lundi 31 août 2015

Saint AIDAN (AEDAN) de LINDISFARNE, moine, abbé, missionnaire, évêque et confesseur


Saint Aidan de Lindisfarne

Évêque-abbé ( 651)

Moine missionnaire irlandais venant du monastère fondé par Saint Colomba sur l'île de Iona, il établit la religion chrétienne dans le district de Lindisfarne en Angleterre et devint, vers 635, évêque du pays qu'il avait converti.

A lire: saint Aidan, premier habitant de Holy Island de Lindisfarne - site en anglais.

À Lindisfarne en Northumbrie, l’an 653, saint Aidan, évêque et abbé. Homme de grande piété, d’extrême mansuétude et de sage autorité, il fut appelé du monastère d’Iona par le roi saint Oswald, et il établit dans cette île son siège épiscopal et son monastère, pour travailler efficacement à répandre l’Évangile dans ce royaume d’Angleterre.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1767/Saint-Aidan-de-Lindisfarne.html

St. Oswald bei Freistadt ( Upper Austria ). Saint Oswald parish church - Bronze portal (1989) showing scenes of the life of Saint Oswald of Northumbria, by Jakob Kopp: King Oswald making Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne bishop of Northumbria.

L'évêque Aedan est né en Irlande à la fin du 6ème siècle, et mourut en 651. Saint Aidan fut disciple de saint Senan (8 mars) sur l'Ile Scattery, mais on ne sait rien de plus de certain sur sa vie antérieure à son entrée comme moine à Iona. Il fut bien accueillit par le roi saint Oswald (9 août), qui avait vécut en exil parmi les moines Irlandais à Iona et y avait demandé des moines pour évangéliser son royaume. Le premier missionnaire, Corman, n'eut pas de succès à cause de la rudesse de ses méthodes; dès lors Aidan fut envoyé pour le remplacer. Oswald accorda l'île de Lindisfarne ("Ile sainte") à Aidan pour y fonder son siège épiscopal; son diocèse s'étendra du Forth jusqu'à l'Humber.

Par ses actions, il montra que jamais il ne chercha ni n'aima les biens de ce monde; les présents que le roi ou les riches lui offraient, il les donnait aux pauvres. Il vint rarement à la table royale, et jamais sans y emmener l'un ou l'autre de son clergé, et se hâtant toujours de quitter pour rejoindre ses tâches. Le centre de son activité était Lindisfarne, au large de la côte du Northumberland, entre Berwick et Bamburgh. Là, il établit un monastère sous la Règle de saint Columcille (Columba d'Iona); il n'était pas inapproprié de l'appeler l'Iona anglais, parce que de là, le paganisme fut progressivement éliminé en Northumbrie et les coutumes barbares sapées. La communauté n'était pas autorisée à accumuler des richesses; les surplus étaient utilisés pour les besoins des pauvres et le rachat avec affranchissement des esclaves (manumission). De Lindisfarne, Aidan voyagea à pied à travers le diocèse, visitant son troupeau et fondant des centres missionnaires.

L'apostolat d'Aidan fut facilité par des miracles innombrables, rapportés par saint Bede (25 mai) qui rédigea sa biographie. Il fut aussi aidé par le fait qu'Aidan prêcha en Irlandais et que le roi fit la traduction. Saint Aidan fit entrer 12 jeunes Anglais dans son monastère, pour les y élever, et il était infatigable pour s'occuper du bien-être des enfants et des esclaves, et pour l'affranchissement de ces derniers, il utilisa pour leur manumission nombre des aumônes qu'on lui accorda.

Le grand roi saint Oswald assista son évêque de toutes les manières possibles jusqu'à sa mort à la bataille contre le roi païen Penda en 642. Une belle histoire préservée par saint Bède nous rapporte qu'Oswald était attablé pour dîner un jour de Pâques, saint Aidan à ses côtés, quand on lui apprit qu'un grand groupe de pauvres demandait l'aumône à la porte. Prenant un plat en argent massif, il le chargea avec la viande de sa propre table et ordonna de la distribuer parmi les pauvres, puis qu'on brisa le plat d'argent et qu'on en partagea les morceaux entre les pauvres. Aidan, nous dit Bède, prit la main droite du roi, disant "Que jamais cette main ne périsse!" Sa bénédiction s'accomplit. Après la mort d'Oswald, son bras droit incorrompu fut conservé comme sainte relique.

Saint Oswin (20 août), le successeur de saint Oswald, soutint aussi l'apostolat d'Aidan. Et lorsqu'en 651, Oswin fut assassiné par Gilling, Aidan ne lui survécut que 11 jours. Il mourût au château royal de Bamburgh, qu'il utilisait comme centre missionnaire, gisant contre un mur de l'église où une tente avait été dressée pour l'abriter. Il fut d'abord enterré dans le cimetière de Lindisfarne, mais quand la nouvelle église Saint-Pierre fut achevée, on y transféra son corps. Les moines de Lindisfarne, fuyant les attaques répétées des Vikings, abandonnèrent leur sainte île en 875, emportant les reliques de saint Oswald et saint Aidan placées dans le cercueil contenant le corps incorrompu de saint Cuthbert. Durant 100 ans, les moines errèrent, s'installant de ci de là, et fondant des églises. En 995, craignant une nouvelle attaque des envahisseurs Danois, les moines s'enfuirent à nouveau avec leurs précieuses reliques. Selon la tradition, quand les moines approchèrent de la ville de Durham, le cercueil devint de plus en plus lourd, et un moine eut un songe dans lequel Cuthbert dit que son corps trouverait son repos final à "Dunholme". Aucun des moines ne connaissait un tel lieu mais, interrogeant les villageois, ils entendirent 2 femmes parler d'une vache perdue qui se serait égarée dans "le Dunholme". Les moines investiguèrent ce détail et découvrirent que c'était un promontoire boisé sur une boucle de la Rivière Wear, où de nos jours se trouve la cathédrale de Durham.

Les moines de Glastonbury affirmèrent que dès le 11ième siècle, ils possédaient les ossements de saint Aidan de Lindisfarne (Northumberland). Nous savons que ce n'était pas le corps entier, car il est reconnu que la moitié du corps se trouve à Iona en Écosse, et une partie du restant se trouve à la cathédrale de Durham. Saint dont le corps n'était pas entier et pourtant le plus ancien enregistré, il semble qu'Aidan est le seul saint "nordique" dont les reliques furent amenées au sud à Glastonbury par Tyccea, bien qu'apparemment pas sous la menace Viking.

Saint Bède loue hautement l'Irlandais Aidan qui fit tant pour porter l'Évangile à ses frères Anglo-Saxons. "Jamais il ne rechercha ni n'aima quoique ce soit de ce monde, mais fit ses délices à distribuer immédiatement aux pauvres quoique ce soit que rois ou riches du monde lui donnèrent. Il traversa villes et pays à pied, jamais à cheval, sauf si pressé par une urgente nécessité. Partout où il rencontrait quelqu'un, riche ou pauvre, il l'invitait, si païen, à embrasser le mystère de la Foi; ou s'il s'agissait d'un croyant, il cherchait à le renforcer dans leur Foi, exhortant par des paroles et actions pour les aumônes et bonnes oeuvres."

Il écrivit que saint Aidan "était un homme d'une gentillesse remarquable, bon et modéré, zélé pour Dieu; mais pas complètement selon la connaissance..." Par cela, Bède veut dire qu'Aidan suivait et enseignait la Liturgie et les coutumes disciplinaires des Chrétiens Celtes, qui différaient de ceux de la Chrétienté continentale romaine. Montague note qu'un des efforts de l'éducation anglo-saxonne dirigée par les moines Irlandais était que l'écriture anglaise se distinguait par son orthographe irlandaise. Aidan amena en Irlande la coutume du jeûne du mercredi et du vendredi (voir Didachè).

Dans l'art, on représente Saint Aidan en évêque avec en main le monastère de Lindisfarne et un cerf à ses pieds (parce que la tradition rapporte que sa prière rendit invisible un cerf poursuivit par des chasseurs). Il peut aussi être représenté

(1) tenant une torche allumée;

(2) donnant un cheval à un pauvre;

(3) calmant une tempête; ou

(4) éteignant un incendie par sa prière. Il est particulièrement vénéré à Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, et Whitby

SOURCE : http://stmaterne.blogspot.ca/2008/08/saint-aidan-de-lindisfarne-abb-vque-et.html


Saint Aidan, évêque de Lindisfarne (651)

Saint Aidan naquit en Irlande (alors appelée Ecosse) au septième siècle. Comme moine du monastère fondé par Saint Columba, sur l'île d'Iona, il était connu pour son ascétisme rigoureux. Lorsque le saint roi Oswald de Northumbrie voulut convertir son peuple au christianisme, il se tourna vers les moines celtes d'Iona, plutôt que vers le clergé romain de Cantorbéry. Saint Aidan fut consacré évêque et envoyé en Northumbrie pour prendre en charge la mission. Le roi Oswald lui donna comme siège épiscopal l'île de Lindisfarne près de la résidence royale de Bamburgh. Saint Aidan y fonda le célèbre monastère de Lindisfarne en 635.

Comme évêque, saint Aidan était réputé pour son humilité et sa piété, c'était un modèle à suivre pour les autres évêques et prêtres. Il n'était pas attaché aux choses de ce monde, il ne cherchait pas les trésors terrestres. Chaque fois qu'il recevait des cadeaux du roi ou des hommes riches, il les distribuait aux pauvres. Les mercredis et vendredis, il avait l'habitude de jeûner de tout aliment jusques à la neuvième heure, sauf pendant la saison pascale.

De Lindisfarne, saint Aidan voyagea partout en Northumbrie, visitant son troupeau, et établissant des missions. Oswald, qui connaissait le gaélique depuis le temps où lui et sa famille furent exilés à Iona, servit d'interprète pour l'évêque Aidan, qui ne parlait pas anglais. Ainsi, le roi joua un rôle actif dans la conversion de son peuple.

Un an, après avoir assisté aux offices de Pâques, le roi Oswald était attablé à un repas avec l'évêque Aidan. Au moment même où l'évêque était sur le point de bénir la nourriture, un serviteur entra et informa le roi qu'un grand nombre de gens dans le besoin étaient dehors et demandaient l'aumône. Le roi ordonna que sa propre nourriture soit servie aux pauvres sur des plateaux d'argent, et que les plats d'argent du service soient brisés et leur soient distribués.

Saint Oswald fut tué au combat en 642 dans sa trente-neuvième année. Saint Aidan fut profondément affligé par la mort du roi, mais son successeur le saint et pieux roi orthodoxe Oswin fut aussi très cher à son cœur. Saint Aidan prédit la mort du roi Oswin, disant que son peuple ne méritait pas un tel bon souverain. La prophétie ne tarda pas à être accomplie, car saint Oswin fut assassiné le 20 août 651.

Saint Aidan rejoignit le Seigneur le 31 août, moins de deux semaines plus tard. Il mourut à Bamburgh, près du mur ouest de l'église. La poutre sur laquelle il s'appuyait pour se soutenir, existe encore, malgré le fait que l'église ait été détruite par le feu à deux reprises. La poutre peut encore être vue au plafond de l'église actuelle, au-dessus des fonts baptismaux.

Dans un premier temps, le saint évêque Aidan fut enterré à Lindisfarne sur le côté droit de l'autel dans l'église de Saint-Pierre. Plus tard, les reliques du saint ont été transférées à Iona, le monastère où il avait d'abord embrassé la vie monastique.

Sa fête est au 31ème jour du mois d'août.

Version française Claude Lopez-Ginisty

d'après

http://www.oodegr.com/english/biographies/

arxaioi/Aidan_Lindisfarne.htm

Voir aussi:

http://allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Aidan.htm

SOURCE : https://orthodoxologie.blogspot.com/2010/05/saint-aidan-eveque-de-lindisfarne-651.html



St Aidan's parish church, Bamburgh, Northumberland, England

Saint Aidan of Lindesfarne


Also known as

Memorial

Profile

Monk at IonaScotlandStudied under Saint Senan at Inish Cathay. Bishop of ClogherIreland. Resigned the see to became a monk at Iona c.630Evangelizing bishop in NorthumbriaEngland at the behest of his friend the kingSaint Oswald of Northumbria. Once when pagans attacked Oswald‘s forces at Bambrough, they piled wood around the city walls to burn it; Saint Aidan prayed for help, and a change in wind blew the smoke and flames over the pagan army.

Aidan was known for his knowledge of the Bible, his eloquent preaching, his personal holiness, simple life, scholarship, and charity. Miracle worker. Trained Saint Boswell. Founded the Lindesfarne monastery that became not only a religious standard bearer, but a great storehouse of European literature and learning during the dark ages. Saint Bede is lavish in his praise of the episcopal rule of Aidan.

Born

Died

Canonized

Representation

  • calming a storm
  • extinguishing a fire
  • holding up a lighted torch
  • with a stag at his feet

Additional Information

Readings

O holy Bishop Aidan, Apostle of the North and light of the Celtic Church, glorious in humility, noble in poverty, zealous monk and loving missionary, intercede for us sinners that Christ our God may have mercy on our souls. – troparion of Saint Aidan

Thou didst teach and preserve Christ’s doctrine and didst spread the faith throughout Northumbria, O holy Hierarch Aidan. Unceasingly pray to God for us for thou dost worship before His throne for ever. – kontakion of Saint Aidan

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Aidan of Lindesfarne“. CatholicSaints.Info. 25 July 2020. Web. 9 January 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aidan-of-lindesfarne/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aidan-of-lindesfarne/


Andreas Meinrad von Au  (1712–1792). King Oswald of Northumbria translates the sermon of Aidan into the Anglo-Saxon language, 1778. Ceiling fresco in St. Oswald, Otterswang, Bad Schussenried, Germany:  


Aidan (Aedan) of Lindisfarne B (RM)

Born in Ireland; died 651. Saint Aidan is said to have been a disciple of Saint Senan on Scattery Island, but nothing else is known with certainty of his early life before he became a monk of Iona. He was well received by King Oswald, who had lived in exile among the Irish monks of Iona and had requested monks to evangelize his kingdom. The first missioner, Corman, was unsuccessful because of the roughness of his methods, so Aidan was sent to replace him. Oswald bestowed the isle of Lindisfarne (Holy Island) on Aidan for his episcopal seat and his diocese reached from the Forth to the Humber. By his actions he showed that he neither sought nor loved the things of this world; the presents which were given to him by the king or other rich men he distributed among the poor. He rarely attended the king at table, and never without taking with him one or two of his clergy, and always afterwards made haste to get away and back to his work.

The center of his activity was Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, between Berwick and Bamburgh. Here established a monastery under the Rule of Saint Columcille; it was not improperly been called the English Iona, for from it the paganism of Northumbria was gradually dispelled and barbarian customs undermined. The community was not allowed to accumulate wealth; surpluses were applied to the needs of the poor and the manumission of slaves.

From Lindisfarne Aidan made journeys on foot throughout the diocese, visiting his flock and establishing missionary centers. Aidan's apostolate was advanced by numerous miracles according to Saint Bede, who wrote his biography. It was also aided by the fact that Aidan preached in Irish and the king provided the translation. Saint Aidan took to this monastery 12 English boys to be raised there, and he was indefatigable in tending to the welfare of children and slaves, for the manumission of many of whom he paid from alms bestowed on him.

The great king Saint Oswald assisted his bishop in every possible way until his death in battle against the pagan King Penda in 642. Oswald's successor, Saint Oswin, also supported Aidan's apostolate and when in 651, Oswin was murdered in Gilling, Aidan survived him only 11 days. He died at the royal castle of Bamburgh, which he used as a missionary center, leaning against a wall of the church where a tent had been erected to shelter him. He was first buried in the cemetery of Lindisfarne, but when the new church of Saint Peter was finished, his body was translated into the sanctuary.

Saint Bede highly praises the Irish Aidan who did so much to bring the Gospel to his Anglo-Saxon brothers. He wrote that Saint Aidan "was a man of remarkable gentleness, goodness, and moderation, zealous for God; but not fully according to knowledge. . . . " By which Bede means that he followed and taught the liturgical and disciplinary customs of the Celtic Christians, which differed from those of Continental Christianity. Montague notes that one effort of Anglo-Saxon education being conducted by Irish monks was that English writing was distinguished by its Irish orthography. Aidan brought to Ireland the Roman custom of Wednesday and Friday fasts (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Montague, Walsh).

In art, Saint Aidan is portrayed as a bishop with the monastery of Lindisfarne in his hand and a stag at his feet (because of the legend that his prayer rendered invisible a deer pursued by hunters). He might also be portrayed (1) holding a light torch; (2) giving a horse to a poor man; (3) calming a storm; or (4) extinguishing a fire by his prayers (Roeder), He is especially venerated at Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, and Whitby (Roeder). 

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0831.shtml

Lindisfarne Priory ruins and St. Aidan statue


St. Aidan of Lindisfarne

An Irish monk who had studied under St. Senan, at Iniscathay (Scattery Island). He is placed as Bishop of Clogher by Ware and Lynch, but he resigned that see and became a monk at Iona about 630. His virtues, however, shone so resplendantly that he was selected (635) as first Bishop of Lindisfarne, and in time became apostle of Northumbria. St. Bede is lavish in praise of the episcopal rule of St. Aidan, and of his Irish co-workers in the ministry. Oswald, king of Northumbria, who had studied in Ireland, was a firm friend of St. Aidan, and did all he could for the Irish missioners until his sad death at Maserfield near Oswestry, 5 August, 642. St. Aidan died at Bamborough on the last day of August, 651, and his remains were borne to Lindisfarne. Bede tells us that "he was a pontiff inspired with a passionate love of virtue, but at the same time full of a surpassing mildness and gentleness." His feast is celebrated 31 August.

Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Aidan of Lindisfarne." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 31 Aug. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01233d.htm>.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.


Statue of St Aidan, Lindisfarne Priory



St. Aidan, or Ædan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Confessor

WHEN the holy king Oswald 1 desired the bishops of Scotland to send him a person honoured with the episcopal character to preach the faith to his Anglo-Saxon pagan subjects, and plant the church among them, the first person who came was of a rough austere temper, and therefore could do little good, and being soon forced to return home again, he laid the fault on the rude indocile dispositions of the English. Hereupon the Scottish clergy called a synod to deliberate what was best to be done. Aidan, who was present, told the prelate, on his blaming the obstinacy of the English, that the fault lay rather in him, who had been too harsh and severe to an ignorant people, who ought first to be fed with the milk of milder doctrine, till they should be able to digest more solid food. At this discourse the whole assembly turned their eyes upon him, as one endued with prudence, the mother of other virtues; and he was appointed to the great and arduous mission.

Aidan was a native of Ireland, (then called Scotland,) and a monk of Hij, the great monastery which his countryman, St. Columba, had founded, and to which the six neighbouring islands were given, as Buchanan mentions. He was most graciously received by king Oswald, who bestowed on him for his episcopal seat the isle of Lindisfarne. 2 Of his humility and piety Bede gives an edifying account, and proposes him as an excellent pattern for succeeding bishops and clergymen to follow. He obliged all those who travelled with him, to bestow their time either in reading the scriptures, or in learning the psalms by heart. By his actions he showed that he neither sought nor loved the good things of this world; the presents which were made him by the king, or by other rich men, he distributed among the poor, or expended in redeeming captives. He rarely would go to the king’s table, and never without taking with him one or two of his clergy, and always after a short repast made haste away to read or pray in the church, or in his cell. From his example even the laity took the custom of fasting till none, that is, till three in the afternoon, on all Wednesdays and Fridays, except during the fifty days of the Easter time. Our venerable historian admires his apostolic liberty in reproving the proud and the great, his love of peace, charity, continence, humility, and all other virtues, which he not only practised himself, but, by his spirit and example, communicated to a rough and barbarous nation, which he imbued with the meekness of the cross. 3 Aidan fixed his see at Lindisfarne, and founded a monastery there in the year of our Lord 635, the hundred and eighty-eighth after the coming of the English Saxons into Britain, the thirty-ninth after the arrival of St. Augustine, and the second of the reign of king Oswald. From this monastery all the churches of Bernicia, or the northern part of the kingdom of the Northumbers from the Tine to the Firth of Edinburgh, had their beginning; as had some also of those of the Deïri, who inhabited the southern part of the same kingdom from the Tine to the Humber. The see of York had been vacant thirty years, ever since St. Paulinus had left it; so that St. Aidan governed all the churches of the Northumbers for seventeen years, till his happy death, which happened on the 31st of August in 651, in the royal villa Bebbord. He was first buried in the cemetery in Lindisfarne; but when the new church of St. Peter was built there, his body was translated into it, and deposited on the right hand of the altar. Colman when he returned into Scotland, carried with him part of his bones to St. Columb’s or Hij. 4 He is named on this day in the Roman Martyrology. See Bede: Leland Collect. t. 1. p. 512. alias 366.

Note 1. See his life on the 5th of August. [back]

Note 2. Lindisfarne, so called from the river Lindis, is eight miles in circumference; it is only an island at high water, and remains a peninsula when the tide leaves the strand dry. From the great number of saints who lived and lie buried there, it was called by our ancestors holy island. [back]

Note 3. Bede relates many miracles and prophecies of St. Aidan, (l. 3, c. 15,) and gives the following portrait of the clergy and people of this nation soon after their conversion to the faith: “Wherever a clergyman or monk came, he was received by all with joy as a servant of God; and when any one was travelling on his way, they would run up to him, and, bowing down, would be glad to be signed by his hand, or blessed by his prayer. They gave diligent attention to the words of exhortation which they heard from him, and on Sundays flocked with great eagerness to the churches or monasteries to hear the word of God. If any priest happened to come into a village, the inhabitants presently gathering together were solicitous to hear from him the words of life; nor did the priests or other ecclesiastics frequent the villages on any other account but to preach, visit the sick, and take care of souls; and so free were they from any degree of the bane of avarice, that no one would receive lands or possessions for building monasteries, unless compelled to it by the secular power.” (Hist. l. 3, c. 26.) [back]

Note 4. The discipline of the Scottish monks, and of Lindisfarne, was derived from the oriental monastic rules, and very austere. Roger Hoveden, Simeon of Durham, and Leland in his Collectanea, (t. 2, p. 158, alias 171,) tell us that the monks of Lindisfarne used no other drink than milk and water till wine and beer were allowed them, from the rules of the western monks in 762, when Ceolwulph, king of the Northumbers, in the ninth year of his reign, resigned his kingdom to his nephew, and became a monk at Lindisfarne. He was buried at Ubba, and his body afterwards translated to the church of Northam, where it is said to have been honoured with miracles. He is mentioned in the English Martyrologies on the 28th of October. Finan, the second bishop of Lindisfarne, built a new church there of hewn oak, which he covered with reeds; it was consecrated by St. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury; Eadbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, afterwards covered it all over with lead. Finan died and was buried at Lindisfarne, having held that see ten years. Colman succeeded him, and in the synod at Strenesbault refusing to receive the Roman custom of celebrating Easter, which St. Wilfrid maintained, having been bishop three years, returned into Scotland. Colman retired with many English and Scottish monks that followed, from the western islands of Scotland into the west of Ireland, where he built a monastery for them in an island called, in the Scottish or Irish language, Inisbofin, i. e., the island of the white calf. Tuda, a southern Scottish monk, succeeded him, but died of the plague in a year. Eata, one of the twelve English youths whom St. Aidan educated, was chosen to succeed him first as abbot, afterwards also in the bishopric. Having governed this see fourteen years, he was removed to Hexham, and St. Cuthbert chosen bishop of Lindisfarne. Eadbert succeeded him in 687, and died in 698. Eadfrid, then Ethelworth, and eight other bishops held this see, till the monastery and church being burned down by the Danes, bishop Eardulf translated this see to Cunecester or Chester upon the Street; and, in 995, Aldhun, the eighth from him, removed this see from Chester to Durham. This prelate, with the assistance of the Earl of Northumberland, and the people of the country, cut down a great wood which surrounded the spot which he chose for the church, and built a large city and stately church, into which he, three years after, translated the uncorrupted body of St. Cuthbert, in the three hundred and thirty-ninth year after his death, and the three hundred and sixty-first from the foundation of the see of Lindisfarne by St. Aidan, as Leland relates. (In Collectan. t. 1, p. 528, ex Hist. aur. Joan Eborac.) The see of York having been restored in St. Cedde, St. Wilfrid, and their successors; a bishopric being also erected at Hexham under Eata, Bosa, and St. John of Beverley, and their successors, till this church and city being laid waste by the Danes about the year 800, the see of Hexham became extinct in Panbricht, the last bishop who governed this see, though some give him a successor named Tidfrid, (Lel. Collect. t. 2, p. 159, alias 174,) and the see of Carlisle in 1133, in the person of Athelwold, and lastly that of Chester in 1542, the thirty-third of Henry VIII. the bishopric of Lindisfarne is long since parcelled out into many. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.



St Aidan's Church, Roundhay Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Calendar of Scottish Saints – Saint Aidan, Bishop


Article

A.D. 651. This saint was a native of Ireland, where, after some years of monastic life at Inniscattery in the Shannon, he was consecrated bishop. Later on he entered the monastery of Iona. He became the first bishop of Lindisfarne, and the helper of Saint Oswald in the conversion of Northumbria. His life was one of great poverty and detachment, and his example had a wonderful effect on his flock. He used to travel about his diocese on foot, accompanied by his clergy, spending the time occupied by the journey in prayer and holy reading. His alms were abundant, and his manner to all with whom he came in contact kind and fatherly. His miracles, even during life, were many and striking.

Saint Aidan was the founder of Old Melrose, which stood a short distance from the site of the more modern Cistercian Abbey whose ruins are familiar to travellers. He also assisted the Abbess, Saint Ebba, in the foundation of the celebrated monastery of Coldingham, which consisted of two distinct communities of men and women.

After ruling his see for seventeen years, he died at Bamborough in a tent which he had caused to be erected by the wall of the church. Saint Cuthbert, then a youthful shepherd, as he kept his flock on the hills, had a vision of the soul of Saint Aidan being borne by angels to Heaven. It was this vision which determined him to seek admission to Melrose. Many churches bear Saint Aidan’s name. Among them are those of Cambusnethan in Lanarkshire and Menmuir in Angus. At the latter place is the saint’s holy well, which was renowned for the cure of asthma and other complaints. Another holy well called after Saint Aidan is to be found at Fearn in Angus. The ancient church of Kenmore, Perthshire, was known as Inchadin. Keltney Burn in the same neighbourhood, is called in Gaelic “Saint Aidan’s Stream.”

MLA Citation

  • Father Michael Barrett, OSB. “Saint Aidan, Bishop”. The Calendar of Scottish Saints, 1919CatholicSaints.Info. 12 August 2017. Web. 9 January 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/calendar-of-scottish-saints-saint-aidan-bishop/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/calendar-of-scottish-saints-saint-aidan-bishop/



Dictionary of National Biography – Aidan


Article

Aidan, Saint (died 651), was the first bishop of Lindisfarne. Oswald, who became king of Northumbria in 635, had been converted to Christianity during his exile at the monastery of Hii or Iona. His first duty as king was to repulse the heathen Welsh. His success enabled him to persuade his people to accept the christian faith. He summoned missionaries from the monastery of Hii, which had been founded by the Irish monk Columba. The monks of Hii sent a bishop of austere temper, who was soon dispirited by the obstinacy of the Northumbrian people. He returned to Hii and reported his ill success. The monks sat in silence, which was broken by one of the brethren, Aidan. ‘Were you not too severe,’ he said, ‘to unlearned hearers? Did you not feed them with meat instead of milk?’ All agreed that Aidan should be sent to Northumbria as bishop. He set out at the end of 635.

Aidan was the founder of the Northumbrian church. He was the fast friend of King Oswald, who acted as his interpreter when he began to preach at the court, and the thegns heard him gladly. Faithful to the traditions of his youth, Aidan chose as the seat of his church the island of Lindisfarne, which in some measure reproduced the features of Iona. It lies off the Northumbrian coast, to which it is joined at low tide by an expanse of two miles of wet sands; at high tide it becomes an island. As it was close to the royal vill of Bamborough, Aidan could vary a monastic life with missionary journeys to the mainland, and frequent intercourse with the king. Monks from Iona flocked to Lindisfarne, and thence carried monastic civilisation along the Tweed, where Boisil founded the monastery of Old Melrose. The zeal of Oswald and the piety of Aidan went hand in hand. Churches were built, and the Northumbrian folk flocked to hear the new teachers. The personal characters of Oswald and Aidan were the chief means of commending Christianity to the people. Aidan taught no otherwise than he lived, and impressed his own standard upon his followers. The gifts which he received from the king and his thegns were at once distributed amongst the poor. He had no care for worldly pleasures, but spent his time in study and in preaching. His life was simple: he traversed the country on foot, and preached to every one whom he met. His friendship with King Oswald continued unbroken. One Easter day Aidan sat at dinner with Oswald, when the royal almoner came in to say that he had not enough to satisfy all the needy. Oswald ordered the food to be taken from his own table, and his silver dish to be broken in pieces and distributed. Aidan seized the outstretched hand of the king and blessed him, saying, ‘May this hand never perish!’ When Oswald fell in battle against the heathen Penda in 642, his right hand and arm were found severed from his body, and men said that through Aidan’s blessing they remained uncorrupted, and were a relic of the church of York.

Oswald’s defeat by the heathen king of Mercia threatened to sweep away Northumbrian Christianity. Deira, under Oswini, submitted to Penda; but Bernicia under Oswiu, Oswald’s brother, still made resistance. Penda ravaged the land and laid siege to the rocky fortress of Bamborough. Finding it impregnable by assault, he gathered all the wood and straw of the neighbourhood to the foot of the rock, and, waiting for a favourable wind, fired it. The sparks would easily have set on fire the wattled houses of the little town. Aidan, from his retirement in a hermitage on the isle of Farne, just opposite Bamborough, saw the cloud of smoke arise. ‘See, Lord,’ he cried in an agony of prayer, ‘what evil Penda is doing.’ His prayer was heard. The wind changed, and the smoke and flames were blown back on the besiegers. Their plan failed, and Bamborough was saved.

In these years of trouble in Bernicia, Aidan found more scope for his missionary activity in the Deiran kingdom, where he exercised over King Oswini the same spell as had charmed Oswald. Oswini gave Aidan a valuable horse to aid him in his journeys. Soon afterwards Aidan met a poor man who asked for alms; having nothing else to give him, he gave him the horse. Oswini, when next they met, gently chid him for his unthinking charity. ‘Is the foal of a mare,’ said Aidan, ‘more valuable in your eyes than the Son of God?’ Oswini stood by the fire and reflected; presently he fell at Aidan’s feet and asked pardon for his thoughtless speech. Aidan raised him, but sat in deep sorrow. When asked the cause, he answered, ‘I grieve because I know that so humble a king is too good to live long.’ Aidan’s prediction was soon verified. Oswiu had regained the Bernician kingdom, and longed to unite again under himself the dominions of Oswald. He marched against Oswini, who was murdered by a treacherous thegn. Aidan’s heart was broken when he heard of his friend’s death. He only survived him twelve days, and died on 31 August 651. When he felt that death was approaching, he had a hut built against the west wall of the church of Bamborough. There he died, leaning against a post which had been erected to buttress the wooden wall. On the night on which he died, a shepherd lad, Cuthbert, as he watched his sheep on the Lammermoor hills, saw stars falling from the sky. When he heard the news of Aidan’s death, he recognised them as angels bearing heavenward Aidan’s soul. Moved by the marvel, he entered Boisil’s monastery of Melrose.

The body of Aidan was buried at Lindisfarne, and was afterwards translated to the right side of the high altar. When, after the synod of Whitby in 664, the Columban Church was defeated by the Church of Rome, Bishop Colman departed to Iona. He carried with him part of the bones of Aidan, and left only a portion for the ungrateful land which had forsaken Aidan’s ritual.

MLA Citation

  • Mandell Creighton. “Aidan”. Dictionary of National Biography1885CatholicSaints.Info. 6 April 2019. Web. 9 January 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/dictionary-of-national-biography-aidan/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/dictionary-of-national-biography-aidan/


Saint Aidan's Church and Rectory, 207 Freeman and 158 Pleasant Sts. Brookline, Massachusetts


Sant' Aidano di Lindisfarne Vescovo

31 agosto

Irlanda ? – Bambourgh, Inghilterra, 31 agosto 651

Di Aidano ci è giunta una descrizione a opera del monaco anglosassone Beda il Venerabile, che nacque 20 anni dopo la sua morte. È sconosciuto il luogo e la data di nascita di Aidano, ma si crede che fosse irlandese. Nel 635 fu nel monastero di Iona nell'omonima isola e centro missionario dell'epoca. In quell'anno il re di Northumbria, Oswald desideroso di diffondere il cristianesimo nel suo regno, si rivolse all'abate di Iona, dove era stato convertito e battezzato, affinché mandasse un missionario. Dopo il fallimento del vescovo Cormano, fu mandato lo stesso Aidano, che intanto era stato consacrato vescovo missionario. Accolto dal re Oswald gli concesse l'isola di Lindsfarne nel Mare del Nord per fondarvi un monastero e una sede episcopale. Aidano ebbe un aiuto costante da parte del re Oswald e quando questi morì nel 642, il successore Oswin, continuò ad appoggiarlo nella sua opera di apostolato missionario. Undici giorni dopo la morte del re Oswin assassinato, anche Aidano morì a Bambourgh il 31 agosto 651 e sepolto nel suo monastero. (Avvenire)

Etimologia: Aidano = splendido capo, dall'antico normanno

Emblema: Bastone pastorale

Martirologio Romano: A Lindisfarne nella Northumbria, in Inghilterra, sant’Aidano, vescovo e abate, che, uomo di somma mansuetudine, pietà e rettitudine di governo, dal monastero di Iona fu chiamato dal re sant’Osvaldo a questa sede episcopale, dove fondò un monastero per attendere efficacemente all’evangelizzazione del regno.

Di s. Aidano ci ha lasciato una sua memorabile descrizione, il monaco anglosassone s. Beda il Venerabile (672-735), Dottore della Chiesa, nella sua “Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum”, e che nacque 20 anni dopo la sua morte, quindi abbastanza vicino al suo tempo.

È sconosciuto il luogo e la data di nascita di Aidano, ma ragionevolmente si crede che sia irlandese; lo si ritrova nel 635 nel monastero di Iona, fondato nel 563 da s. Colombano nell’omonima isola e centro missionario dell’epoca, al tempo del quinto abate Seghino.

In quell’anno 635, il re di Northumbria, Osvaldo (604-642) desideroso di diffondere il cristianesimo nel suo regno, si rivolse all’abate di Iona, dove era stato convertito e battezzato, affinché mandasse un missionario.

Fu inviato prima il vescovo Cormano, il quale fallì perché considerò il popolo di Northumbria barbaro ed ostinato; Aidano monaco anch’egli ad Iona, non fu d’accordo con Cormano, ritenendo che il suo agire era stato troppo rigido e non comprensivo dell’ignoranza di quelle genti, alle quali bisognava far conoscere “il latte di una dottrina più umana”.

La tesi di Aidano fu accettata dall’abate e così consacrato vescovo missionario, sempre nel 635 fu mandato in Inghilterra, accolto favorevolmente dal re Oswald, il quale visto i successi desiderati in conversioni, gli concesse l’isola di Lindsfarne nel Mare del Nord per fondarvi un monastero con la regola di s. Colomba e una sede episcopale di fronte alla residenza reale di Bambourgh.

L’isola di Lindsfarne, fu poi conosciuta come l’Isola Santa (Holy Island) per il gran numero di monaci e cristiani che l’abitavano. Nel 664 fu riconosciuta la sua primazia sull’Inghilterra cristiana. Aidano ebbe un aiuto costante da parte del re Oswald e quando questi morì nel 642, il successore Oswin, continuò ad appoggiarlo nella sua opera di apostolato missionario.

Beda descrive la sua opera infaticabile, che lo portò a fondare chiese, scuole, monasteri, rafforzando lo ‘sciptorium’ di Lindsfarne, anche se Aidano mantenne gli usi celtici per la celebrazione della Pasqua, introducendoli in Inghilterra.

Uomo virtuoso, dedito all’astinenza, alla carità, alla preghiera e allo studio delle Scritture, seppe nel contempo combattere con vigore i ricchi ed i potenti, che viziosi opprimevano i poveri.

Viaggiava sempre a piedi, evitava di sedersi alla tavola del re, distribuiva ai poveri i doni ricevuti, accontentandosi dello stretto necessario. Si guadagnò per la santità di vita, la stima dei grandi ecclesiastici del tempo; fu direttore spirituale della badessa Ilda.

Undici giorni dopo la morte del re Oswin assassinato, anche Aidano morì a Bambourgh il 31 agosto 651 e sepolto nel suo monastero, ma poi le sue reliquie furono traslate nella chiesa di S. Pietro a Lindsfarne; una parte di esse nel 664, furono portate a Iona, dal suo successore Colmano.

Gli studiosi inglesi lo considerano “l’apostolo dell’Anglia”; a lui è attribuita la vocazione di s. Cutberto (637-687), il quale divenne monaco e poi vescovo di Lindsfarne.

Si raccontano alcuni prodigi da lui compiuti; placò una tempesta versando nel mare dell’olio consacrato e durante una guerra tra il re della Mercia e quello della Northumbria, con le sue preghiere, ritorse addosso ai nemici le fiamme che questi avevano appiccato a Bambourgh.

Venerato particolarmente nell’Argyll e in Scozia, la sua festa è al 31 agosto.

Autore: Antonio Borrelli

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/68275



St Aidan's Anglican church at Berrigan, New South Wales, Australia