Bède le Vénérable, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Histoire ecclésiastique du peuple anglais). Beda Petersburgiensis, fol. 3v, 746
Saint Ceolwulf
Roi de Northumbrie puis moine (✝ v. 765)
Ceolwulph ou Ceolulph
Homme instruit et pieux, roi de Northumbrie de 729 à 737 (à part une courte période entre 731 et 732 où il fut déposé puis reinstallé), peu enclin à l'autorité nécessaire, il abdiqua en 738 et rejoignit le monastère de Lindisfarne. Saint Bède dédia son 'Histoire de l'Eglise' à Ceolwulf le 'roi le plus glorieux'
SOURCE : HTTP://NOMINIS.CEF.FR/CONTENUS/SAINT/10649/SAINT-CEOLWULF.HTML
Ceolwulf, OSB, King, Monk (AC)
(also known as Ceowulf, Ceolwulph)
Died 764 (or perhaps a few years earlier). King Ceolwulf of Northumbria,
England, abdicated his throne after reigning for eight years to become a monk
at Lindisfarne. Or so some sources would have you believe. Apparently the story
is deeper, Ceolwulf ascended the throne of Northumbria in 729 and just two
years later he was captured and forcibly tonsured. Later that year he was
released and continued his rule.
Somehow God was working
even in the evil of civil unrest. In 737 or 738, Ceolwulf did indeed willingly
give up civil power in exchange for the grace of the evangelical counsels at
Lindisfarne. He was so highly venerated that the Venerable Bede dedicated his
Ecclesiastical History to "the Most Glorious King Ceolwulf." Bede
praised Ceolwulf's piety but was reserved regarding the king's ability to
govern.
At Lindisfarne, which he
endowed so generously that the monks could then afford to drink beer or wine
(formerly, like many ascetics, they drank only water or milk), Ceolwulf
encouraged learning and the monastic lifestyle. Ceolwulf was buried near Saint
Cuthbert at the monastery, where miracles were believed to prove his sanctity.
The relics of both saints were translated in 830 to Egred's new church at
Norham-on- Tweed. Later Ceolwulf's head was transferred to Durham
(Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Gill).
Ceolwulf
King of Northumbria
and monk of Lindisfarne, date and place of birth not known;
died at Lindisfarne, 764. His ancestry is thus given by
the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle": "Ceolwulf was the son of Cutha,
Cutha of Cuthwin,
Cuthwin of Leoldwald,
Leoldwald of Egwald,
Egwald of Aldhelm,
Aldhelm of Ocga,
Ocga of Ida, Ida of Eoppa."
Harpsfeld says that he succeeded Osred
on the throne, but most authorities
say that he was adopted as heir
by Osric in 729. Learned and pious, he lacked the vigour and authority necessary for a ruler. Bede bears witness
to his learning and piety in the introductory chapter
of his "Ecclesiastical History". He dedicated
this work "to the most glorious
King Ceolwulph", sent it to him for his approval, and addresses him thus:
"I cannot but commend the sincerity and zeal, with which you not only give ear to hear the
words of Holy Scripture, but also industriously take care
to become acquainted with the actions
and sayings of former men of
renown."
His unfitness for
his duties as king prompted his subjects to seize him and
confine him in a monastery in the second year of his reign. He
escaped from this confinement and reascended
the throne. During his reign he
appointed his cousin Egbert to
be Bishop of York, and Bede tells us that the ecclesiastical affairs of his kingdom
were presided over by the four bishops, Wilfrid,
Ethelwald, Acca, and Pecthelm.
After a reign of eight years he wearied of "the splendid cares of
royalty", and voluntarily resigned to become a monk at Lindisfarne (738). His cousin Eadbert succeeded him.
Ranulphus Cestrensis speaks of his retirement to St. Bede's monastery of Jarrow, but all others agree
that it was Lindisfarne. He brought to the monastery many treasures and much land, and after his
entrance the monks were first allowed to drink wine
and beer, contrary to the tradition
handed down from St. Aidan, who only allowed them milk or
water. Henry of Huntingdon, when entering into detail with
regard to his retirement, says he was principally urged to it by reading the
writings of Bede on the lives of former kings who
had resigned their thrones to
enter the monastic state. He was buried in the cathedral of Lindisfarne next to the tomb of St. Cuthbert, and, according to Malmesbury,
many miracles were wrought at his tomb. The body was afterwards transferred to the
mainland of Northumberland, probably along with St. Cuthbert's, in order to preserve it from desecration at the time of the Danish invasion. His feast day in the calendar
is the 15th of January.
Sources
BEDE, Eccles. History (ed. (GILES), I, 334, 335, 340; Acta
SS., Jan. 25,I; LINGARD, Hist. of England (London, 1854), I, 71, 72;
DIXON AND RAINE'S Fasti Eborac., 94; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ed. GILES), index; RAINE, Hist. of
North Durham, 68.
Hind, George. "Ceolwulf." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 Jan. 2017
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03537a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
St. Ceolwulf
King of Northumbria
(c.AD 695-764)
Born: circa AD 695
Died: 15th Janury AD 764 at Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland
Ceolwulf was of the race of King Ida the Burner
of Bernicia; but of a younger branch of the family to the mighty house of
Aethelric which was in the ascendant at the time of his birth, around AD 695.
The House of Ocga only came to the fore when Ceolwulf's brother, Coenred,
seized the Northumbrian throne in AD 716. He ruled for only two years, but
Celowulf must have enjoyed the short-lived influence which it brought him.
King Osric, the last of the House of Aethelric,
then took the Northumbrian crown and ruled for more than ten years. In AD 729,
he nominated Ceolwulf as his successor and died shortly afterward. Ceolwulf was
a man with deep monastic interests, perhaps little suited to affairs of state.
Bede looked to him as his patron and dedicated his "History of the English
Church" to him in AD 731. Ceolwulf, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to
struggle against the disorder and decay of his country; but that same year, he
was ambushed, made captive by, now unknown, enemies and shut up in a monastery.
He did still, however, have supporters throughout the country and they were,
fortunately, able to secure his escape and subsequent restoration to the
throne. Bishop Acca of Hexham was expelled from his See shortly after these
events and it seems likely he was a major opponent of Ceolwulf's regime.
Ceolwulf reigned justly on for some eight years,
before regrets and an unconquerable desire for that mon-astic life compelled
him to abandon his lofty position. He made the best provisions possible for the
security of his country and for a good understanding between the spiritual and
temporal authorities, nominating, as his successor, his worthy cousin, Prince
Edbert. Then, giving up the cares of powers, he resigned. He cut his long
beard, had his head shaved in the form of a crown and retired to bury himself
anew on the holy island of Lindisfarne, in the monastery beaten by the winds
and waves of the North Sea. There, he passed the last twenty or so years of his
life in study and happiness. He had, while King, enriched this monastery with
many great gifts, and obtained permission for the use of wine and beer for the
monks, who, up to that time, according to the rigid rule of ancient Celtic
discipline, had been allowed no beverage but water and milk.
He died on 15th January AD 764 and was buried next
to St. Cuthbert in Lindisfarne Priory. Miracles attested his sanctity and his
holy body followed St. Cuthbert's to the newly built church at
Norham-upon-Tweed, in AD 830. Here he remained, a major pilgrimage attraction
until the Reformation, though his head was translated to Durham Cathedral.
Partly Edited from S.
Baring-Gould's "The Lives of the Saints" (1877).
San Ceolwulf
Re di Northumbria
† Lindisfarne, Inghilterra, 760/764
Osric,
figlio di Cuthe, re di Northumbria, alla sua morte designò a succedergli il
fratello Ceolwulf che, probabilmente, durante il suo regno aveva vissuto in un
monastero senza tentare di insidiargli il trono. Il nuovo re favorì lo sviluppo
della Chiesa, scegliendo buoni prelati per le nuove diocesi e dando egli
stesso esempio di vita cristianamente fervorosa. Simeone di Durham fissa al
729 la data della sua incoronazione che, invece, dal Saxon Chronicle è posta
al 731 : in quest'anno, però, secondo il continuatore di Beda, si ebbe
un'insurrezione e il re, deposto, fu costretto a subire la tonsura. Liberato,
Ceolwulf dopo qualche tempo abdicò spontaneamente e si fece monaco a
Lindisfarne (737), dove morì pieno di meriti nel 760 (secondo Fiorenzo di
Worchester) o nel 764 (secondo Simeone di Durham). Il suo corpo dopo qualche
tempo fu traslato a Norham a cura del vescovo Ecgred, a eccezione del cranio
che fu portato a Durham nella chiesa di S. Cutberto; la sua festa si celebra il
15 genn.
A quanto sembra, Ceolwulf ebbe una buona cultura scritturistica : è a lui
(gloriosissimo regi Ceoluulfo) che Beda dedicò la sua Historia Ecclesiastica,
ritenendo che la storia dovesse essere maestra di vita, specie per un re.
Autore: Giovanni
Battista Proja
