ON ST. EASTERWIN, ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH IN ENGLAND,
IN THE YEAR 685.
Preliminary Commentary.
Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth in England (St.)
[1] The Saints Benedict, surnamed Biscop, and Easterwin or Esterwin were cousins, descended from the nobler English: both having left the service of the Kings of Northumbria, the former of Oswiu, the latter of Egfrid his son, [St. Easterwin is appointed by St. Benedict Biscop as Abbot of the monastery of Jarrow,] converted to the monastic life, they lived illustrious in holiness in the region of Durham: in which St. Benedict constructed two monasteries, Wearmouth in the year 672 at the mouth of the River Wear, and Jarrow near the River Tyne, the former in honor of St. Peter, the latter of St. Paul, whose sacred thresholds he had visited five times by pilgrimage to Rome. St. Benedict is venerated on January 12, at which date we have illustrated his Acts. The Westminster chronicler in his Flowers of History at the year 703 writes thus among other things about St. Benedict: Filling these monasteries with religious monks, he appointed Ceolfrid as Superior in one and Easterwin in the other. This he did so that both in his absence and presence the Regular observance would always be maintained. The Worcester chronicler explains individual matters more carefully at the year 682, and indeed about the Wearmouth monastery thus: The most reverend Abbot Benedict Biscop, choosing the priest Easterwin, his cousin, distinguished for holiness, from his monastery, appointed him Abbot of the same monastery of St. Peter with the right of governing it. He then proceeds about the construction of the other monastery, and writes these things: King Egfrid for the redemption of his soul also gave another tract of land of forty hides to Abbot Benedict: where, having sent monks numbering twenty-two with Abbot Ceolfrid as Superior, his most energetic helper in all things, by the King's command he built a monastery to the Blessed Apostle Paul in the place called Jarrow. Then the same Worcester chronicler assigns the death of St. Easterwin at the year 685 in these words: he dies in the year 685, A great storm of pestilence seizing Britain devastated it with widespread death: in which Easterwin, the Abbot beloved of God, was taken to the Lord on the Nones of March. In his place the Brothers, with the counsel of Abbot Ceolfrid, March 7, namely of the Jarrow monastery, appointed as Abbot a man of wonderful holiness and abundantly instructed in the study of the Scriptures, Sigfrid, a Deacon of the same monastery. St. Sigfrid succeeds him. For St. Benedict was absent at his death, having set out for Rome, and returned enriched with gifts of ecclesiastical treasures and laden with foreign merchandise. St. Ceolfrid is venerated on September 25, St. Sigfrid on August 22.
[2] Edward Maihew in the Trophies of the English Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict (for he ascribes him to this Order) inserts the following in the Life of St. Sigfrid: Bede wrote their Life, Of these Abbots indeed, namely Benedict Biscop, Ceolfrid, Easterwin, Sigfrid and Huetbert, who succeeded Ceolfrid when the rest had died, the holy and Venerable Bede, a monk of those same monasteries, who knew all of them in person, consigned their deeds to posterity. We have this history of his in manuscript, which, God willing, we shall publish at the end of this work. We give it here, transcribed from there. But concerning the death of St. Easterwin, the same Bede writes these few words in the Life of St. Sigfrid his successor: Among the joyful things which Benedict brought from Rome, he found sad ones at home, namely that the venerable priest Easterwin, whom he had appointed Abbot on his departure, together with no small number of the Brothers committed to him, had already departed this world as the pestilence raged everywhere. But there was consolation for him, because he learned that in place of Easterwin an equally reverend and most gentle man from the same monastery, namely the Deacon Sigfrid, had been promptly appointed through the love of his Brothers and of his co-Abbot Ceolfrid. from him Simeon of Durham, Simeon of Durham at the beginning of his History of the Deeds of the Kings of the English inserts excerpts from the said Acts, prefacing them thus: How this was done, the truthful Bede testifies in the Life of his most blessed Abbot Benedict and Ceolfrid... Certain things which were done in the days of these Abbots, it is pleasing to insert in this our work, so that those who have not read their Life may hear how great a flame of Christianity shone in those days in these very regions, as Bede says in his writings. And after all has been related, the following is appended: These things which are written, we have excerpted from the writings of the most blessed Bede. and Capgrave. John Capgrave in his New Legend of England, printed at London in the year 1516, published the Life of St. Esterwin, and nearly in the words of the Venerable Bede, only with the beginning omitted, in which he plainly errs, placing him as Abbot under St. Ceolfrid in the Jarrow monastery of St. Paul, whereas he was appointed by St. Benedict as his substitute Abbot in the Wearmouth monastery dedicated to St. Peter.
[3] His feast on these Nones of March, on which he died, is inscribed in the ancient manuscript Calendar of St. Maximin near Trier, and in the English Martyrology of Richard Whitford, Memory of him in the calendar on March 7, printed at London in the year 1526, in these words: In the monastery of St. Paul near the River Tyne in England, the feast of St.
Esterwin, Abbot of that place, and a man of great perfection. The error about the monastery of St. Paul, drawn from Capgrave, was corrected by others who inscribed him in their calendars, as the above-cited Edward Maihew, and following him Menardus and Bucelinus. Likewise Wilson in the later edition of the English Martyrology, citing the Flowers of the more Illustrious Lives of the Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Jerome Porter, who published a Life translated by himself into English.
LIFE
By the Venerable Bede:
Published by Simeon of Durham and Edward Maihew.
Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth in England (St.)
By Bede.
[1] When the devout servant of Christ Biscop, surnamed Benedict, with the help of heavenly grace, had built two monasteries, one in honor of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter, near the mouth of the River Wear, the other not far from the mouth of the River Tyne in the town called Jarrow; he appointed Ceolfrid as Abbot over the latter, around the year of Christ six hundred and eighty-two. St. Easterwin appointed as Abbot by St. Benedict, At the same time, choosing the priest Easterwin from the monastery of Blessed Peter, he appointed him Abbot of the same monastery of St. Peter with the right of governing it, so that what burden he could not bear alone, he might bear more lightly with the shared strength of a most beloved fellow-soldier. Indeed Benedict himself did this so that the Regular observance would always be maintained, lest on account of the travels of that labor the monarchy of holy discipline should be less well guarded. Nor should it seem wrong to anyone that one monastery had two Abbots simultaneously: this was done because of his frequent traveling for the benefit of the monastery, his frequent departures across the sea, and his uncertain return. For the histories tell us that even the most blessed Apostle Peter at Rome appointed two Bishops under himself in succession to govern the Church, when the cause of necessity demanded it. And the great Abbot Benedict himself, as the blessed Pope Gregory writes of him, placed twelve Abbots under himself without detriment to charity, indeed for its increase.
[2] Easterwin therefore assumed the care of governing the monastery in the ninth year since it was founded: and he continued in it until his death for four years. from a most noble man, supremely humble, A man noble according to the world: but turning the distinction of his nobility not into material for boasting, as some do, and contempt of others, but rather, as befits a servant of God, into a greater nobility of spirit: for he was a cousin of his Abbot Benedict. But so great was the nobility of mind in both men, such the contempt of worldly nobility as nothing: that neither did the one think he should seek for himself any honor above others on account of kinship or nobility upon entering the monastery, nor did the other think it should be offered: but living with equal measure as the Brothers in good purpose, he gloried in keeping the Regular discipline in all things. And indeed, though he had been a minister of King Egfrid, having once left behind secular affairs, laid down his arms, and taken up the spiritual warfare, he remained so humble and so like the other Brothers, he performs the most menial tasks, that he was glad to winnow and thresh with them, to milk the sheep and calves, to labor cheerfully and obediently in the bakehouse, in the garden, in the kitchen, and in all the works of the monastery. But even when he had assumed the name, governance, and rank of Abbot, he remained in the same spirit as before toward all, according to what a certain Wise Man admonishes, saying: They have made you a ruler, do not be exalted, but be among them as one of them. For he was gentle, affable, and kind to all: and indeed where he found it opportune, he would restrain sinners with regular discipline, but yet was more diligent in admonishing with his inborn habit of love, lest anyone should wish to sin, and anyone from his very kindness should take greater license to sin and hide the most limpid light of his goodness with the cloud of his own wickedness. Often, going away somewhere to attend to the business of the monastery, where he found the Brothers working, he was accustomed to join them at once in their work, whether guiding the plow by the handle, or beating iron with a hammer, or shaking the winnowing-fan with his hand, or doing something else. For he was a young man strong in body, gentle in speech, cheerful in spirit, generous in beneficence, and dignified in appearance.
[3] He always ate the same food as the other Brothers, and in the same room. He himself slept in the common place where he had before he was Abbot: he admits no privileges for himself, to such a degree that even when seized by illness, and already foreknowing his death from certain signs, he still rested for two days in the dormitory of the Brothers. For the remaining five days until the hour of his departure, he placed himself in a more secluded room: from which one day going out, the sick man bids farewell to his own, and sitting in the open air, with all the Brothers summoned to him, in the manner of a compassionate nature, he gave them, weeping and mourning the departure of so great a Father and Pastor, the kiss of peace. He died on the Nones of March at night, he dies, while the Brothers were occupied with the praise of the morning psalmody. He was twenty-four years old when he entered the monastery, he lived in it for twelve years: he served seven years in the priesthood, and for the last four of those years he governed the monastery: and thus leaving behind his earthly limbs and dying members, he sought the heavenly kingdom: that he might place two crowns upon his head according to the meaning of his name, that is, Easter and Wine, he himself the renowned one receiving the true Passover, which is the true victory song.
Notes* variant: young man.
* variant: of restlessness.
* manuscript: stiba.