a monastery would distract him from the pursuit of learning. He did not appear to have written anything till he was priested at the age of 30, but was storing his mind with the books which later ho referred to so widely. Probably at a fairly early age he would also become_ one of the teachers in the monastic school. He told that the joy of the teacher was in the progress of the pupil, and warned against despising the unlearned. Teaching was a subject in which he took delight. Besides this he would have a certain amount of manual work to perform, and there was also the regular round of devotion. In the account of his death one read of his singing and chanting even on his death-bed. Among his writings Bede wrote two works on chronology. It was from him that was obtained in Western Europe the use of the date of Christ’s birth to mark time. He set forth in these works a mystical doctrine of six ages of the world, the sixth being the present, corresponding to the six days of creation. He said there was a seventh age, contemporaneous. corresponding with the Sabbath, while men’s souls rested in the Unseen, till the Judgment ushered in the last and final age. This was an example of Bede’s use of mystical interpretation. His works are i divided into three classes—scientific, historical, and theological. In all his works,” said Mr CurzonSiggers, “we find a simple and unfeigned piety. Ho may seem to emphasise the miraculous too much, but that was in keeping with his age, and he in all strives to give glory to God and not to his human heroes. He constantly begs his readers to pray for him, to thank God if any of his works have profited them. He shows the humility of the true scholar. He lingers lovingly over holy deathbeds, and his own resembled those he narrated, such as those of Benedict or Hilda. Bede’s style is noteworthy for his command of the Latin language, in which most of his work was written, and for its clearness of statement. It has been pointed, out that his correctness is rather that of the scholar who has learnt his style from the hooks than that of an ox-iginal writer who is taking' part in the development of a language. Naturally, he has to use many Christian non-classical terms, and the turning into Latin of English names produces some curious-looking words. Yet on the whole , he is clear and easy to read and he has considerable graphic power.

■ “ Bede is generally known as the ‘ Venerable,’ not for any .dignity which he attained, but from tradition. There are two, forms of this tradition—one that on one occasion he was taken by some mockers, when he was old and nearly blind, to preach to a supposed congregation. He concluded las sermon with the usual ascription of praise, and the angels (or some say. the stones) cried out 1 Amen, Venerable Bede.’ The other story, given to visitors to Bede’s tomb at Durham Cathedral, is that a monk was trying to compose an epitaph for his tomb and could not complete his line; he retired to bed and an angel put in the missing word, ‘ venerabilis,’ before the morning. Certainly the lino is now on the slab that marks his grave. He died on Ascension Day, May 26, 735 a.d He was buried at first at Jarrow, but bis remains were stolen thence by a monk of Durham and reinterred with those of St. Cuthbert. At the Reformation they were probably thrown out, and the present alleged tomb in the porch of Durham Cathedral does not contain them.” It had been well said of Bede that it was no small honour to England to have the first page of her historical literature illumined with a sympathy so tender and deep and a justice and candour so unswerving. The lecturer then read Dr Plummer’s summary of his study of Bede, closing with the statement that “ we have not amid all our discoveries invented as yet anything better than the Christian life which Bede lived and the Christian death which he died.” Bede stood undoubtedly in the tradition of great scholars, and by his command of the Latin tongue, his erudition, his knowledge of languages such as Greek and Hebrew, his continued efforts to improve the standard of learning and life in his day, he was worthy of remembrance among the descendants of the great classical scholars of antiquity. He did for the early history of England what Livy did for that of Rome, but perhaps his influence was more far-reaching because his life showed through his history and illustrated the best in that history. On the motion of Professor T. D. Adams, who presided, the speaker was accorded a vote of thanks for a lecture which the chairman described as unusually attractive and illuminating.