benedict biscop

benedict biscop sought to romanize the church in britain, and therefore one might expect me to find him to be "the enemy." however, it is important to realize that the roman church in the seventh century was certainly not the roman church of novels such as the da vinci code, nor even the roman church of the nineteenth century. in the seventh century it was more orthodox than constantinople, which was nearly taken over by the current new thing, monotheletism.

what benedict seemed most taken with about roman christianity was the rule of st. benedict, which he encountered at lerins, where he was tonsured. his understanding of the rule included perhaps most importantly the chants used at rome, and books. so wonderful did the british church find the gregorian chants that when benedict's prior at wearmouth, ceofrith, was the only person at the monastery not sick with the plague except for one young boy--whom we know as bede of jarrow--he could not bring himself to leave off the chants. and of course it would be the british church's love of books and learning which would start the educational centers that would end "the dark ages" in europe.

he also, for better or for worse, brought stone building techniques to britain. the remains of st. peter's at wearmouth are still standing today, a much different sort of structure than the mud and waddle buildings that had preceeded it.

and, benedict brought icons. we hardly think of british christianity as being iconographic today, because of the thoroughness of the roundheads' destructiveness. but at one time, following the lead of benedict biscop, monasteries and parish churches and cathedrals were all as frescoed and full of icons as the churches of the east. whenever benedict started a new building project, he undertook another trip to rome to bring back books and icons and vestments, bringing the british church into the cultural world of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. when the light of christianity culture was nearly extinguished by the invasions that would follow, that culture would be taken back to europe by misssionaries from britain. but that is the story of later saints.