ON ST. ADRIAN, ABBOT, IN ENGLAND.
Around the year of Christ 709.
PrefaceAdrian, Abbot in England (St.)
[1] Adrian the Abbot, illustrious with no less praise for Christian humility than for apostolic zeal, is venerated on January 9 by the Churches of England. Concerning him, besides the English Martyrology, Galesinius, Molanus, and the Carthusians of Cologne in the Additions to Usuard write: "In Kent, of Adrian, Abbot and Confessor." The feast of St. Adrian Ferrarius also mentions him in his general catalogue of Saints, as do the German Martyrology, Ghinius, Wion, Menard, Trithemius in bk. 3, On Illustrious Men, ch. 115. More fully, Harpsfield in century 7, ch. 9, writes that he died in the year 708; Wion places it in 707.
[2] We give here a twofold life of him: one from Bede, bk. 4 of the History of the English, chs. 1 and 2; Life the other from John Capgrave, of which the first part is modeled on Bede.
LIFE FROM THE VENERABLE BEDE, bk. 4.
Adrian, Abbot in England (St.)
From Bede.
[1] In the year 665, Deusdedit, the sixth Bishop of the Church of Canterbury, died on the day before the Ides of July. And King Ercombert of the Kentish people also died in the same month and on the same day, leaving the throne of the kingdom to his son Ecgbert, who held it for nine years after receiving it. Then, with the bishopric vacant for no short time, Wighard, a Priest, was sent to Rome by him and simultaneously by Oswiu, King of the Northumbrians -- Wighard, to be ordained Bishop, dies of the plague a man most learned in ecclesiastical disciplines, of the English nation -- with the request that he be ordained Bishop of the English Church; gifts were also sent to the Apostolic Pope, and no few vessels of gold and silver. When he arrived at Rome (over which the Apostolic See was at that time presided by Vitalian), after he had made known to the aforesaid Apostolic Pope the purpose of his journey, not long afterward both he himself and nearly all his companions who had come with him were destroyed by a plague that struck.
[2] But the Apostolic Pope, having held counsel on these matters, diligently sought someone to send as Archbishop to the Churches of the English. Now there was in the Niridan monastery, which is not far from Naples in Campania, Adrian the Abbot declines the bishopric the Abbot Adrian, a man of African birth, thoroughly versed in sacred letters, trained in both monastic and ecclesiastical disciplines, and most skilled in both the Greek and Latin languages. The Pope summoned him and ordered him, upon accepting the bishopric, to come to Britain. He replied that he was unworthy of so great a rank, and said he could point out another whose learning and age were more suitable for receiving the bishopric. And when he offered to the Pontiff a certain monk from a neighboring convent of virgins, He offers another to the Pontiff named Andrew, the latter was judged by all who knew him to be worthy of the bishopric. But the burden of bodily infirmity prevented him from being made Bishop.
[3] And again Adrian was urged to accept the bishopric; he asked for a delay, in case he might in the meantime find someone else who could be ordained Bishop. At that time there was in Rome a monk known to Adrian, Then St. Theodore named Theodore, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, a man instructed in both secular and divine literature, in Greek and Latin, upright in character and venerable in age -- that is, being sixty-six years old. Presenting him to the Pontiff for ordination as Bishop, Adrian obtained his wish; with these conditions, however, interposed: that he himself should conduct Theodore to Britain, He is sent with him to England since he had already twice visited parts of Gaul for various reasons, and for that reason had greater knowledge for completing this journey and had sufficient resources in the possession of his own men; and that, serving as his associate in teaching, he should carefully see to it that Theodore did not introduce anything contrary to the truth of the faith, after the manner of the Greeks, into the Church over which he would preside. Theodore, having been ordained Subdeacon, waited four months until his hair should grow so that he could be tonsured into a crown; for he had worn the tonsure in the manner of the Eastern Church, after St. Paul the Apostle. He was ordained by Pope Vitalian in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 668, on the seventh day before the Kalends of April, a Sunday.
[4] And so, together with Adrian, he was sent to Britain on the sixth day before the Kalends of June. When they had traveled by sea to Marseilles and thence by land to Arles, They come to Gaul and had delivered to John, the Archbishop of that city, the letters of commendation from Pope Vitalian, they were detained by him until Ebroinus, the Mayor of the royal palace, gave them permission to go wherever they wished. Having received this, Theodore proceeded to Agilbert, Bishop of Paris, and was kindly received by him and kept for a long time. They halt there for the winter But Adrian went first to Emme, Bishop of Sens, and then to Faro, Bishop of Meaux, and stayed with them agreeably for a long while. For the approaching winter had compelled them to remain at rest wherever they could.
[5] When reliable messengers reported to King Ecgbert that the Bishop whom they had sought from the Roman Pontiff was in the kingdom of the Franks, Theodore is conducted to England he immediately sent his Prefect Redfrid there to fetch him. When he arrived, he took Theodore with the permission of Ebroinus and brought him to the port called Quentavic, where, fatigued by illness, he stayed for some time; and when he had begun to recover, he sailed to Britain. Adrian is detained by Ebroinus for some time But Ebroinus detained Adrian, because he suspected that he was carrying some embassy from the Emperor to the Kings of Britain against the kingdom, whose greatest care he then held. But when he truly discovered that Adrian had no such mission and never had, he released him and permitted him to follow after Theodore. As soon as he reached Theodore, the latter gave him the monastery of the Blessed Apostle Peter, where the Archbishops of Kent are accustomed to be buried. For the Lord Apostolic Pope had instructed Theodore upon his departure He is set over the monastery of St. Peter in England to provide and give Adrian a place in his diocese where he could suitably dwell with his people.
[6] Theodore arrived at his Church in the second year after his consecration, on the sixth day before the Kalends of June, a Sunday, and held it for twenty-one years, Together they travel through England and preach three months, and twenty-six days. And soon, having traversed the whole island wherever the English people dwelt (for he was most willingly received and heard by all), he disseminated the right order of living and the canonical rite of celebrating Easter, with Adrian everywhere accompanying and assisting. And he was the first Archbishop to whom the entire English Church consented to submit. And because, as we have said, both were abundantly instructed in both sacred and secular letters, having gathered a company of disciples, streams of saving knowledge daily flowed forth to water their hearts; They teach the art of poetry, astronomy, and ecclesiastical computation so that they even imparted to their hearers the discipline of the metrical art, of astronomy, and of ecclesiastical arithmetic, along with the volumes of sacred Scripture. The proof is that there survive to this day some of their disciples who know the Latin and Greek languages as well as their own native tongue. Nor indeed were there ever, since the English came to Britain, more prosperous times: when, having most brave and Christian Kings, they were a terror to all barbarian nations, and the desires of all hung upon the recently proclaimed joys of the heavenly kingdom; and whoever wished to be instructed in sacred reading had masters at hand to teach them.
[7] The same author, bk. 5, ch. 21: "In the year next after the death of the aforementioned Father, that is, the fifth year of King Osred, the most reverend Father Adrian, Abbot, St. Adrian dies cooperator in the word of God with Theodore, Bishop of blessed memory, died and was buried in his monastery in the Church of the Blessed Mother of God; which was the forty-first year since he had been sent from Rome by Pope Vitalian with Theodore; and from his arrival in Britain, the thirty-ninth. His teaching, together with Theodore's, is attested among other things by the fact that Albinus, his disciple, who succeeded him in the governance of his monastery, Albinus his successor was so well instructed in the study of the Scriptures that he knew the Greek language to no small extent, and the Latin no less than the English, which was his native tongue."
Annotationsa St. Deusdedit, who is here said to have died on the day before the Ides of July, is chiefly celebrated on the Ides themselves, that is, July 15. The English Martyrology and Ferrarius record him on the day before the Kalends of July, on which day others hold that he died.
b We said on January 6 that Canterbury was formerly called Dorobernia, or Durovernum, when we treated of St. Peter, Abbot of Canterbury, at no. 5, where more on Canterbury.
c He succeeded his father Eadbald in the year of Christ 640 and administered the kingdom with great distinction for twenty-four years, heir to the kingdom and virtues of his grandfather St. Ethelbert, through whom Kent was consecrated to Christ; whose life we shall give on February 24. He was also the brother of St. Eanswythe (concerning whom, September 12), husband of St. Sexburga (who is celebrated on July 6), by whom, besides Ecgbert and Lothair the Kings, he fathered Saints Ermenilda and Eorcongota, of whom the latter is celebrated on July 7 and the former on February 13.
d He succeeded his brother St. Oswald (to whom August 5 is sacred) in the kingdom in the year 642, and died on the Kalends of March in the year 670. Concerning his daughter St. Aelfflaed, we shall treat on February 8.
e Concerning him and his legation to Rome and death, the same Bede writes more fully in bk. 3, ch. 29.
f We shall give the life of St. Vitalian on January 27. Bede recites his letters to King Oswiu concerning the death of Wighard.
g Concerning St. Theodore, Bishop of Canterbury, we shall treat on September 19.
h That there were various rites of the clerical crown is evident from Bede, bk. 5, ch. 22, and Baronius, vol. 1, no. 58, n. 130.
i That was Palm Sunday in that year.
k He is absent from the catalogue of the Archbishops of Arles published by the distinguished Robert, to be inserted between Theodosius, or Theodoric (to whom there exists a letter of the Council of Chalon written around the year of Christ 650) and Felix, who was present at the Roman Council under Agatho around the year of Christ 680. John Chenu presents three catalogues of the Archbishops of Arles, in the second of which, drawn from the Provincial History by the author Caesar Nostradamus, this John is placed after Theodosius.
l Mention of this savage tyrant is made in the lives of nearly all the western Saints of this age.
m This Pontiff had long lectured on Sacred Scripture in Ireland, then at the request of King Cenwalh had presided over the West Saxons with priestly authority for many years; finally, having received the Bishopric of Paris, he died there an old man full of days. By him St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, was consecrated in the year of Christ 669. So Bede, bk. 3, ch. 7, and bk. 5, ch. 20.
n He is called by others Emmo, Anno, Aimo, and Haymo; the twenty-seventh Archbishop of that see, which he held from about the year 660 to 675. He subscribed to the privilege of liberty granted to the monastery of Corbie by Bertefrid, Bishop of Amiens, in the year 664. St. Amatus succeeded him, who is celebrated on September 13.
o We shall give the life of St. Faro, or Pharo, on October 28.
p A notable trading post at that time, at the mouth of the Quantia, or Canche, river, which flows through the borders of the Atrebates and empties into the English Channel at that point.
q We treated this on January 6, in the life of St. Peter, Abbot of the same monastery, at no. 7.
r In the year 669, the sixth day before the Kalends of June falls on a Sunday. He did not therefore arrive in Britain two years after his consecration, as the Westminster writer states.
s St. Wilfrid, of whom he had treated. His feast falls on October 12.
t Osred succeeded his father Aldfrith in the kingdom of the Northumbrians in the year of Christ 705.
u Eadbald, King of Kent, father of Ercombert, had built it in the said monastery, as we have noted.
x With his counsel and aid, Bede confesses in his preface to King Ceolwulf that he wrote his English history: "The chief author and helper of this little work," he says, "was Albinus, the most reverend Abbot, a man most learned in all things. He was educated in the Church of Canterbury by Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory and Abbot Adrian, venerable and most learned men; he diligently gathered all things that had been done in the province of Canterbury itself, or even in the regions bordering upon it, by the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory -- whether known through written records or through the tradition of the elders -- and transmitted them to me through the religious Priest of the Church of London, Nothelm, concerning whatever things seemed worthy of remembrance, either committed to writing or to be communicated by the living voice of Nothelm himself." Harpsfield writes in century 8, ch. 11, that St. Aldhelm was a disciple of St. Adrian; concerning whom see his life on May 25.
ANOTHER LIFE
From the legend of Saints by John Capgrave.
Adrian, Abbot in England (St.) BHL Number: 3741
From John Capgrave.
[1] Adrian, of African birth, an evangelical companion and cooperator of apostolic men after the Primate Augustine, St. Adrian twice declines the bishopric out of humility shone as a great light among the English. What St. Augustine had planted in England, St. Adrian together with Blessed Theodore watered abundantly. For when Pope Vitalian would impose upon Blessed Adrian, twice elected, the Apostolate of England, he found Blessed Theodore in his stead, whom he invested with the insignia due to himself and elevated with his own titles. O blessed Adrian, worthy of the apostolic rank both by the merit of holiness, and by devotion to learning, and by the office of charity! He who excelled in both Greek and Latin erudition, who moreover, elected by the Roman Pontiff to the Apostolate of Britain, fled from the honor! Yet he seized upon the labor, made from a Prelate a subject, from a master a minister of the Gospel: preferring to be useful rather than to preside over the people to be instructed; to serve rather than to be served. First he offered in his place a certain Andrew, a man of upright reputation; but bodily infirmity prevented him. Again, when Adrian was seized for the Pontificate, he redeemed himself, as we have said, He is sent with St. Theodore to England by putting forward Theodore. Yet the Pope first interposed this condition: that Adrian himself should be not only a guide, companion, helper, and cooperator in the Lord's mission in Britain, but also a guardian and observer of the Apostolic faith in all things -- lest the Greek training should in any way harm the nation to be taught in the apostolic manner. Now Rome knew Blessed Adrian, Abbot of the Viridian monastery near Naples in Campania, an African by birth, holy in his training in monastic and ecclesiastical disciplines, learned in both heavenly and worldly philosophy as well as in the Latin and Greek languages, to such a degree that it desired no one more as an instructor for England; or at last, in his place, no one other than one whom Adrian himself should approve and confirm by his companionship and support.
[2] The athlete of God Adrian therefore set out with Blessed Theodore and holy companions on a laborious pilgrimage, prepared for every palm of patience. He is detained in Gaul by Ebroinus But the most illustrious Adrian, because he was well known throughout the Gauls from frequent embassies, was detained -- to increase his rewards -- by Ebroinus, Duke of the Franks, as though he were an ambassador of the Emperor to the Kings of Britain against the kingdom, which Ebroinus himself was chiefly administering. But at length, found innocent He is set over the monastery of St. Augustine and freely dismissed to England, he assumed the governance of the monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury. Having gathered a company of disciples, he imparted to his hearers the discipline of the metrical art, of astronomy, and of ecclesiastical arithmetic, along with the volumes of sacred Scripture, so that some of their disciples knew the Latin and Greek languages as well as their own native tongue in which they were born. He teaches ecclesiastical chant and other subjects Moreover, the art of ecclesiastical chanting, which until that time they had known only in Kent, from this time began to be learned throughout all the Churches of the English.
[3] In the year of the Lord seven hundred and eight, the holy Father Adrian, full of works and examples, He dies departed to the Lord on the fifth day before the Ides of January, and was buried in his monastery -- in the forty-first year, that is, from when he had been sent to England. He left behind his holy and most learned disciple Albinus as his successor.
[4] After his death, shining with many miracles, he swiftly freed certain English sailors who had been driven to the shores of the Frisians He is illustrious in miracles: he frees them from enemies from a hostile assault. For when they were about to be overwhelmed by an attacking mob, upon invoking the Saint's patronage, a swift whirlwind drove them into the deep sea, and they arrived unharmed at their desired port.
[5] He raises the dead He raised a dead man to life. And when, among pagans, a certain Christian pilgrim, with the executioner's sword already raised, He snatches another from sudden death cried out, "Holy Adrian, help me!" -- the executioner was struck dead at that very hour, and the captive was freed.
[6] When the church in which he rested was consumed by fire, he appeared in a vision to a certain man, saying: "Go and tell Bishop Dunstan: this message is sent to you by the servant of Christ, Adrian: you rest in carefully covered dwellings, He commands the church of the Blessed Virgin to be restored while the Mother of our Lord and we, His household, lie open to every injury from the sky." Upon hearing this, Dunstan repaired the church of St. Mary, which, rapt with eternal sweetness, he was accustomed to frequent every night. But on a certain night, the same Bishop, having entered the church, manifestly saw St. Adrian among the choirs of the heavenly host, praising the Lord together with the Lady of the world herself.
[7] He appears to St. Dunstan When a certain boy, fearing the blows of his teacher, clung in flight to the tomb of Adrian, and while invoking the Saint was being struck with blows, and while for a third time the teacher raised his right hand higher, He frees a boy from blows the raised arm remained fixed in the air, held immovable for the greater part of the day. At length he humbly begged pardon from the very child he had afflicted; and with the boy's intercession, he finally received his arm back, released and sound.
[8] Another boy, having offended his teacher, Likewise another fled to the tomb of St. Adrian, imploring his help; he was seized by his master, who said: "Not even if Christ himself were to come would I let you go unpunished." And behold, immediately he beheld a most brilliant white dove perched atop the tomb of St. Adrian, which with its head gently bowed and its wings spread seemed to be imploring pardon for the boy. The terrified teacher therefore spared the boy, cast himself down before the Saint, and humbly begged pardon for his obstinacy. But the dove, flying up to the highest beams of the church, vanished from his sight.
[9] He comes to the aid of one in peril of salvation A certain man, greatly devoted to St. Adrian, continually entreated him to be his intercessor with God for his sins. When he had been overtaken by sudden death, a close friend of his did not cease to beseech the Lord with continuous prayers for his soul. At length, while the friend was sleeping, the deceased appeared to him clad in linen garments and said: "Know that when, on account of my sins, I had been handed over to the power of demons, suddenly Blessed Adrian, my advocate, arrived like a radiant morning star, with a shining countenance and in the likeness of a dove; having driven away all my adversaries, he snatched me free and set me before the dread tribunal of the Eternal Judge. For I saw the countenance of the Lord exceedingly terrible toward me; but turning to St. Adrian, He said: 'O Adrian, why have you brought this transgressor here, one who did not obey my commandments?' To whom Adrian replied: 'O most merciful Lord and eternal One, for the honor of your name he always kept my memory, and appointed me as his intercessor and protector before you.' The Lord, appeased by this satisfaction, I perceived His countenance to be most serene toward me; and absolved from my sins, the Lord delivered me into the custody of my advocate Adrian, under whose protection I live happily and shall reign eternally."
Annotationsa Bede and others write Niridani; some write Neridani. Trithemius writes Heridanensis.
b St. Dunstan governed the Church of Canterbury for twenty-nine years, from the year 959 to 988. We shall give his life on May 19.
c It is said in his life that "he once went to the monastery of the most blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, as was his custom, around the silence of midnight, and there prostrated himself in prayer before God for a long while. Going out then, he turned aside to the oratory of the Blessed Mother of God and Perpetual Virgin Mary, which is situated in the eastern part of that same monastery, in order to do the same," etc. Various apparitions of the Saints and of the Virgin Mother of God herself are added.
d These things are to be understood in this sense: that St. Adrian obtained for him contrition in his last moments.