island off the south coast of Gaul), where he
became a monk, and then returned to Rome
in 667, just when Wighard arrived to be consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. Wighard,
however, died very soon, and Theodore of
Tarsus was elected and consecrated in his
stead March 668. The pope, Vitalian, appointed Benedict to conduct Theodore to
Canterbury, which they reached at the end
of May 669. Archbishop Theodore made
him abbot of St. Peter's in Canterbury, over
which he presided for two years, and then
made a third visit to Rome for the purpose
of buying books, of which he collected a
large number, partly in Rome, partly at
Vienne. In 672 he returned to England,
intending to visit his friend Cenwealh, king
of the West Saxons ; but hearing that he
was dead, he made for Northumbria, where
Ecgfrith, the son of Oswiu, had become king,
He set about zealously instructing his countrymen in the learning and religious discipline
in which he had himself been trained. Ecgfrith warmly aided him in his work, and
gave him seventy hides of land out of his
own demesne near the mouth of the river
Wear on the north side, where, by Ecgfrith's
orders, he began building the monastery of
St. Peter's in 674 (Bed. Vit Abbat. c. 3-4).
The structure was fashioned in what was
called the 'Roman' style, then prevalent
throughout Western Europe, being a provincial adaptation of the old classical Roman
forms. Benedict himself visited Gaul in
order to engage skilled masons and glassmakers, the art of glazing windows being
then unknown in England (Bed. Vit, Abb,
c. 5). The work was pushed on with such
diligence, that within a year from its foundation mass was celebrated within the walls of
the church. Having settled the constitution
of his house, he paid a fourth visit to Rome
in 678, in order to procure more books, besides
vessels, vestments, images, and pictures, of
which he brought back a large store. He
also obtained the services of John, the archchanter of St. Peter's and abbot of St. Martin
at Rome, who returned with him to instruct
his monks in music and ritual according to
the Roman use. But what he deemed most
valuable of all was a letter from the pope
Agatho, granted with the full consent of
king Ecgfrith, exempting his monastery from
all external control. The king soon afterwards granted 40 hides of land for the erection of a sister monastery which Benedict
established at Jarrow and dedicated to St.
Paul. Here he placed seventeen monks in 682
under Ceolfrith as their abbot, who had energetically assisted him from the beginning
in founding the other monastery, and had
visited Rome. He himself presided over the
elder house at Wearmouth, adopting his
cousin Eosterwine as a colleague. Having
thus settled both monasteries, he visited
Rome for the fifth time, and procured a
large collection of books, vestments, and
pictures for Jarrow. On his return (about
687) he found that king Ecgfrith had been
slain in battle (685), and that Eosterwine
and a large number of his monks had died of
a pestilence. Ceolfrith and the other monks
had elected Sigfrith to take the place of
Eosterwine. Benedict confirmed their choice,
and bought three acres of land on the south
side of the Wear from king Aldfrith (successor
to Ecgfrith) [q. v.], for which he gave two
silk pallia of splendid workmanship which he
had brought from Rome ({sc|Beda}}, V. Abb. c. 7,
8). Soon after this Benedict's health broke
down, and for the last three years of his
life he was paralysed in the lower limbs.
Abbot Sigfrith also gradually wasted away
from some internal disease. Shortly before
his death in 689 he was carried to the bedside of Benedict for a final interview, who
then, with the consent of the monks, appointed
Ceolfrith abbot of both houses. Benedict's
mind, however, continued to be clear and
vigorous to the end, and the last days of his
life were spent in exhorting the brethren to
hold fast to the pure Benedictine rule which
he had taught tnhm, having himself visited
seventeen continental monusteries; to preserve the large and costly library which he
had procured for them with so much pains,
and in all future elections of abbots to take
care to choose the fittest man without any
regard to the claims of kindred or high birth.
During his sleepless nights the brethren read
the Bible to him in turns, and at the hours
of prayer by day and night he continued to
join, as well as he was able, in the recitation
of the psalms. He died on 12 Jan. 690 as
the monks were repeating the 83rd Psalm
('Deus, quis similis erit tibi ?'), in the
sixteenth year after the foundation of the
first monastery, and (about) the sixty-second
year of his age. He was buried in the
church of St. Peter at Wearmouth. In the
10th cent., 964, Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, bought his bones at a great price,
and conveved them to his new abbey of
Thorney. Benedict was undoubtedly a man
of pure and lofty character, animated by
the warmest zeal for the promotion of piety
and learning, unalloyed, so far as we can
see, by the spirit of ambition and self-assertion which are too conspicuous in his friend
Wilfrith [see Wilfrith]. He was thus a
great benefactor to his own age and country,
and all subsequent ages owe him a debt of