ON ST. DEUSDEDIT,
SIXTH ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY IN ENGLAND.
From the Martyrologies and Capgrave.
In the year 664.
CommentaryDeusdedit, sixth bishop of Canterbury in England (S.)
J. B. S.
In the list of things Passed Over on the XXX day of June, on which day he had been wrongly marked by Wilson in his Martyrology of the Saints of England, was remitted hither he of whom here it must be treated, St. Deusdedit, Archbishop of the church of Canterbury or Dorovernum, more than once praised in our Acts, praised in passing by the writers, sixth in order, whom I know not why that more recent Martyrologist referred to that day, since the Venerable Bede and the other English writers commonly and constantly place his birthday either on this XV of July, or at least on the preceding day, as there also was noted in a few words. Cursorily makes mention of him the praised Bede, book 3, chapter 28, and book 4, chapter 1, designating not his deeds or virtues, but only the day and year of his death, in which manner he is also praised almost by Gervase in the Acts of the Pontiffs of Canterbury, by Thorne in the Chronicle, by Harpsfield and others, so that our Alford, at the year 664, in which he made an end of living, brought nothing more concerning the Acts of St. Deusdedit, except a fragment from Capgrave's Legend, of which presently it must be spoken, when we shall have shown the cult of the Saint from the Martyrologies. Pitseus, On the Illustrious Writers of Britain, concerning the youth of the Saint has this alone of eulogy, which could not ineptly be prefixed to the Capgravian oration; so that it must altogether be confessed that concerning the deeds of St. Deusdedit scarcely anything survives.
[2] in the Martyrologies he is marked on this day. This the writers commonly note as singular, that he was the first who, of the Saxon nation, after the foreigners Augustine, Laurence, Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius, ascended that metropolitan see, having before been called Frithona, for which name an English one, says Capgrave, was given him, which some have not badly rendered Theodatus, others Deodatus. We adhere to the more received appellation, under which he seems first to have been recorded in the sacred Fasti, by him who augmented Usuard in England, whose codex, written in the twelfth century, once used in the church of Utrecht, we have distinguished in our edition by the name of Rosweyde. But in that codex, on this day, he is recorded in these words: On the same day in Britain, the deposition of blessed Deusdedit, Archbishop and confessor. Griven briefly: Of Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury and confessor. Molanus a little more distinctly: At Canterbury, the deposition of St. Deusdedit, sixth Archbishop and confessor. What the Florarium said, we noted on the preceding day among the things Passed Over. The more recent writers can bring nothing which is not received almost from those already cited: nor are Wion, Dorganius, Menard, Bucelin, Mathew, or others to be regarded, when they ascribe the Saint to their Order, whether from Trithemius or from elsewhere; the more prudent Mabillon judged that this stone was not to be moved.
[3] More words uses the cited English Martyrology of Wilson, The rest from the eulogy of Capgrave. but they are taken from Capgrave, and are not to be here repeated: I am mistaken unless he took occasion of erring in the day of death from Godwin's Commentary on the Prelates of England, which I read written in the margin of his other edition; but he does not assert that St. Deusdedit died on the XXX of June, setting it forth under his own disjunction. He was consecrated, he says, by Ithamar, bishop of Rochester (the see of York being then vacant), and on the last day of June, or (as the Westminster writer has it) on the XIV of July he departed. For the rest, the matter will be the same, whether with Bede you say he flew to the heavens on the preceding day, or with the others on this day; we have followed the Martyrologies. Not so is to be admitted what the aforesaid Godwin alone, so far as I know, asserts, namely that he departed from this light after he had ruled the church committed to him six years, whereas the others attribute to him at least nine years of rule with eager rivalry, as you will presently understand from Capgrave's eulogy. I call it a eulogy, not Acts or a Life, since besides his name, age, succession, ordination, and burial, it brings scarcely anything which is not deservedly adapted to any holy Bishops. I shall set forth the matter as it was edited by him, at the end of which shall be subjoined the Saint's epitaph, composed I know not by whom, nor at what time; where I shall have recalled to memory a few things which have already been said concerning him on the XXVI of May, where St. Augustine was treated of.
[4] There exists there, in volume VI of that month, from page 411, a history fully narrated by the monk Goscelin of the translation of the most holy apostle of the English, His translation. with whose sacred body many bodies of successors and other Saints were joined, and among them that of this our holy Deusdedit also. Moreover both his and the encomia of the holy Justus and Honorius are expressly related, chapter 4, where after the others, as illustrious for a like holiness, he is joined, as one who merited to be joined sixth to the apostolate of blessed Augustine, and to be buried so close beside him. Then indeed a few things are adduced from Bede, which, being common to all, I do not think it necessary here to describe separately, as neither those which are had a little above, chapter 2, number 21, concerning the whole sixth day spent in excavating his sacred body, as you will there find commemorated at length; but from which you will be no more instructed concerning the illustrious deeds or the course of life of St. Deusdedit. Let us therefore give what was promised, the brief eulogy of Capgrave.
EULOGY
From Capgrave.
Deusdedit, sixth bishop of Canterbury in England (S.)
BHL Number: 2154
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
Gregory's pontiff Honorius having been translated from this light to the Lord, there was elected Archbishop of Dorovernum a man worthy of God, illustrious in life and erudition, Deusdedit, Succeeding Honorius, sixth in order; of the nation of the Western Saxons, with the greatest exultation of all, whom Ithamar, prelate of the church of Rochester, came thither to ordain; and for nine years and four months he ruled his church gloriously. And so the servant of God Deusdedit, most faithful in all things and devoted to God, not unmindful of the evangelical precept: for as he had been a fit hearer, so he was no less a zealous executor of it. For he was a true worshiper of God, a mortifier of vices, a lover of virtues, no sluggish sower of the divine word: he meditated on the law of the Lord assiduously, humbly submitting himself to his precepts, and strove to pay to his creditor, Christ, the talent committed to him, with too great affection of will, the use being a hundredfold. Whatever he had received from the Lord's utterances by the ear of his heart, he was busy to fulfill not only in work, but also in manners and life.
[2] in all virtues, He acted as a pastor of exceptional holiness, that the people committed to him might become conformable to himself, and, on account of the merits of virtue, might be inscribed with celestial titles. The flock committed to him he satiated with the bread of the divine word, and refreshed with the drink of evangelical instruction. He was watchful in prayers, intent upon fastings, and given to almsgiving: the sheepfold entrusted to him he provided for with no mean industry, and drove away from it the snares of the demons with the banner of the Lord's cross. Excelling in the most pure integrity of life, flourishing in the esteem of all good men, he continually commended himself and those subject to him to the Lord, and prayed through the night that they might be stable in the faith of Christ. Therefore, a distinguished prelate and lovable to the Lord in all things, since he was mindful of the divine trust, and with how humble and cautious a dispensation he had carried it out; providing for the future of the holy church, lest after his departure, being as yet rude, it should waver, he delegated upright and religious men, whom he had proved to be perfect in the divine doctrine, to preach the word of God with fatherly admonition.
[3] he shines with things worthy of a Bishop; Then, by the knowledge bestowed on him by God, he arranged the beginnings of the sacred Order with marvelous industry. He appointed ministers of the sacred Office and helpers of the divine ministry for the use of the church, according to the Apostolic institutions, and taught them to serve God in purity of life. For he was an angelic man, illustrious in doctrine, full of the spirit of wisdom and the grace of humility. For he was in his native tongue called Frithona, but on account of his magnificent merits, the Saxon name is changed by the elect ministers of God into an angelic name. This confessor and friend of God was called by the name Deusdedit: for the grace of God took him into the work of the holy ministry, and adopted him for itself as a great priest. Having taken up the priestly office, he persevered perfect in the fear of the Lord, having the eyes of his mind ever fixed upon God, and continued day and night in the service of the Lord, refreshing the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, persevering in the charity of God and the love of his neighbors, and studied to please God.
[4] dying on the Ides of July in the year 664. This most holy pastor and teacher the supernal grace gave us for the consummation of the Saints; that is, for the supplement of the faith of the Saints. The beginning, therefore, of the consummation of the Saints, to which blessed Deusdedit was sent, the kindly Augustine first gave, laid the foundations, restored it to hope.
Then the mellifluous doctors Laurence, Mellitus, Justus, Honorius, succeeding one another in turn. The true consummation of these was this Saint, who after them, like a wise architect, manfully ascending the house of God, by preaching, admonition, correction, and exceptional charity established for almighty God temples to abide for ever. But in the year of the Lord six hundred and sixty-four, after he had arranged all things in tranquil peace, on the Ides of July he ascended the heavenly places, and merited to be buried in the monastery of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The virtues also and merits of the life of this kindly father, the marvelous grace of sweet fragrances, bursting forth from his tomb, displays.
Epitaph from Harpsfield.
Kindly Deusdedit, to whom the sixth vacation yields, thou dost mark this stone, marked to that same stone. From this urn proceeds a lasting health, whereby whoever is burdened with grief is made better.