ON SAINT FELIX, BISHOP OF THE EAST ANGLES
YEAR 654.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Felix, Bishop of the East Angles (Saint)
BHL Number: 2859
Section I. Acts gathered from various sources. Veneration. Translations.
[1] In the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, the kingdom of the East Angles began about the year of Christ 575, and held under its dominion the provinces of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge with the Isle of Ely, Pagan Kings of the East Angles: as Spelman notes in his Prolegomena to the first volume of the Councils of Britain. Harpsfield, in the seventh century of his Ecclesiastical History of England, chapter 15, places the beginning of the kingdom at the year 561. The first King was Wuffa, from whom, according to Bede, book 2, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, chapter 15 (where he treats of these Kings and the Episcopate of Saint Felix), the Kings of the East Angles are called Wuffings. He was succeeded by his son Tytilus, from whom descended Redwald, who in Kent was initiated in the sacraments of the Christian faith (these are the words of Bede), but in vain. For returning home, he was seduced by his wife and by certain perverse teachers, and, corrupted from the sincerity of the faith, his latter state was worse than his first: so that in the manner of the ancient Samaritans he seemed to serve both Christ and the gods he had served before; and in the same shrine he had both an altar for the sacrifice of Christ and a small altar for the victims of demons. When he died, his son Earpwald succeeded (called by others Carpwald), when, as Bede says, King Edwin of Northumbria had such devotion, then the Christians: Earpwald, baptized in 632, as is reported, toward the worship of truth that he even persuaded Carpwald to accept, together with his province, the faith and Sacraments of Christ, abandoning the superstitions of idols. But not long after he had received the faith, he was killed by a pagan man named Richbert, and thenceforward for three years the province was involved in error. The Anglo-Saxon Chronologist reports that Earpwald was baptized in the year 632.
[2] Such was the state of that kingdom before the arrival of Saint Felix, when Earpwald's brother Sigbert received the kingdom, and Sigbert: a man in all respects most Christian and most learned, who while his brother was still alive, being in exile in Gaul, was initiated in the Sacraments of the faith. As soon as he began to reign, he took care to make his whole province a participant in these. So says Bede. The historian of Malmesbury, in book 2 of the Deeds of the English Bishops, adds that Saint Felix, was he familiar with Saint Felix in Gaul? a Burgundian by birth, having become familiar with Sigbert during his exile in Gaul, came to England with him after the death of Earpwald, and that when the latter obtained the sovereignty of the province, having been ordained Bishop, he did not fail to support the royal enterprise. Whether the Malmesbury historian interpreted Bede thus, or had other records, is uncertain. Bede narrates it thus: The efforts of Sigbert were most gloriously assisted by Bishop Felix, he comes to England, who, having come from the region of the Burgundians, where he was born and ordained, presented himself to Archbishop Honorius, and having indicated his desire to him, Honorius sent him to preach the word of life to the aforesaid nation of the Angles. The above-mentioned Chronologist refers the beginning of this preaching to the year of Christ 636.
[3] So much for his mission. To which Bede adds the following about its fruit: Nor did their hopes fall to the ground without result; he converts the East Angles: but rather the pious cultivator of the spiritual field found in it a manifold fruit of believing peoples. For he led that entire province, in accordance with the sacrament of his own name, liberated from its long iniquity and unhappiness, to the faith and works of justice and the gifts of perpetual felicity. He received the See of the Episcopate in the city of Dummoc; and having presided over the same province with Pontifical governance for eighteen years, he there ended his life in peace. Thus far Bede. The same things, copied from him, are related by the Worcester historian at the year 636 and the Westminster historian at the year 632, when he had treated of the baptism of Earpwald.
[4] The Malmesbury historian at the place indicated above adds the following: Also establishing schools of learning in suitable places, he erects schools, he gradually shaped the barbarism of the people with Latin refinement. Harpsfield, at the place indicated above, treating of King Sigbert, attributes these things to him: Among his outstanding and excellent ornaments this too is placed, that he undertook great care for letters, which he had perceived to flourish in Gaul, by establishing schools among his people, in which young men might be generously educated to acquire a liberal cultivation of mind. To him belongs the benefit of the University of Cambridge. To this great patron of letters all the English are indebted, and especially those at Cambridge? who know themselves to have made literary progress at that university. Camden, in his section on the Iceni and the County of Cambridge, writes from the History of that city that this was done in the year of Christ 630, to which number six or more years must be added. We consider that Saint Felix was the energetic co-worker, and perhaps the first author, of this enterprise with King Sigbert.
[5] He venerates Saint Aidan. Bede, book 3, chapter 25, treats of the controversy raised about the time of Easter against those who had come from Scotland, and inserts these words: This dissonance of Paschal observance, while Aidan lived, the first Bishop of Lindisfarne, was patiently tolerated by all: because although he could not celebrate Easter contrary to the custom of those who had sent him, he nevertheless took diligent care to carry out the works of faith, piety, and love according to the custom common to all the Saints. Whence he was deservedly beloved by all, even by those who thought differently about Easter; he was held in veneration not only by persons of moderate rank, but also by the Bishops themselves, Honorius of Canterbury and Felix of the East Angles. Saint Aidan is venerated on August 31 and Saint Honorius on September 30. We treated the Paschal controversy on February 18 in the Life of Saint Colman.
[6] He dies at his Episcopal See of Dunwich in the year 654. The Episcopal See was erected by him in the maritime city of the province of Suffolk, which Bede in the Saxon manner calls Dummac, others commonly Dunwich. In that city, says the Malmesbury historian, after completing the course of his life he was buried after seventeen years of Episcopate. But Bede establishes eighteen years, which if counted from the year 636, he must be said to have lived until the year 654. He was succeeded in a continuous series by the Bishops Thomas, Boniface (called by others Bregilsus), then Bisi, who on account of a grievous illness gave way to two. The See divided, Two Bishops therefore governed, of whom one had his seat
at Dommac, the other at Helmham in Norfolk, above Norwich in the small district of Laundichena. Both Sees were afterward deprived of their Bishop on account of the incursions of the Danes, and afterward a single Bishop again presided, the See of Helmham (otherwise Elmham) being restored. This See was thence first transferred to Thetford, situated on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, and afterward to Norwich. The cult of Saint Felix remained, having been transferred together with the See. Hence in the Martyrology of Usuard, which we found in Rome in the celebrated library of the Duke of Altemps, written by hand long ago and augmented with very many names of English Saints, translated to Thetford and Norwich, this entry is assigned to this March 8: "At Norwich, the feast of Saint Felix the Confessor, who was the preacher and Bishop of the East Angles."
[7] The Malmesbury historian asserts that the body was translated from its See of Dunwich to Soham, which is a village near a lake, body translated to Soham, which was once dangerous for boats for those wishing to go to Ely, but now, a road having been made through the marshy reed bed, is crossed on foot. There are still signs of a church destroyed and burned by the Danes, which, having burned the inhabitants at the same time, buried them in its ruins. But the body of the Saint, long afterward sought and found, was buried in the monastery of Ramsey. So says the Malmesbury historian. The village of Soham still exists, from which Soham Lake there takes its name. Concerning the neighboring monastery of Ely, we treated on February 13 at the Life of Saint Ermenilda, Abbess there, and shall treat more fully on July 8 at the Life of Saint Etheldreda, foundress, Abbess, and Patroness of that place. Between this monastery and that of Peterborough lies that of Ramsey, which Saint Oswald, Archbishop of York, built with possessions contributed by Earl Ailwin, as his Acts, illustrated by us on February 28, testify. The site, origin, and progress of this monastery can be seen in the Monasticon Anglicanum from page 231 to page 242, all of which was drawn from the Register of the monastery. On page 240, in the Catalogue of Abbots, it says: "Ethelstan received the abbacy in the year 1020... In the time of this Abbot, Ethericus, Bishop of Dorchester, had Saint Felix translated with honor from Soham to Ramsey," then in the year 1026 to Ramsey, namely in the year 1026. And in the booklet on anniversaries observed in the church of Ramsey one reads: "On the Ides of November died King Knut, who gave us Saint Felix." But the Westminster historian, by the gift of King Cnut, the Durham historian, Hoveden, and others assert that King Knut or Canute died on the day before the Ides of September, a Wednesday, in the year 1035. The same King Cnut (these are the words of the Westminster historian), in the year 1023, raised with his own hands the body of the Blessed Archbishop Elphege, entombed at London in Saint Paul's, and had it translated to the church of Canterbury and buried there with due veneration. His vow concerning the translation of the body of Saint Mildred to the monastery of Saint Augustine, Apostle of the English, is explained by William Thorne, a monk of that same monastery, in his Chronicle, chapter 24. From these things the piety of this King toward the relics of Saints is made manifest. But Ethericus, Bishop of Dorchester, who presided over the Translation of Saint Felix, is reported to have been afterward buried in the same monastery of Ramsey. Dorchester, or Dorcester, is in the County of Oxford, by Ethericus, Bishop of Dorchester. at the confluence of the rivers Thame and Isis, from which the Thames, the noblest river of England, takes its rise. This was the See of the Bishops of Lindisfarne. After Ethericus, Ednodus and Wulfinus presided, after whom Remigius, made Bishop from being a monk of Fecamp in Normandy, transferred the See to Lincoln. After Ethelstan, the Abbots of Ramsey were Alfwin, Aielsinus, and Herbert: who, having been made Bishop of the East Angles, transferred the See from Elmham to Norwich. From this man we think the veneration of Saint Felix in the Church of Norwich, treated above, was greatly promoted or renewed.
[8] The name of Saint Felix is inscribed in various Martyrologies on this March 8, and first in the Altemps manuscript preserved at Rome, His name in the sacred Calendars. in which it is also related that the body was translated to Ramsey. Hermann Greven and John Molanus added it to the edition of Usuard augmented by themselves. Canisius and Galesin also make mention of him. After these, Baronius in the present Roman Martyrology adorned him with this eulogy: "In England, Saint Felix, who converted the East Angles to the faith." Jerome Porter, in the Lives of the More Illustrious Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland, published his Acts in English from Bede, the Malmesbury historian, and Harpsfield, which are more briefly reported in Wilson's English Martyrology and Saussay's Gallican Martyrology. Finally, the deposition of Saint Felix is recorded in the Calendar of the Handbook of the Church of Salisbury printed in the year 1533.
Section II. EPITOME OF THE LIFE. From the New Legend of Capgrave.
[9] The historiographer of the English nation, the Venerable Priest Bede, makes a noteworthy mention of Saint Felix the Bishop. Saint Felix, a learned and gentle man: For it would be unfitting to pass over the reputation of so holy a man in silence. He was exceedingly learned, and what he taught he constantly carried out in good works. He was accustomed to set forth what he taught with all sweetness and gentleness, so that he might the more easily subject his hearers to the yoke of Christ. He was born and educated and elevated to the peak of Pontifical dignity in the region of Burgundy, and guided by the Lord he came to the shores of England in the time of Pope Honorius and Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury. For when in his own land, disturbed by no tempest and surrounded by much worldly pomp, he left and abandoned all these worldly things, together with his own country, burning with divine love. inflamed with zeal for souls, For by spreading report he learned that a very great part of the English nation was still subject to paganism, and therefore with ardent desire he longed to go there, that he might acquire some fruit of righteousness in it. Having prosperously crossed the sea, he arrived safe and sound in the presence of Archbishop Honorius. When the Archbishop had received him with every office of charity, He sought England. and they had conferred many things together about matters of God, Felix at last laid bare the secrets of his purpose and the desire of his will. When this was known, he was filled with great joy at the desire and the pledge of so great a man, by which he promised to persevere in preaching.
[10] He therefore entered the field of battle like a most bold warrior, about to triumph over the invisible enemy, He converts the East Angles to the faith, and gentle as a lamb he plunged into the wolf-like people — wolf-like, I say, because not yet clothed in lambskin — and in a short time he converted the entire province of the East Angles to the faith. After Erpwald, the successor of Redwald, in the kingdom of the East Angles, his brother Sigbert succeeded, a good and religious man; who once in Gaul, while he was living in exile fleeing the enmity of Redwald, received the bath of baptism, and so returned to his homeland. When he had obtained the kingdom, desiring to imitate what he had seen well ordered in Gaul, he established a school in which boys might be instructed in letters, with the assistance of Saint Felix the Bishop, whom he had received from Kent. But while Sigbert still held the insignia of the kingdom, and the King to monastic life: by the frequent admonition of Saint Felix he became so great a lover of the heavenly kingdom that, having left the kingdom, he entered the monastery which he had built for himself, having received the tonsure, to serve as a soldier of Christ. Concerning the martyrdom of that same King, an account is found in the Life of Saint Fursey.
[11] He dies, Saint Felix received the See of the Episcopate in the city of Dommok, and having presided over the same province for seventeen years, on the eighth day before the Ides of March, full of good works, he rested in peace, he is translated to Soham, and merited to be buried in the same place. After some time had elapsed, his most holy body was translated with great honor to the royal and distinguished village of Soham, and placed in the church which during his lifetime he had built of stone for the Lord. For a not inconsiderable congregation of monks living regularly under an Abbot then flourished there, who were afterward slaughtered by the wicked leader Inguar, who was ravaging that province. and to Ramsey, Also in the time of King Canute, Ethelstan, Abbot of Ramsey, translated the bones of Saint Felix with great honor to his church, where by the gift of Christ he rests to the present day.
[12] Thus the Epitome of the Life. To which Alford adds in the Annals of the English Church that Saint Sigbert was baptized by Saint Felix in Gaul, which we do not read elsewhere. The Huntingdon historian conjoins the zeal of both the King and Saint Felix in book 3 of his Histories in these words: the cooperation of the King, "Sigbert, the most Christian brother of Erpwald, succeeded, Christianizing the rest together with Bishop Felix, whom, born of Burgundy, Bishop Honorius had sent thither to preach." And in book 2 he indicates the conversion of the whole province: "Sigbert, brother and successor of Erpwald, was converted through Bishop Felix, together with the whole nation of the East Angles." There came also a helper, Saint Fursey, and of Saint Fursey. who (these are the words of Bede, book 3, chapter 19), "when he had come to the province of the East Angles, was received with honor by the aforesaid King Sigbert, and carrying out his accustomed work of evangelizing, by the example of his virtue and the encouragement of his preaching he either converted unbelievers to Christ or further confirmed believers in the faith and love of Christ." The remaining acts of King Sigbert will be indicated at their proper time. He is inscribed in the Gallican Martyrology on August 7, in the English Martyrology on December 27. We treated Saint Fursey at length on January 16.