(A.D. 672.)
[Roman, Anglican, Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies. Authorities:--A
life is given by Bede, lib. 3, cap. 23, 24, 28; Lib. 4, cap. 2,
3, also in a MS. printed in the Monasticon, and a Metrical Life
attributed to Robert of Gloucester.]
S. Chad or Ceadda was, perhaps, the youngest of the four brothers,
Cedd, Cynebil, and Celin, all of whom were eminent priests. Our saint
has sometimes been confounded with his brother Cedd, bishop among the
East Saxons, whose life was related on January 7th. We know neither the
date nor the place of his birth. It is certain he was an Angle, and
a native of Northumbria, and that he flourished in the 7th century,
though Dempster wishes to claim him as a Scottish, and Colgan as an
Irish, saint. The date 620 A.D. has been suggested as the probable time
of Chad's birth.
Bede tells us that S. Chad was a pupil of Aidan. That bishop required
the young men who studied with him to spend much time in reading Holy
Writ, and to learn by heart large portions of the Psalter, which they
would require in their devotions.
At the death of Aidan, in 651, he went to Ireland, which was then full
of men of learning and piety. The ravages of the Teutonic hordes on
the continent had driven thither many illustrious foreigners. Then
Ireland was fulfilling the mission ascribed to the Celtic race, that of
supplying the link between Latin and Teutonic civilization. S. Chad,
while in Ireland, made the acquaintance of Egbert, who was afterwards
abbot of Iona.
Cedd had, at the request of Ethelwald, King of Deira, established a
monastery at Lastingham, in Yorkshire. It stood just on the edge of
that wide expanse of moorland which extends thirty miles inland from
the coast.
Bishop Cedd returned thither from his diocese of London many years
after, at a time when a plague was raging. He caught it, and whilst
lying on his death-bed, bequeathed the care of the monastery to his
brother, Chad, who was still in Ireland.
S. Chad, on his return, ruled the monastery with great care and
prudence, and received all who sought his hospitality with kindness
and humility. One day a stranger arrived at the gate, praying to be
received into the brotherhood. This was Owini, lately steward of Queen
Ethelreda. Tradition relates that as he pursued his toilsome journey
from the fens which surrounded the abbey of Ethelreda into Yorkshire,
the pilgrim erected crosses by the roadside to guide any burdened souls
who might hereafter seek the same haven of rest. While quietly keeping
the strict rule of S. Columba at Lastingham, our saint was summoned to
the episcopate by King Oswy, of Northumbria.
But we must go back a little in our history. When the decision of the
council or parliament, held at Whitby, in 664, was adverse to the
Keltic rite, Cedd renounced the customs of Lindisfarne, but Colman,
bishop of Lindisfarne, obstinately holding to them, withdrew from
Northumbria into Scotland with all those who were willing to follow
him. Tuda succeeded him in the pontificate of Northumbria, but died
soon after.
[Illustration: S. CHAD.
March 2.]
"In the meanwhile," says Bede, "King Alchfrid (of Deira) sent Wilfrid
the priest to the king of the Gauls, to have him consecrated bishop for
himself and his subjects. Now he sent him to be ordained to Agilbert,
of whom we said above that he left Britain, and was made bishop of
the city of Paris. Wilfrid was consecrated, A.D. 665, by him with
great pomp; many bishops coming together for that purpose in a village
belonging to the king (Clothair III. of Neustria) called Compiegne.
While he was still making some stay abroad, after his ordination,
king Oswy, following the example of his son, sent to Kent a holy man
of modest character, sufficiently well read in the Scriptures, and
diligently carrying out into practice what he had learnt from the
Scriptures, to be ordained bishop of the Church at York. Now this was
a priest named Ceadda (Chad), brother of the most reverend prelate
Cedd, of whom we have made frequent mention, and abbot of the monastery
called Lastingham. The king also sent with him his own priest, Eadhed
by name, who was afterwards, in the reign of Egfrid, made bishop of
the Church of Ripon. But when they arrived in Kent, they found that
Archbishop Deusdedit had departed this life, and that no other prelate
was as yet appointed in his place. Whereupon they turned aside to the
province of the West Saxons, where Wini was bishop, and by him the
above-mentioned person was consecrated bishop; two bishops of the
British nation, who kept Easter Sunday according to canonical custom
from the 14th to the 20th day of the moon, being associated with him;
for at that time there was no other bishop in all Britain canonically
ordained, except Wini.
"Chad then, being consecrated a bishop, began at once to devote
himself to ecclesiastical truth and to chastity; to apply himself to
the practice of humility, continence, and study; to travel about, not
on horseback, but after the manner of the apostles, on foot, to preach
the gospel in the towns, the open country, cottages, villages, and
castles; for he was one of the disciples of Aidan, and endeavoured to
instruct his hearers by the same actions and behaviour, according to
his master's example and that of his own brother Cedd. Wilfrid also,
who had already been made a bishop, coming into Britain, A.D. 666,
in like manner by his doctrine brought into the English Church many
rules of Catholic observance. Whence it came to pass that the Catholic
institutions daily gained strength, and all the Scots that dwelt in
England either conformed to these or returned into their own country."
This is Bede's account of the consecration of Wilfrid and Chad. At that
time the diocese of York comprised the whole of Northumbria, including
the south of Scotland. Under Oswald the see of Lindisfarne--the Iona
of the Anglo-Saxons--was founded, containing within its jurisdiction
the kingdom of Bernicia, until the establishment by Theodore of
another see at Hexham. The writer of Wilfrid's life tells us that he
objected to being consecrated by the English bishops, inasmuch as they
were converts to the Scottish calculation regarding the celebration
of Easter, or had received consecration from those who were of that
opinion. Though Wini, who had been consecrated in Gaul, cannot be
placed in either of these classes, yet Wilfrid knew he would summon
to assist him two bishops who belonged to one of them; hence his
preference for Gaul. Wilfrid's delay in Gaul, perhaps, excited the
King's suspicions that he, like his friend Agilbert, was seeking a
mitre there; or it may be that the king, influenced by the Scottish
party (who could not forgive Wilfrid for the victory he gained over
them at Whitby), consented to the election of Chad to the see.
Chad has been severely censured for accepting the bishopric under these
circumstances. It may be, however, that he, stirred by sorrow at seeing
the diocese left without a head, and doubting too, perhaps, whether
Wilfrid would return, adopted this course, which may be condemned as
uncanonical.
S. Chad is commemorated in some Breviaries as an archbishop. But he was
only a bishop, for that dignity had fallen into abeyance from the time
that Paulinus fled into Kent. But though no suffragans acknowledged
Chad as their superior, he had ample scope for the most abundant
energy. We have given above Bede's account of his untiring labours;
let us now hear that of the metrical Life attributed to Robert of
Gloucester.
He endeavoured earnestly, night and day, when he had thither come,
To guard well holy Church, and to uphold Christendom.
He went into all his bishopric, and preacht full fast,
Much of that folk, through his word, to God their hearts cast,
All afoot he travelled about, nor kept he any state,
Rich man though he was made he reckoned there of little great.
The Archbishop of York had not him used to go
To preach about on his feet, nor another none the mo,
They ride upon their palfreys, lest they should spurn their toe,
But riches and worldly state doth to holy Church woe.
Theodore, the new archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in A.D.
669. "Soon after," says Bede, "he visited the whole island, wherever
the tribes of the Angles dwelt, for he was willingly entertained and
heard by all persons; and everywhere he taught the right rule of life,
and the canonical custom of celebrating Easter. He was the first
archbishop whom all the English Church obeyed.
Visiting Northumbria, he charged Chad with not being duly consecrated.
The saint replied with great humility, "If thou knowest that I have
not duly received the episcopate, I willingly resign the office, for I
never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, I consented to
undertake it for obedience sake." Theodore hearing his humble answer,
said that he should not resign the episcopate, but he himself completed
his ordination again after the Roman manner. He probably advised
Chad to resign his see to Wilfrid, for we next hear of our saint in
retirement at Lastingham.
In 669, Jaruman, bishop of the Mercians, died. King Wulfhere asked
Theodore to send them a bishop. The archbishop did not wish to
consecrate a fresh one, so he begged King Oswy to let Chad, who was
then at Lastingham, be their bishop. Theodore knowing that it was
Chad's custom to go about the work of the gospel on foot, rather than
on horseback, bade our saint ride whenever he had a long journey to
perform, but, finding Chad unwilling to comply, the archbishop with his
own hands lifted him on horseback, for he thought him a holy man, and
obliged him to ride wherever he had need to go.
Though Chad was bishop of Lindisfarne for so short a time, he left
his mark on the affections of the people, for we find that at least
one chantry was dedicated in his name at York Minster. Soon after
his election to the bishopric of the Mercians, he set out for Repton
in Derbyshire, where Diuma, the first bishop of the Mercians, had
established his see.
Whether our saint desired a more central position for the episcopal
see, or was influenced by the wish to do honour to a spot enriched with
the blood of martyrs, Bede does not tell us, but Chad established the
Mercian see at Lichfield, then called Licetfield, or the Field of the
Dead, where one thousand British Christians are said to have been put
to death.
His new diocese was not much less in extent than that of Northumbria.
It comprised seventeen counties, and stretched from the banks of the
Severn to the shores of the German Ocean. Theodore, years afterwards,
detached from it the sees of Worcester, Leicester, Lindesey (in
Lincolnshire), and Hereford. Though it was far beyond the power of one
man to administer it effectually, yet Bede witnesses that "Chad took
care to administer the same with great rectitude of life, according to
the example of the ancients. King Wulfhere also gave him land of fifty
families to build a monastery at the place called Ad Barve, _i.e._, 'At
the wood,' in the province of Lindesey, wherein monks of the regular
life instituted by him continue to this day." "Ad Barve" is conjectured
by Smith, of Durham, to be Barton-on-Humber, where there is still
standing a very ancient church, admitted by Rickman to be partly Saxon,
dedicated to S. Peter.
After fixing his see at Lichfield, Bede tells us "he built himself
a habitation not far from the Church, wherein he was wont to pray
and read with seven or eight of the brethren, as often as he had any
spare time from the labour and ministry of the Word. When he had most
gloriously governed the Church in that province two years and a half,
in the dispensation of the Most High Judge, there came round the time
of which Ecclesiastes speaks. "There is a time to cast stones, and a
time to gather them together," for a deadly sickness sent from heaven
came upon that place, to transfer, by the death of the flesh, the
living stones of the Church from their earthly abodes to the heavenly
building. And after many of the Church of that most reverend prelate
had been taken out of the flesh, his hour also drew near wherein he
was to pass out of this world to our Lord. It happened that one day,
Owini, a monk of great merit, the same that left his worldly mistress
to become a subject of the heavenly king, at Lastingham, was busy
labouring alone near the oratory, where the bishop was praying, the
other monks having gone to the Church, this monk, I say, heard the
voice of persons singing most sweetly, and rejoicing, and appearing
to descend from heaven. He heard the voice approaching from the
south-east, till it came to the roof of the oratory, where the bishop
was, and entering therein, filled the same and all about it. After a
time he perceived the same song of joy ascend from the oratory, and
return heavenwards the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness.
Presently the bishop opened the window of the oratory, and, making a
noise with his hand, ordered him to ask the seven brethren who were
in the church, to come to him at once. When they were come, he first
admonished them to preserve the virtue of peace among themselves, and
towards all the faithful, also to practise indefatigably the rules of
regular discipline, which they had either been taught by him or seen
him observe, or had noticed in the words or actions of the former
fathers. Then he added that the day of his death was at hand: 'For,'
said he, 'that amiable guest who was wont to visit our brethren, has
vouchsafed to come to me also to-day, and to call me out of this world.
Return, therefore, to the church, and speak to the brethren, that they
in their prayers recommend my passage to the Lord, and that they be
careful to provide for their own, the hour whereof is uncertain, by
watching, prayer, and good works.' When they, receiving his blessing,
had gone away in sorrow, Owini returned alone, and casting himself on
the ground prayed the bishop to tell him what that song of joy was
which he heard coming to the oratory. The bishop, bidding him conceal
what he had heard till after his death, said, 'They were angelic
spirits, who came to call me to my heavenly reward, which I have always
longed after, and they promised they would return seven days' hence,
and take me away with them.' His languishing sickness increasing daily,
on the seventh day, when he had prepared for death by receiving the
Body and Blood of our Lord, his soul being delivered from the prison
of the body, the angels, as may justly be believed, attending him, he
departed to the joys of heaven.
"It is no wonder that he joyfully beheld the day of his death, or
rather the day of our Lord, which he had always anxiously looked for
till it came; for notwithstanding his many merits of continence,
humility, teaching, prayer, voluntary poverty, and other virtues, he
was so full of the fear of God, so mindful of his last end in all his
actions, that, as I was informed by one of the brothers, who instructed
me in divinity, and who had been bred in his monastery, whose name
was Trumhere, if it happened that there blew a strong gust of wind,
when he was reading or doing anything else, he at once called upon God
for mercy, and begged it might be extended to all mankind. If it blew
stronger, he, prostrating himself, prayed more earnestly. But if it
proved a violent storm of wind or rain, or of thunder and lightning,
he would pray and repeat Psalms in the church till the weather became
calm. Being asked by his followers why he did so, he answered, 'Have
ye not read,--'The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest
gave forth His voice; yea, He sent out his arrows and scattered them,
and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them.' For the Lord moves
the air, raises the winds, darts lightning, and thunders from heaven
to excite the inhabitants of the earth to fear Him; to put them in
mind of the future judgment; to dispel their pride and vanquish their
boldness, by bringing into their thoughts that dreadful time when, the
heavens and the earth being in a flame, He will come in the clouds with
great power and majesty, to judge the quick and the dead. Wherefore it
behoves us to answer His heavenly admonition with due fear and love.'
"Chad died on the second of March, and was first buried by S. Mary's
Church, but afterwards, when the Church of the most Holy Prince of
the Apostles, Peter, was built, his bones were translated into it. In
both which places as a testimony of his virtue, frequent miraculous
cures are wont to be wrought. The place of the sepulchre is a wooden
monument, made like a little house covered, having a hole in the wall,
through which those that go thither for devotion usually put in their
hand and take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give
to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of
their infirmity and restored to health."
We have told the life of S. Chad in the reverent language of Bede, who,
as he says, had some of the details direct from those who had studied
under the saint. Though his episcopate was short, it was abundantly
esteemed by the warm-hearted Mercians, for thirty-one churches are
dedicated in his honour, all in the midland counties, and either in or
near the ancient diocese of Lichfield. The first church ever built in
Shrewsbury was named after him, and when the old building fell, in the
year 1788, an ancient wooden figure of the patron escaped destruction,
which is still preserved in the new church. The carver has represented
him in his pontifical robes and a mitre, with a book in his right hand,
and a pastoral staff in his left.
His well is shown at Lichfield. There was one in London called Chad's
Well, the water of which was sold to valetudinarians at sixpence a
glass. Doubtless, from the miracles alleged to have been wrought by
mixing a little dust from his shrine with water, he got the character
of patron saint of medicinal springs. At Chadshunt there was an
oratory and well bearing his name. The priest received as much as £16
a-year from the offerings of pilgrims. Chadwell--one source of the New
River--is, perhaps, a corruption for S. Chad's Well.
No writings of our saint have survived, but in Lichfield Cathedral
library there is a MS. of the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon character,
containing the Gospels of S. Matthew, S. Mark, and part of S. Luke,
which is known by the name of _Chad's Gospel_.
Among the Bodleian MSS. there is an Anglo-Saxon homily for S. Chad's
day, written in the _Middle Anglian_ dialect, which stretched from
Lichfield to Peterborough.
His relics were translated from the wooden shrine to the cathedral,
when it was rebuilt by Bishop Roger, in honour of SS. Mary and Chad. In
1296, Walter Langton was raised to the see of Lichfield. He built the
Lady Chapel, and there erected a beautiful shrine, at the enormous cost
of £2,000, to receive the relics of S. Chad. This was spared by Henry
VIII.
His emblem in the Clog Almanacks is a branch. Perhaps this was
suggested by the Gospel, viz., S. John v., formerly read on the Feast
of his Translation, which speaks of the fruitful branches of the vine.
This translation was formerly celebrated with great pomp at Lichfield,
on August 2nd.
As long as the virtues of chastity, humility, and a forsaking all for
Christ's sake are esteemed among men, the name of the apostle of the
Mercians ought not to be forgotten.
A beautiful legend formerly inscribed beneath the cloister windows of
Peterborough, recorded the conversion of King Wulfhere's sons, Wulfade
and Rufine, by S. Chad, and their murder by their father, for he had
turned heathen again in spite of the entreaties of Queen Ermenild:--
By Queen Ermenild had King Wulfere
These twey sons that ye see here.
Wulfade rideth as he was wont,
Into the forest the hart to hunt;
Fore all his men Wulfade is gone,
And sought, himself, the hart alone.
The hart brought Wulfade to a well,
That was beside Seynt Chaddy's cell.
Wulfade asked of Seynt Chad,
Where is the hart that me hath led?
The hart that hither thee hath brought,
Is sent by Christ, that thee hath bought.
Wulfade prayed Chad, that ghostly Leech,
The faith of Christ him for to teach.
Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth,
And words of baptism over him seyth.
Seynt Chad devoutly to mass him dight,
And hoseled Wulfade Christy's knight.
Wulfade wished Seynt Chad that day,
For his brother Rufine to pray.
The legend goes on to say that Rufine was baptized also by the saint.
The king's steward, Werbode (who had been rebuked by the two princes
for seeking the hand of their sister, Werburga), told Wulfere of their
becoming Christians, and that they were then praying in S. Chad's
oratory. The king took horse thither at once, and slew them both with
his own hand. Stung with remorse, he fell ill, and was counselled by
his queen to ask Chad to shrive him. As a penance the saint told him to
build several abbeys, and amongst the number he completed Peterborough
Minster, which his father had begun. This legend is told with very full
and touching details in a Latin version printed in the Monasticon.[3]
[3] Many of these details of S. Chad's life are taken from Mr. Warner's
excellent life of S. Chad.
The Latin version is this. King Wulfere, son of Penda the Strenuous,
had been baptized many years before by B. Finan, and promised at the
font, and again when he wedded Ermenilda, of the royal house of Kent,
to destroy all the idols in his realm. He neglected to do so, and let
his three sons, Wulfade, Rufine, and Kenred remain unbaptized. His
beauteous daughter, Werburga, had been dedicated to Christ as a virgin
by the Queen; yet, when Werbode, his chief councillor, and the chief
supporter of idolatry in the realm, sought her hand in marriage, the
king consented. The queen, Ermenilda, however, sharply rebuked him for
his presumption. The brothers threatened him with their sore vengeance
if he again preferred his low-born suit to their sister. Their
disdainful words cost them dear.
While Chad was praying by a fountain near his cell, a hart, with
quivering limbs and panting breath, leaped into the cooling stream.
Pitying its distress, the saint covered him with boughs, then placing
a rope round its neck, he let it graze in the forest. Wulfade came up,
heated in the chase, and asked where the beast had gone. The saint
replied, "Am I keeper of the hart? Yet, through the ministry of the
hart I have become the guide of thy salvation. The hart bathing in the
fountain foreshoweth to thee the laver of baptism, as the text says: As
the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God."
Many other things did the saint set forth about the ministry of dumb
animals to the faithful. The dove from the ark told that the waters
were dried up.
The young prince replied, "The things you tell me would be more likely
to work faith in me if the hart you have taught to wander in the
forest with the rope round its neck were to appear in answer to your
prayers." The saint prostrated himself in prayer, and lo! the hart
burst from the thicket. The saint exclaimed, "All things are possible
to him that believeth. Hear then, and believe the faith of Christ."
The saint instructed him, and baptized him. The next day he received
the Eucharist, and went home, and told his brother Rufine that he had
become a Christian. The other said, "I have long wished for baptism; I
will seek holy Chad." The brothers set out together. Rufine espying the
hart with the cord round its neck, gave hot chase; the animal made for
the saint's cell, and leaped into the fountain as before. Rufine saw a
venerable man praying near. He said, "Art thou, my lord, father Chad,
guide of my brother Wulfade to salvation?" He answered, "I am." The
prince earnestly desiring baptism, Chad baptized him, Wulfade holding
him at the font, after the manner taught by holy Church.
Then they departed, but returned daily to him. Werbode stealthily spied
their ways and doings, and told their father that they had become
Christians, and were then worshipping in Chad's oratory, adding that
their conversion would alienate his subjects. The king set out in anger
for the cell, the queen sending Werbode before to tell the princes of
his approach, that they might hide. But Werbode only looked in at the
window of the oratory, and saw them praying earnestly. He returned to
the king, and told him that his sons were obstinate in their purpose
of worshipping Christ. The king, pale with anger, rushed towards the
oratory. He threatened them with his vengeance for breaking the laws
of the land by becoming Christians, and bade them renounce Christ.
Wulfade replied, "They did not want to break the laws, and that the
king himself once professed the faith which now he renounced. They
wished to retain his fatherly affection, but no tortures could turn
them from Christ." The king rushed furiously upon him, and cut off his
head. His brother, Rufine, fled, but his father pursued him, and gave
him a mortal wound. Thus these two departed to celestial glory. Werbode
was smitten with madness when they returned to the castle and told the
murder in the ears of all. The queen buried her sons honourably in one
stone tomb, and withdrew with her daughter, Werburga, to the monastery
at Sheppey, and then to that of Ely.
The king, overcome with remorse, fell dangerously ill. The queen
counselled him to seek out Chad, and confess to him. Wulfere took her
advice, and starting one morning with his thanes, as if to follow the
chase, his attendants got scattered from him, and he was left alone.
Soon he espied the meek hart with the rope round its neck; he followed
its track gladly, till he came to Chad's cell. The king, approaching
the oratory, espied the saint saying mass; he dared not enter till he
had been shriven. When the canon began, so great a light shone through
the apertures in the wall, that priest and sacrifice were covered with
such splendour that the king was nearly blinded by it, for it was
brighter than that of the natural sun.
The saint knew what the king wanted, so when the office was ended he
hastily put off his vestments, and, thinking to lay them upon the
appointed place, unwittingly hung them upon a sunbeam, for the natural
sun was now streaming through the window. He found the king prostrate
before the door; raising him up he heard the penitent's confession,
and enjoined him as a penance, to root out idolatry, and to found
monasteries.[4] He then motioned to the king that he should enter the
oratory and pray. Wulfere, chancing to lift up his eyes, with wonder
saw the vestments hanging on the sunbeam. He rose from his knees, and,
drawing near, placed his own gloves and baldric upon the beam, but they
immediately fell to the ground. The king understood by this that Chad
was beloved by the Sun of Righteousness, since the natural sun paid him
such homage.
[4] The reader will here recall the account of Lancelot and the Sacring
in the Tower by Joseph of Arimathæa, in the Morte d'Arthur.