Saint Benedict Biscop
The collect for a Doctor of the Church, Poet, or Scholar, on the Feast of Saint Benedict Biscop (c. 628-89), Founder of the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Scholar, Patron of the Arts, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962);
O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Benedict Biscop, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lesson: Daniel 2:17-24
The Gospel: St Matthew 13:9-17
Saint Benedict Biscop is remembered as a church leader instrumental in preserving and disseminating Western civilisation during the so-called “Dark Ages”.
Born into a noble Northumbrian family, Benedict spent many years in Frankish monasteries, becoming a monk at the Abbey of Lérins, off the southern coast of France. He also travelled to Rome six times. At the conclusion of his third visit in 668, he accompanied St. Theodore of Tarsus, the Greek monk newly commissioned as archbishop of Canterbury, to England. For two years, Benedict served as abbot of the monastery of St Peter & St Paul (later St Augustine’s), Canterbury, but soon wanted to establish his own foundation.
Receiving papal approval to establish monasteries in Northumbria, Benedict founded the monastery at Wearmouth (Sunderland in County Durham) in 674. He travelled to Rome and returned with an “innumerable collection of books of all kinds”. He also brought with him John the Chanter, Archcantor of St Peter’s, Rome, who taught the monks the Roman liturgy and Gregorian chant. In 682, Benedict founded the sister monastery at Jarrow.
