ON ST. ACCA, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT HEXHAM, IN NORTHUMBRIA,
IN THE YEAR 740.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Acca, bishop and confessor, at Augulstadia in England. (S.)
J. V. H.
§ I. Of the origin and fortunes of the Church of Hexham in Northumbria.
The Church of Hexham "There is in the province of the Northumbrians," says the Monasticon Anglicanum from the manuscript History of Richard of Hexham, a writer of the twelfth century, on the state of the Church of Hexham [Monasticon Anglicanum, volume VI, p. 180, London edition 1830. Compare Twysden, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores decem, volume I, p. 289], "not far from the river Tyne, situated to the south, a certain township, now indeed inhabited by a moderate and scanty population; but, as the traces of antiquity testify, once ample and magnificent. And this, from a little stream running down there and sometimes overflowing in the manner of a torrent, named Hestild, is called Hestoldesham, as it were the estate of Hestild. And the Blessed queen Etheldreda, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, first to the prince of the South Gyrwas, named Tunbert, but, he having died after a little while,
was then espoused to Ecfrid, king of the Northumbrians. She, however, God protecting her, always kept the glory of her virginal integrity untouched. She therefore gave to St. Wilfrid, whom she greatly loved, to him, I say, being already bishop of York, the aforesaid township with the surrounding region, about the year of the Lord's Incarnation 674, as a perpetual alms, that he might exalt it with an episcopal see, in which he himself first, and after him others, sat by ecclesiastical right."
[2] founded in the year of Christ 674 The fortunes of the Church of Hagustald, which today is called Hexham, are set out by Robert, a monk of Durham, in these words Monasticon, place cited: "As is written in the Chronicle of Hexham (which is commonly called Hexham, or, as anciently, Hextildesham, from a certain stream Hextild running down there): In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 674, and a course of forty years having run from the foundation of the Church of Lindisfarne, Blessed Wilfrid founded in honour of St. Andrew the Apostle the said Church of Hexham, with an episcopal see, in which many bishops flourished, men of most holy life: whose order is: first Wilfrid, 45 years; second Eata, 7 years; third Tunbert, 3 years; fourth John, 7 years; fifth Saint Acca, 24 years; sixth Fredbert, 34 years; seventh Saint Alcmund, 13 years; eighth Tilbert, 8 years; ninth Ethelbert, 7 years; tenth Eadfred, 3; eleventh Eanbert or Osbert, 13 years; twelfth Tydfred, but the time of his episcopate is unknown. And so the episcopate of the Church of Hexham, beginning about the 674th year of the Lord's Incarnation, lasted 144 years (except the last bishop, whose time is unknown), namely up to the 804th year of the Lord's Incarnation, and from then (bishops failing) the said see ceased, before the devastation of the province of the Northumbrians, which was made in the 885th year of the Lord's Incarnation by Halfdan the Dane, and 241 from the foundation of the Church of Lindisfarne, 189 from the death of St. Cuthbert; 54 from when the bishops of the Church of Hexham failed. And then Eardulf, bishop of Lindisfarne, and Eadred *, abbot of the same, carried away from the island of Lindisfarne the incorrupt body of St. Cuthbert with the greatest part of the treasure of that Church, and before the face of the barbarians for seven years ran about with it from place to place. But at length, returning, they came to the township formerly called Kunchacestra; and there they rested with the Relics; and for a long time, the bishops of the Church of Hexham failing, the said Eardulf began to exercise the episcopal offices there, and his successors at Koncestre; afterwards at Durham, up to the time of King Henry the First … for about … years they performed the episcopal offices. But a dissension arising between Henry, the first king of England, and Ranulph, bishop of Durham, the said king deprived the said bishop of the Church of Hexham with the region pertaining to it, and conferred it on the archbishopric of York; although, by virtue of the devotion made by the kings Guthred and Alfred to God and St. Cuthbert and to those ministering to him, of the whole land between the Tees and the Tyne, the church of Hexham with the adjacent region, on the southern side of the Tyne, situated within the bounds of St. Cuthbert, had forthwith been comprehended."
[3] when the Christian people had multiplied, What we have so far reported from the older documents needs some explanation. In the year 673, in the Council of Hertford, at which, under the presidency of St. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, St. Wilfrid, bishop of York or of the Northumbrians, had also been present, it had been decreed in canon IX [Bede, Ecclesiastical History, book IV, chapter V; Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae, volume I, p. 43; Labbe, volume VI of the Councils, column 538] that more bishops should be added as the number of the faithful grew. And in order that Theodore might carry into execution this which had been treated in common, he divided the diocese of York into three bishoprics, of York, of Lindisfarne and of Hexham, as may be read in the Life of St. Wilfrid at the 24th of April Acta Sanctorum, volume III of April, p. 301, no. 32; nay, having deposed Wilfrid, who probably resisted, he set Bosa over the see of York. And indeed that St. Wilfrid not without cause took this manner of acting ill is evident from this, that he was driven from his see at the instigation of Queen Ermenburga, who, most hostile to the holy bishop, urged on her husband Egfrid, king of Northumbria, with womanly eloquence, says the Life cited Acta Sanctorum, volume III of April, p. 301, no. 31: "Your whole kingdom is his bishopric; nay, and if your power be compared with his power, it is less." Circumvented by such fraudulent speeches, the king asked of Theodore that he should divide the bishopric of Northumbria. And then one bishopric was added, that of Hexham; for that of Lindisfarne had been instituted forty years before Alford, Annales Ecclesiae Anglo-Saxonicae, year 635, § XV and following; while the see of Candida Casa (today Whithorn) was first instituted in the year 723, and pertained more to the Scots than to the English Ibid., year 723, § XIX.
[4] St. Wilfrid of York opposing in vain, However these things may be, certainly we ought not to wonder that St. Wilfrid, who knew thoroughly that the whole machine of that division had proceeded from the anger of an ungoverned woman, probably without the knowledge of St. Theodore, resisted the mandates of the archbishop, lest he should be deprived of his see; compelled to go into exile, he went to Rome and brought his cause before Pope Agatho, who, in the year 679, having gathered a synod of fifty bishops as well as abbots Wilkins, Concilia, volume I, p. 44, heard Wilfrid complaining Ibid., p. 47 "that certain invaders of my bishopric," he says, "no fault being proved against me, contrary to the decrees of the holy canons, in an assembly of the most holy Theodore, archbishop of the people of Canterbury, and of other prelates meeting with him, have endeavoured to usurp my see, which I had held for ten years and more; and in my bishopric three bishops have been promoted, although their promotion is not canonical. But what happened that Theodore, the most holy archbishop, while I survived, should of his own authority, my humility not acquiescing, ordain three bishops in the see which, though unworthy, I was administering, without the consent of any bishop, it befits rather to omit than to demand out of reverence for the same man: whom indeed, because he was directed from this see of the apostolic summit, I do not dare to accuse." Then St. Wilfrid professes himself ready to carry out whatever apostolic sentence, whether that he should take up his former bishopric, or that in the diocese over which he presided several prelates should be employed, who however should be such that with them he could serve unanimously in peaceful and tranquil concord.
[5] and his Roman appeal These things being set forth, the whole synod, defining, says: "We have established and decreed that Wilfrid, the bishop beloved of God, take up the bishopric which he had lately had, and that those whom, with the consent of the council to be gathered there, he shall choose for himself as helpers, be ordained by the most holy archbishop and promoted as bishops, those being expelled far who in his absence were enormously sent into the bishopric." But St. Wilfrid, fortified with the writings of the apostolic see, had scarcely set foot in Northumbria when King Egfrid, on the counsel of the bishops, consigned him to prison and then cast him out into exile. Which occasion the man of God having got, he preached the Gospel to the South Saxons (Sussex) and to the inhabitants of the island of Vecta (Wight), as is reported at length in his Life at the 24th of April [Acta Sanctorum, volume III of April, p. 305. Compare Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, volume IV, part I, p. 699], and so remained in exile labouring fruitfully until the death of King Egfrid in the year of Christ 685. But then St. Theodore, reconciled with St. Wilfrid, of whose disagreements ours treat at length in the Commentary to the Life of St. Theodore at the 19th day of September, § II Acta Sanctorum, volume VI of September, p. 60, restored the same to his see by the help of Alfrid, king of the Northumbrians, "first," says Eddius, the contemporary biographer of St. Wilfrid [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, fourth century, part I, p. 703. Compare Wilkins, Concilia, volume I, p. 55], "granting him the convent with the possessions adhering to it in Hexham, and after an interval of time, according to the judgment of the most blessed Agatho, prelate of the apostolic see, and of the holy synod, he restored his own episcopal see in the city of York and the monastery in Ripon with its revenues, the strange bishops being expelled from it."
[6] interposing. From these words indeed it is manifest that at the beginning of the reign of Alfrid, or in the year of Christ 685, the Church of Hexham was not yet established as episcopal, or rather that what had been constituted by Theodore had not remained ratified and fixed. And peace and concord stood for scarcely five years between St. Wilfrid the bishop and King Alfrid Wilkins, Concilia, volume I, p. 65: who both despoiled the Churches of their own goods and wished the diocese of York divided by the erection of an episcopal see in the monastery of Ripon. Which counsels Wilfrid in every way opposed; on which account, at the king's instigation and with the co-operation of Brithwald, archbishop of Canterbury, exile is again imposed on the holy man, in which he prepared a second journey to the apostolic see; and at Rome he promised Pope John VI in the year 701 Ibid. that, if the apostolic see should so judge, he would give up the see of York, provided that he did not lose the two monasteries situated in that province, Ripon and Hexham, which he had founded. And in this way, in the Council of the Nidd in the year 705 Ibid., p. 68, there are said to have been restored to St. Wilfrid "the two best convents, that in Ripon and that in Hexham, with all their revenues." And so, Alfrid, king of the Northumbrians, and Bosa, bishop of York, having died, John of Beverley, who already from the year of Christ 686 had begun to rule the Church of Hexham amid manifold vicissitudes, this being now left to St. Wilfrid, ascended the see of York. And from that time the series of the bishops of Hexham began to run on. It is worthy of note that all those bishops, who disagreed so sharply among themselves, were both distinguished for sanctity and obtained ecclesiastical cult. St. Wilfrid is venerated on the 24th of April or the 12th of October; St. Theodore of Canterbury on the 19th of September; St. Bosa, who, while St. Wilfrid was living, had occupied the see of York, on the 9th of March; St. Eata, bishop of Hexham against Wilfrid's will, on the 26th of October; St. Britwald, archbishop of Canterbury, on the 9th of January; St. John of Beverley on the 7th of May or the 25th of October. For all in a doubtful question were proceeding in the best faith: these indeed wished, bishops being multiplied, to propagate the faith more effectually: those, animated by equal zeal, wished chiefly to preserve whole and intact ecclesiastical discipline, the firmest bulwark of religion: and in this way we explain how frequent dissensions of this kind did not bring great detriment to the sanctity of those who disputed.
[20] it ceased about the year 833 The last bishop of the Church of Hexham was Tiffrid, who, Eanbert having died, began to occupy the see in the year 810; how long he continued is uncertain. But this we have from William of Malmesbury, On the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English, book III Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores of Savile, folio 155, London edition 1596, that the see of Hexham perished by the irruption of the Danes. For the army of the Danes, which was already feared in the time of Alcuin Alford, Annales Ecclesiae Anglicanae, year 832, no. 11, coming, the inhabitants being destroyed,
set fire to the roofs of the dwellings and exposed their secret places to the sky. Hexham is now a township of the archbishop of York." And the first irruption of the Danes was in the 33rd year of Egbert, king of the West Saxons, or in the year of Christ 832: the existence of the diocese of Hexham seems therefore to have to be prolonged up to this, or rather to the next following year or two. It is indeed true that the old documents have nothing about Tiffrid except his election; but if he had died before the invasion of the Danes, there seems to be no reason why he should not have obtained a successor. Richard, in book I on the state and bishops of the Church of Hexham, chapter XIX Twysden, Scriptores, volume I, p. 300, says indeed that the episcopate ceased 54 years before the devastation of Northumbria, made in the year of Christ 875, but this is to be so understood that the series of years runs from the death of Eanbert, the penultimate bishop of Hexham, since, as he says in the same place, the time of the last bishop is unknown. But not even in the year 875 did the Danes first burst into Northumbria; for it is read in Simeon of Durham, book II of the History of the Church of Durham, chapter V Ibid., p. 12, that already in the year 793 "pagans from the northern clime, coming to Britain with a naval army," laid waste the Church of Lindisfarne; and that in the year 867 they destroyed York and its churches and monasteries with fire Ibid., p. 14. Which suffices to show that before the year of Christ 875 the Danes had already brought devastation on Northumbria.
[8] divided among various dioceses. Thereafter the Church of Hexham seems to have been included within the bounds of that of Lindisfarne Camden, Britannia, volume III, p. 248, London edition 1789, as we said above at no. 214; which see of Lindisfarne, the body of St. Cuthbert being translated, migrated to Chester-le-Street in the year 882 Alford, Annales, year 875, no. 4, and year 882, no. 3: but in the year 995, when the sacred body of Cuthbert had again been carried to Durham, it gave the beginnings to this church and to a most noble city Alford, Annales, year 995, no. 1 and following, which received the inheritance of the Church of Chester-le-Street entire, and retained it up to the episcopate of Ranulph Flambard, who occupied the see from the year 1099 to 1128 with varying fortune. For, having enjoyed the highest favour of William Rufus, king of England, he incurred the hatred of Henry I, his successor, on account of the most grievous complaints of the people and the magnates: driven therefore from his see, he afterwards received it back mutilated. For Hexham with the region pertaining to it passed to the archbishop of York Monasticon Anglicanum, volume VI, p. 181, the Vale of the Teviot (Teviotdale) accrued to the Church of Glasgow, and the region of Carlisle constituted a new bishopric [Continuation of Simeon of Durham in Twysden, volume I, p. 61. Compare Monasticon Anglicanum, volume I, p. 225]. These things concerning the ancient state of the Church of Hexham we have premised, because on account of its temporary and intricate constitution it has become known to few. Now we approach more nearly to St. Acca.
Annotation* Of the Church?
§ II. The cult of St. Acca; his discipleship under SS. Bosa and Wilfrid, archbishops of York.
The cult of St. Acca The name of St. Acca, who is also read at times as Accas and Accus, and Hacca and Atta, is absent from most Martyrologies, without any prejudice being created from silence of this kind against the fame and cult of his sanctity. And indeed at this day the memory of our Saint is recalled by Claude Chastelain in his universal Martyrology and by Richard Whitford in the Martyrology written in English according to the use of the Church of Salisbury, which is preserved in manuscript in our Museum: but at the 30th day of November St. Acca is celebrated by du Saussay and Ménard; finally Bucelin places the Saint at the 28th day of April, whom ours, cited from John Wilson under the 19th of February, refer to this day, the 20th of October. But although these more recent testimonies seem somewhat to cloud the cult of our Saint, there is nevertheless no reason why we should call it into doubt. For, as we said, Richard Whitford did not compose his Martyrology at his own discretion from names of Saints and pious persons scraped together from everywhere, but according to the use of the Church of Salisbury and so that it might be recited among the canonical hours in the priory of Sion of the Canons regular (Elsingspittle) Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica, under Whitford, which abundantly indicate cult. Another argument of cult is furnished us by Simeon of Durham in the History of the Deeds of the Kings of the English Twysden, volume I, p. 101, reporting that the brethren of the Church of Hexham were wont at times to show the vestments of St. Acca to the people, by whom they were kissed with all devotion. Finally various writers treat of the honour shown to his Relics, of their translation, so that, although the testimonies of the ancient liturgy have been scattered here and there, we have sufficient monuments for demonstrating the cult and thus the sanctity of our Saint.
[10] and his Acts are weighed; As regards the Acts of St. Acca, we have no others than those which John Mabillon published, in the Book on the Saints of the Church of Hexham and their miracles, in the Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, third century, part I. This writing has as its author a certain anonymous canon regular of the twelfth century. For he himself reports in chapter VIII Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, third century, part I, p. 213* that Ædric was the first who instituted the form of the canons regular in the Church of Hexham. And the Anonymous betrays his age when he says in chapter XIV Ibid., p. 220 that at the time of the translation made in the year 1154 he had been a little boy many years before: from which we understand that he did not reach the thirteenth century. For the rest, what he narrates of the deeds of St. Acca agrees accurately with the older monuments, which we shall annotate in the Life to be published. But here we subjoin a brief eulogy of the Saint, which we render into Latin from the praised English Martyrology of Whitford: "In England, the feast of Saint Acca, bishop, who was the disciple and successor of Saint Wilfrid: he was a holy man, illustrated by many revelations and endowed with the spirit of prophecy: he did many miracles in life and more after death." Bucelin wove a more prolix encomium under the 28th day of April, but infected with many historical errors, on which account we pass it over, and undertake to explain more clearly the deeds of our Saint.
[11] probably a Northumbrian by country, Simeon of Durham, in the History of the Deeds of the Kings of England, under the year 740 relates Twysden, volume I, p. 101 that St. Acca "from boyhood was nurtured and instructed in the clergy of the most holy and God-beloved Bosa, bishop of York." From these words we have it that our Saint was probably a Northumbrian by nation; for no probable reason occurs why while still a boy he should have been brought over from nation to nation, especially since he would have had to migrate for the sake of instruction not from the southern region of England into the northern, more recently converted, but rather from the latter into the former. Since further Acca, while still a boy, is related to have been handed over to Bosa, already bishop of York, to be instructed, it may be concluded that he could scarcely have been born before the year of Christ 668; nor may his birth be much delayed without our striking on the other rock, namely the time of his receiving the episcopate, or the year of Christ 709. And that we should fix the birth-year of St. Acca about 668 is brought about by the fact that St. Bosa ascended the see of York in the year 678, as Bede openly reports in book IV of the History, chapter XII; St. Acca therefore was handed over at ten or twelve years old under the discipline of the prelate of York. But Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology under the 28th day of April reports: "Acca, a monk of the celebrated monastery of Streanæshalch in England, merited our Bosa as an eminent master of the virtues and of regular discipline, whom he also succeeded in the episcopate." But, passing over the most grievous error, namely that Acca succeeded Bosa, it is sufficiently clear from the very text of Bede that our Saint was not a monk of Streanæshalch (today Whitby, on the German Ocean): for treating of that convent, he says that five bishops came forth from it, namely Bosa, Eda, Oftfor, John and Wilfrid, "all," he says, "men of singular merit and holiness"; and if our Acca too had been a monk of Streanæshalch, he would without doubt have counted him with the other bishops, nurslings of this convent. It remains true, therefore, that the words of Simeon of Durham adduced above are to be so understood that St. Acca as a boy did not go to Bosa before the latter had obtained the see of York, and thus that the birth-year of our Saint is to be fixed about 668.
[12] First at Streanæshalch And since St. Bosa was formed to monastic discipline in the convent of Streanæshalch, and there followed the Rule of St. Columba, he prescribed the same to be retained among his disciples at York, as ours think in his historical Commentary at the 9th day of March Acta Sanctorum, volume II of March, p. 11, no. 1: on which account we wholly judge that our Saint followed the Scottish ἄσκησιν before the Benedictine: but when afterwards he betook himself under the mastership of St. Wilfrid, we in no wise doubt that he professed the Rule of St. Benedict. For St. Wilfrid openly gloried in having been the propagator of the Benedictine institute through Northumbria, when he was again accused of disobedience before Brithwald, archbishop of Canterbury: since to those persuading him to give up his bishopric of his own accord and in writing, he answered Savile, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, folio 151 verso that he had been the first who, the Scots being cast out, had taught the true Easter in Northumbria, who had instituted the ecclesiastical chants antiphonally, who had ordered the Rule of the most holy Benedict to be observed by the monks; for all which things he now, an old man and a pontiff of almost seventy years, received this in reward, that he should be compelled to condemn himself in writing. The beginning of the Benedictine institute attributed to St. Wilfrid is to be understood of Northumbria alone, which his contemporary biographer, Eddius, clearly indicates [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, fourth century, part I, p. 705]: for that the same had already been propagated in other parts of England is clear even from this, that its first Apostles, sent by St. Gregory, drew this norm of living at Rome, and, having drawn it, communicated it to the monasteries instituted by themselves. Which opinion our Papebroch asserts rests on the greatest likelihood and almost on evidence [Acta Sanctorum of May, volume VI, p. 374, no. 2. Compare Reyner, Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia, p. 2 and following]. Northumbria further, converted to the faith later and bordering on the Scots, as it received the Catholic institutions last, so also more slowly put off certain Scottish dregs.
[13] educated among the Scots, From what has been said so far we see that Bucelin wrongly calls his Bosa as if he had been a Benedictine; whereas he rather professed the Scottish monastic life, which also Acca probably followed. Accordingly with Alain Le Large of Ste-Geneviève, who reckons our Saint among the canons regular because he was instructed in the clergy of York Le Large, De Canonicorum Ordine, p. 84, we agree so far, provided however that he be not denied to the Scottish monks, who, as was said in the Commentary to the Life of St. Gall at the 16th day of October Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of October, p. 864, no. 36, joined clerical activity with monastic contemplation.
And that this kind of monks served the Church of York we easily persuade ourselves, since at the same time the Church of Lindisfarne under St. Cuthbert, neighbouring that of York, had the same form, as the Venerable Bede testifies in the Life of St. Cuthbert, chapter XVI. Nay, since St. Wilfrid had introduced the Benedictine institute into Northumbria, it may be conjectured that this too was a seed-bed of growing discord. And after St. Acca, having left Bosa for a cause unknown to us, or even after the latter's death, became a disciple of St. Wilfrid, he began to follow the Benedictine Rule. At what time this happened we can reach by some probable conjecture. For Bede reports a certain fact by which we can determine to some extent the time of the discipleship: for he relates in book III of the History, chapter XIII, that "the most Reverend prelate Acca was wont to report that, when, going to Rome, he was staying with his prelate Wilfrid at the house of the most holy archbishop of the nation of the Frisians, he often heard him narrate the wonders which had been done in that province at the Relics of the same most reverend king" (Oswald). Now we know of two Roman journeys which St. Wilfrid, already bishop, made, namely in the years 679 and 704.
[14] under the discipline of St. Wilfrid From the Life of St. Wilfrid we have it that on his former journey, in order to elude the persecution of King Egfrid, he landed in Frisia and preached the word of God: but at that time St. Acca, a boy of eleven years, was not associated with the Holy bishop; nay, St. Willibrord, as being younger, was still hidden in England or Ireland Butler, Vies des Saints, 7th of November. Remi Ceillier is therefore mistaken when he binds the Frisian journey to this year [Ceillier, Auteurs ecclésiastiques, volume XVIII, p. 36. Compare Butler, 30th of November, Louvain edition]. But in the year 704, when St. Wilfrid went to Rome the second time, St. Willibrord was both ruling Frisia as archbishop, and St. Acca was about thirty-six years old. It is true indeed that the two Wilfridian biographers, Eddius and Eadmer, make no mention of Frisia on that journey. But in the first place they have nothing either that is contrary, and then we have the contemporary and most weighty testimony of Bede, which can fit the second pilgrimage alone. There is therefore no doubt that St. Acca's stay at Utrecht belongs to the year 704, and it is fairly easy to judge that St. Wilfrid, having got the occasion, did not omit a visitation of Frisia, so that he might inspect in person the most ample harvest of the evangelical seed cast by himself. But although from these things we have it that St. Acca was a companion of St. Wilfrid in the year 704, yet we have gained nothing concerning the beginnings of that companionship: for he was then already intimate and familiar with his master, as one to whom Wilfrid was willing to entrust such a heavenly revelation, as the biographers narrate [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, third century, part I, p. 223, and fourth century, part I, 713], which is an indication of a certain longer association. We believe therefore that our Saint began to adhere to St. Wilfrid when, Bosa having died and peace having been settled with Theodore of Canterbury, Wilfrid ascended the see of York for the second time, namely in the year of Christ 687, or, as Bede says in book V of the History, chapter XIX, "in the second year of Alfrid, who reigned after Egfrid, he received back his see" (of York) "and bishopric, the king himself inviting him." Then therefore St. Acca, having become about twenty-one years old, "coming to Bishop Wilfrid," says Bede, ibid., chapter XX, "in hope of a better purpose, fulfilled his whole life in his service until his death."
[15] betook himself, and thenceforth According to these things the life of St. Acca was entwined with the deeds and various vicissitudes of St. Wilfrid up to the latter's death. And how much our Saint commended his manner of acting to his master is clear from what is reported in the Life of St. Wilfrid written by Eddius Ibid.; for when St. Wilfrid, staying at Meaux in Gaul, seemed already to be breathing his last, the Archangel Michael appeared to him, announcing that his life was prolonged for four years through the intercession of St. Mary the Virgin, and he added: "Remember that you have built houses in honour of St. Peter and Andrew the Apostles: but to Saint Mary ever Virgin, interceding for you, you have made none: you have this to amend, and to dedicate a house in her honour." And after these words the Angel of God, taken up from his eyes, departed. "Our holy pontiff therefore, rising as if awakened from sleep, sat up among the choirs of those singing and weeping, saying: 'Where is Acca the presbyter?' Who came at once with joy, giving thanks to the Lord with all, that they had seen him sitting and speaking. Then therefore, the brethren being removed from the house, to his most faithful presbyter Acca alone, who is now, by the grace of God, a bishop of blessed memory, he revealed the whole vision in order (as we said above): and at once the aforesaid holy presbyter, of acute understanding, understood, giving thanks to the Lord, that in this manner years of life had been added to our pontiff through the intercession of Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of the Lord, and through the prayers of his subjects, as fifteen years were added to Hezekiah, king of Judah." John Mabillon remarks on this text that St. Wilfrid built no church afterwards, yet makes mention of a certain church dedicated in honour of St. Mary: and indeed that a temple under that title existed at Hexham we have from Richard of Hexham, as we shall show more fully below. And Wilfrid wished these things to be made manifest to Acca for this reason, perhaps because he knew he would be his successor and the executor of the promised work, or certainly because he had already given Acca himself the convent of Hexham, as Eddius reports [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, fourth century, part I, p. 719].
[16] he was the sharer of all his deeds. For, says Bede, book V of the History, chapter XX, "Acca, his presbyter, took up in place of Wilfrid" (who died on the fourth day before the Ides of October) "the bishopric of the Church of Hexham, a man himself also most active, and magnificent before God and men." St. Wilfrid, namely, restored in the year 687 to the see of York and thus to the bishopric of all Northumbria, did not long retain this station, and was in exile among the Mercians, until, an appeal to the Apostolic See having been interposed, he was restored again in the year 705. And then, as William of Malmesbury has it in book III of the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English Savile, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, folio 153, "Wilfrid, received into concord, had his see at Hexham, John migrating to York, because Bosa had already died." From these words of William of Malmesbury the words of Bede cited above can easily be reconciled with those which we gave at no. 2 of this Commentary. For Bede treats of the last episcopate of St. Wilfrid, to which St. Acca succeeded without any intermediate bishop; but Robert of Durham, when he calls our Saint the fifth bishop of Hexham, counts also those who sat as bishops while the two appeals to the Apostolic See were pending, namely from the year 678 to 705: by which reasoning it is explained how St. Acca is called the second and the fifth bishop of Hexham. But that our Saint was consecrated bishop of Hexham by Wilfrid himself on his return from Frisia, whither he had been sent with St. Willibrord, is related by Pseudo-Marcellinus in the Life of St. Suitbert: but that this writing, stuffed with innumerable errors, is of no weight whatever ours demonstrated in commenting on St. Suitbert at the 1st day of March Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, p. 71. Nay, Bede clearly refutes both assertions, when he reports both that Acca the presbyter took up the bishopric in place of the deceased Wilfrid, and, as we said above at no. 14, that he fulfilled his whole life in Wilfrid's service until his death; on which account no time is found suitable at which the Saint could have preached to the Frisians.
§ III. St. Acca's episcopate; the temples completed by him; his friendship and epistolary intercourse with the Venerable Bede; his exile and death.
St. Acca, as bishop, completes St. Acca, having become bishop, by no means placed among his last cares the completion of those churches which St. Wilfrid had left begun; for Richard of Hexham has in his book on the State of the Church of Hexham Twysden, Scriptores, volume I, p. 292: "St. Wilfrid is believed to have begun three churches, but Acca the pontiff of blessed memory, his successor, consummated them." Therefore what Richard asserts of St. Wilfrid as resting on a more obscure tradition, he attributes with complete certainty to St. Acca. Hexham certainly had something to glory in; since no such church as that which was dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle could be found on this side of the Alps in the eighth century. On which account I have thought it worth while to transcribe here its description, drawn from the praised Richard Ibid., p. 290: "Therefore he founded the depth of the church itself below, with great industry, with crypts and underground oratories and windings of passages. And the walls, supported on squared and various and well-polished columns and divided by three storeys" (ambulacra; I interpret galeries galleries), "he raised to an immense length and height. These too, and the capitals of the columns by which they are sustained, and the arch of the sanctuary, he decorated with histories and images and various figures of carvings projecting from the stone, and with a pleasing variety and wonderful beauty of paintings and colours. The body of the church itself also he girded round on every side with appendages and porticoes, which by a wonderful and inexplicable artifice he divided below and above by walls and winding stairs. And in those very winding stairs and upon them he caused ascents of stone and walkways and various windings of passages, now upward now downward, to be contrived most artfully, so that an innumerable multitude of men could be there and surround the very body of the church, while yet it could be seen by none of those who were within below.
[18] the temples begun by St. Wilfrid, "Very many oratories also, above and below, most secret and most beautiful, he set up in those porticoes with the greatest diligence and caution, in which he caused altars in honour of the Blessed Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and of Saint Michael the Archangel, and of Saint John the Baptist, and of the Holy Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins, with their furnishings, to be most honourably prepared: whence also to this day some of them rise above like towers and bulwarks. But what Relics, and of which Saints, and what and how religious persons, and how great an abundance of ministers devoutly serving God he gathered there, and how magnificently and religiously he adorned the basilica itself within with precious treasures of books, vestments and every kind of utensils and other ornaments befitting the use of holy church, the little speech of our slenderness does not suffice to explain. The court of the temple also he surrounded with a wall of great thickness and strength. Besides, in a stone channel an aqueduct ran down through the middle of the township for the uses of the workshops. But the manifold and most copious structure of buildings, which devastation and desolation have destroyed, we pass over, although very many foundations are still found there here and there. For as the ancient Histories and Chronicles testify, among the nine monasteries over which the aforesaid father, prelate and patron presided, and among all
the others of all England, this stood out for artful composition and exceptional beauty: in short, on this side of the Alps none such could be found at that time."
[19] which are described, We have cited these things at some length, both because they pertain at least in part to St. Acca, who consummated the works begun by his predecessor, and because they explain fairly neatly the ecclesiastical architecture of the seventh century. And first of all architecture of this kind departed from the Scottish, both in the size of the building and in its form. For most temples, nay, Armagh excepted, all scarcely exceeded a length of sixty English feet (about 21 metres) [Petrie, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, p. 161. Compare Caumont, Histoire de l'architecture religieuse, p. 99]; but the building of St. Andrew's was far more capacious, since an innumerable multitude of men could be there in the galleries without being seen by any of those within below, which is an indication of unusual amplitude. It differed also in form, for the Scottish temples were simply quadrangular Petrie, p. 162; but that of St. Andrew had an apse, for this is what "the arch of the sanctuary" designates; compare Du Cange, Glossarium, under the word Arcus I. This, namely, St. Wilfrid and his disciple St. Acca strove for with the utmost industry, that, the Scottish rites being abolished, the English Church might agree as accurately as possible with its mother the Roman, not only in faith but also in discipline; for urging which more strongly the introduction of monks of the Order of St. Benedict into Northumbria certainly contributed very much. For since the monasteries at that time, and especially in that region, were the chief receptacles and seed-beds of the sciences, it was of the greatest moment to entrust the office of teaching to those who borrowed from the Roman Church not only the sciences but also the rites and all discipline, such as without doubt were the nurslings of the Benedictine institute. Similar industry was employed by St. Benedict Biscop, himself also a Benedictine, contemporary and fellow-countryman; for in his Life, written by Bede his disciple as author, we read [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, second century, p. 1004, no. 5] that he asked for and received from Gaul masons "who should make a church of stone after the manner of the Romans, which he always loved."
[20] according to the Roman norm From the text of Richard we have it also that a twofold church was built, lower and upper; the lower was mostly destined for keeping the Relics of the Saints, and was therefore called by the Latins a Confessionary, by the Greeks a Martyrium. And crypts of this kind, as Gervase expressly has in the book on the Burning of the Church of Canterbury Twysden, Scriptores, volume II, p. 1291, were built after the likeness of the Confession of St. Peter. And St. Wilfrid or St. Acca built both churches at one and the same time, nor is it easily to be admitted that the lower building is earlier in time, unless this can be demonstrated from monuments; for it had a special destination, as a repository of the sacred bodies. For the rest the temple of Hexham seems to have had a single, not a triple, nave, since mention is made only of columns in so far as they supported walls divided by three storeys: whence it is given to understand that the lateral parts of the temple were occupied by storeys or porticoes, in which were the winding stairs and ascents, and the innumerable multitude of men which was invisible to those standing on the floor of the church. And the altars constructed there were probably accessible to the body of the church only through windings of passages, since their vaults grew out into towers and bulwarks. Which form of the altars Bede completes in book V of the History, chapter XX, when he says that St. Acca placed the altars of the Saints in distinct porticoes within the walls of the church. Finally the court itself of the church, or its front, was surrounded by a wall of great thickness and strength, not so that silence and thus veneration might be won for the sacred place, but so that, a barrier being set against nations still barbarous and not altogether converted to Christianity, the church might be defended; for I do not see why otherwise a wall of great thickness should be built. Finally, this too is not to be passed over without remark, that the walls, the capitals of the columns and the apse were decorated with histories and images and various figures of carvings projecting from the stones, and with a pleasing variety and wonderful beauty of paintings and colours: which certainly were exhibited to the eyes of the faithful for this purpose, that they might draw salutary doctrine from them, which at the same time and in the same region Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow, performed for this end, as Bede testifies Compare Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, second century, p. 1006, no. 9. On which account it does not seem to us very wonderful that the ancient carvings had their own signification, although today it is perhaps very difficult to divine.
[21] built; Besides the temple of St. Andrew, two other churches had been built at Hexham, namely of St. Peter and of St. Mary; "and this one indeed," says the praised Richard Twysden, volume I, p. 291, "of wonderful work, erected in the manner of a tower and almost round, having on its four sides as many porticoes, not far from the wall of the mother church." By which testimony indeed it is shown that temples of round form were built even in the seventh century Caumont, Histoire de l'architecture religieuse, p. III. This temple, if St. Wilfrid himself did not begin it, as Mabillon remarks above at no. 15, he certainly much promoted its building with money: for in his testament, which Eddius preserved for us, he says Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, fourth century, part I, p. 717 that he was taking with him one, the best, of the four parts of his treasury for offering gifts through the churches of the Saints, and carrying gifts to the church dedicated to Saint Mary, Mother of the Lord. And from these it becomes probable that St. Wilfrid at least began the temple of Blessed Mary, both because he says "the church dedicated," which indicates at least somewhat more than a bare plan, and because, bound by the religion of a vow, the holy man would not have remained careless of his promise for a whole four years; for "he built the said church and the little chapel of St. Michael," says Richard Twysden, volume I, p. 292, "because by the intercession of the same Lady and the visitation of the Archangel himself he recovered from a certain very great infirmity of his, which he suffered in Gaul at Meaux. But the third temple to the honour of Saint Peter the Apostle, because, returning so many times to his See for his necessities, received honourably through him by his successors, he was freed with great honour from all the calumnies of those unjustly opposing him."
[22] he himself, curious of sacred history, Besides the material construction and splendour of the temples, St. Acca procured no less sedulously all those things which made for the propagation of doctrine and science. For, as Bede has in book V of the History, chapter XX, "gathering with the utmost industry the Histories of the passions of the Saints, together with the other ecclesiastical volumes, he made a most ample and most noble library": there was joined, namely, to the principal church of St. Andrew a monastery for the instruction of the clergy. But our Saint himself is related to have furnished the library most fully with various lucubrations, for he wrote, as Pits testifies, 1st, the Deeds of the Saints whose Relics he had laid up in his church; 2nd, On the ecclesiastical offices of his choir; 3rd, a book of Letters to various persons; 4th, various poems, especially ecclesiastical Pits, De Scriptoribus Angliae, p. 141. All of which, if you except one letter, have perished; for "the Danes," says Thomas Tanner Bibliotheca Britannica, p. 2, "more savage than their kindred bears, Hexham being destroyed to the ground, left not a page safe, so far as I know." But if all the monuments of our Saint's diligence have perished, it may deservedly be asked by what indication Pits and Tanner came to the knowledge of the writings of St. Acca? Certainly the Venerable Bede, weaving the eulogy of his friend Acca in book V of the History, chapter XX, insinuates by no word that the same wrote anything besides letters, although he proclaims him "most learned in the sacred letters, most chaste in the confession of the Catholic faith, most skilful also in the rules of ecclesiastical institution." And the writings of his which are reported are explained somehow, because, as Bede testifies in the same place, "he gathered with the utmost industry the histories of the passions of the Saints together with the other ecclesiastical volumes," but to collect books is not to write them. As regards chant and poems, Bede does not say that Acca wrote about them, but that he was a most skilled chanter, and kept with him an eminent cantor named Maban, … "so that those things which, formerly known, had begun to grow old through long use or negligence might be renewed by his teaching to their ancient state." I would readily believe that from such words of Bede were fabricated the works which are forged for our Saint without testimony. Nevertheless Charles du Cange mentions that he read certain writings of St. Acca in a codex of Saint-Germain-des-Prés marked no. 141, which perhaps is today extant in the principal Library of Paris Fabricius, Bibliotheca mediae aetatis, under Acca; but up to now they lie hidden. Wherefore we exhibit here the single letter of the saint, directed to the Venerable Bede, that some specimen of our Saint's genius may become known to the readers: it is found here and there at the head of the Commentary on St. Luke, since Acca had also requested it, and it is of the following tenor.
[23] he exhorts his friend Bede, "To the most Reverend brother in Christ and fellow-priest Bede the presbyter, Acca, perpetual salvation in the Lord. Often indeed have I suggested to your holy fraternity, both by writing when absent and by conversation when present, that after the exposition of the Acts of the Apostles you would deign to write on the Gospel of Luke also. Which you yourself have hitherto preferred to defer with a bashful excuse rather than to do, attesting that you were deterred from attempting this work chiefly for two reasons. Namely, because the work itself is arduous, and has been pre-occupied by the most holy and most learned prelate Ambrose. And that you did not dare to undertake a business exceeding your strength, nay, nor would it be necessary for a work to be repeated by anyone which was established as excellently completed by a supreme genius, and that it would be of superfluous labour, after the most powerful sayings of so great a man, either to say the same things otherwise, as a compiler, or, as one less learned, to wish to subjoin weaker things. And that you greatly feared lest you should be thought to compose new things in reproach of the study of the ancients, and that saying of the old proverb should be said to you:
'Why send fish into the sea, why waters into the rivers? But pour out generous gifts on unworthy places.'
But to this objection of yours I answer briefly, that according to the Comic poet, 'Nothing is said which has not been said before': and that charity endures all things, nor was it ever the custom of the Saints to envy one another, to provoke one another, but that each in adorning the house of the Lord offered according to his strength what he could. For neither did Blessed Pope Gregory fear lest he should offend the Fathers, by whom so many Gospel lessons had been expounded, which he himself treated again in his homilies; nor did Augustine, or anyone else, out of regard for the preceding Fathers who were commentators, draw back his hand in fear from expounding either the Psalms or the other things which he was asked, or from writing whatever seemed good to him. Nay even, as the same Augustine says, it is therefore necessary that more books be made by more persons in diverse style, but not in diverse faith, even on the same questions, so that the matter itself may reach very many, some in this way, others in that.
[24] that the Gospel of Luke, "Now there are certain things in the exposition of Blessed Ambrose on Luke so eloquent and at the same time so lofty (which I do not doubt your holiness also has seen) that they can be understood by the learned alone, while by rude or fastidious readers (of whom you may find many in the present age), on account of the difficulty either of following what is eloquent or of grasping what is lofty, they are thought not even to be sought as things above them, nor to be searched as things stronger than they. And the most learned Father Augustine gave no small judgment, who, writing to Paulina, handmaid of God, on the seeing of God, thought that he should use no other testimonies of Blessed Ambrose more than those taken from this little work, and judged that they should not only be set down simply, but also expounded; so much so that out of very few little sentences of the aforementioned commentator he made, by treating them again, no small volume. Which I have thought should be mentioned for this reason, that both your holy fraternity and the readers may at the same time recognize it. For I wish, when the work which I request has been completed by you with the help of God, that this letter be set at the same time at its head, that you were asked to write on Luke for no other grace than that of fraternal condescension, so that those who, on account of the tenderness of their wit, cannot grasp things sublime or difficult to understand, may more easily apprehend these things expounded in a simpler style.
[25] of Matthew, of Mark and other books he should expound, "Come then, most beloved, apply yourself sedulously to the aforesaid work, expound Blessed Luke in clear discourse. And because Saint Ambrose passed over certain things undiscussed, which seemed to him, as a man of the highest erudition, plain and not worth inquiring into, take care also, having examined the little works of the other Fathers, to explain these more diligently either by your own words or by theirs. I believe also that to your most vigilant study, who spend days and nights watchful in meditating on the law of God, the author of light will open in some places, which were left untouched by them, what ought to be thought. For it is sufficiently just, and befitting the governance of the heavenly piety and equity, that you who, the affairs of the world being entirely neglected, pursue with unwearied mind the eternal and true light of wisdom, should both here obtain the fruit of a purer understanding; and in the future contemplate with a clean heart the King in His beauty, Him in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have thought, indeed, that it should be intimated to your holiness what moves some, why in the exposition of the Apocalypse, when you came to the four living creatures, you said by a new interpretation that Matthew is designated in the lion, Mark in the man. Whereas some on the contrary assign Matthew to the man, because he begins to write as it were about a man, Mark to the lion, in whom is heard the voice of one roaring in the desert. And I ask that in this work you would intimate more fully what seems to you truer about these things. May the God of love and peace deign to preserve your holy fraternity mindful of us and ever to illuminate it for considering the wonders of His law."
[26] to whom Bede wittily replied: A very witty answer Bede returns "to the most blessed lord and most greatly desired Acca, bishop": "Wonderful truly," he says, "and wonderfully true is the sentence of the eminent doctor, that charity believes all things, hopes all things. For in the letters given to me you say that you ask me to write some things for you, and in the midst of asking, and not yet having received the answer of my consent, while the little works asked for are still to be sought, you compose the seal of a preface as if they were already acquired and perfectly consummated," etc. We have already treated above, in the Annotations to the Life of St. Luke, letter m, of the various opinions concerning the four living creatures attributed to the several Evangelists, so that there is no need to repeat the same here. But what is principal here, this letter sent on both sides shows that the greatest familiarity existed between St. Acca and the Venerable Bede. Other monuments also of intimate association are extant in the Works of Bede: for he wrote the Commentary on Genesis because, as he says in the dedicatory letter, "it pleased your holiness" (that is, Acca, then abbot, as the inscription has it, although Doctor J. A. Giles, publishing the same letter in another place, calls him prelate Giles, Works of Bede, volume VII, p. 1) "to enjoin on us this office, that from all these" (namely the volumes of the Holy Fathers) "as from the most pleasant fields of a widely flowering paradise, we should pluck what might seem to suffice for the necessity of the weak." At our Saint's exhortation Bede also composed the allegorical Exposition on Samuel the prophet, or on the first book of Kings, since in his preface he says: "Whence, provoked by your frequent exhortation, Acca, most beloved and most desired of all prelates who dwell on earth, relying on your prayers, surveying the writings of the aforesaid prophet, who was then called the Seer, if, He granting it who gave him to see many spiritual things, I shall be able to behold anything spiritual and mystical, I shall take care to commit it to letters." To our Acca Bede inscribed also the Books on the Temple of Solomon, On the Stations of the children of Israel, and on Isaiah XXIV. 22, which lucubrations first came forth into the light through the care of Doctor Giles Ibid., volume I, pp. 198 and 203, and finally the Commentaries on the Gospel of Mark and on the Acts of the Apostles. St. Acca also brought it about with the utmost skill that Eddius, precentor and disciple of St. Wilfrid, committed the Life of his master to letters, as the prologue of the Life teaches us [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, fourth century, part I, p. 676].
[27] he applies great care also to Gregorian chant: Besides our Saint's solicitous industry in cultivating the sacred letters, he had also great care for ecclesiastical chant: for, as the Venerable Bede testifies, Ecclesiastical History, book V, chapter XX, "he summoned an eminent chanter, named Maban, who had been taught the tones of chanting in Kent by the successors of the disciples of Blessed Pope Gregory, for instructing himself and his people, and kept him for twelve years; so that he might teach both those ecclesiastical songs which they had not known, and those which, formerly known, had begun to grow old through long use or negligence might be renewed by his teaching to their ancient state. For Bishop Acca himself also was a most skilled chanter." In which study indeed St. Acca the bishop trod in the footsteps of his master Wilfrid, whom we read returned from Kent into his region (Northumbria) with the chanters Aedde and Aeona and with masons and the services of almost every art Ibid., p. 685. And that Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, was not only very zealous for the Roman chant but also its propagator Bede reports in book IV of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter II, "since the tones of chanting in church, which up to then they had known in Kent only, from this time they began to learn through all the churches of the English." At that time, therefore, among the Holy prelates of England, with whom we also reckon St. Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth Ibid., second century, p. 1004, no. 6, the highest zeal glowed, that, the rites of the Scots being abolished (compare above no. 19), the English Church might approach as nearly as possible to the liturgical prescriptions and customs of the Roman Church. Therefore there was so great skill in tending the ecclesiastical chant, which, the method of Guido of Arezzo not yet having been invented, seems gradually to have lost its purity; thus St. Acca had found in his Church that the chant formerly known had begun to grow old through long use or negligence, as one which rested in great part on tradition. Men skilled in the musical art are today reducing the old notation of chant to certain rules: it is therefore to be hoped that the Gregorian chant, concerning which not easy questions are moved, will receive some emendation from the ancient codices.
[28] at length from his see Nor was St. Acca content with outward discipline alone; he also devoted sedulous labour to propagating the Christian faith among the Northumbrians. For, as Bede testifies in book V of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter XX, "he was most learned in the Sacred letters and most chaste in the confession of the Catholic faith, most skilful also in the rules of ecclesiastical institution, and he did not cease to be so until he received the rewards of his pious devotion." By which words of the Venerable Bede (whom our Saint survived a whole five years) it is manifest that St. Acca spent his life in handing on to the people committed to him the true doctrine of the Church and the right rule of conduct with all skill and industry. Yet the Saint did not persevere to the end of his life in the see of Hexham: for after 24 years of episcopal government Richard, prior of Hexham, On the State and bishops of the Church of Hexham Twysden, Scriptores, volume I, p. 298, says that he was driven from his see: "But by what pressing necessity," he says, "he was driven out, or whither he turned aside, I have not found written. There are, however, those who say that at that time he began and prepared an episcopal see at Candida." William of Malmesbury speaks in a somewhat more intricate manner, in book III of the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English Savile, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, folio 155, London edition 1596: "I have learned from the Chronicles that he" (Acca) "enjoyed no more prosperous fortune than his master: and that he was driven from his See three years after the death of Bede, it is uncertain whether he returned." For it seems to be ambiguous whether the three years is to be referred to the death of Bede or to the time of the exile. Yet it does not approve itself to me that the three years be computed from the death of Bede, who died in the year of Christ 735; for by that interpretation St. Acca would have sat up to the year of Christ 738, and thus 29 years in all, which departs from the constant narration of the rest. The interpretation therefore seems sounder to me by which the three years is referred to the duration of the exile: after which, freed from the penalty, he perhaps did not however recover his former see, although he returned to Hexham; for there he probably died. As regards Richard's last conjecture, which he himself too brings forward doubtfully, it rests on no probability. For it is certain that Candida Casa (today Whithorn), while St. Acca was still sitting at Hexham, had been constituted and occupied by Plechtelm, whom some wrongly confuse with the one who about the year 735 brought help to St. Boniface of Mainz, as ours show in the Commentary on his Life at the 15th day of July, no. 15 and following Acta Sanctorum, volume IV of July, p. 53: the Plechtelm, therefore, who presided over Candida Casa, as Bede testifies, book V of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter XXIII, was still sitting in the year 731: nay, if we believe Florence of Worcester, than whom we have no older writer on this matter, he died in his see in the year 735, having obtained Frithwald as successor, as the praised author relates under that year P. 271, William Howard's edition, London 1592.
[29] driven into exile It is certain, therefore, that St. Acca, now failing with old age, after he had ruled his Church for 24 years, was ejected from his see. But the older writers profess that they are ignorant of the cause of a persecution of this kind. Yet not improbable to me is the conjecture of Alford, who under the year 733, no. 2, thinks Alford, Annales Ecclesiae Britannicae, volume II, p. 535 that a faction was stirred up by an evil genius, because at the same time both Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, was captured and tonsured, and our Saint from his see
was moved. The tempest against Ceolwulf indeed subsided, he being restored to his kingdom in the following year; but it was longer against St. Acca; since, if we rightly interpret the three years of William of Malmesbury, of which in the preceding number, the exile lasted three years, freed from which he did not recover his former see, as happened to his master St. Wilfrid. We have further, from frequent examples of the English history of those times, that kings at a certain caprice of their own attempted translations and depositions of bishops, divisions of dioceses and other things of that kind. The Life of St. Wilfrid demonstrates this most clearly, from which we have taken sufficient samples above in § I, and it can be seen more widely in his contemporary Life written by his disciple Eddius [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, fourth century, part I, p. 671]. The Venerable Bede reports, in book III of the History, chapter VIII, that similar things happened in the kingdom of the Gewissae, or West Saxons (Wessex). For Coinwalch had asked Agilbert, a Gaul by nation, having received the episcopal see there, to remain bishop of his nation: but afterwards, weary of the bishop, who did not know the native language of the nation, he divided the diocese by his own authority, and handed over the other part of it to be ruled by a bishop of his own nation, named Wini. "Whence," Bede proceeds, "Agilbert, grievously offended that the king did these things without consulting him, returned into Gaul, and having received the bishopric of the city of Paris, died there old and full of days. But not many years having passed after his departure from Britain, Wini was driven from the bishopric by the same king," which was offered again, but in vain, to Agilbert. Gradually, however, through the efforts of most holy men, Wilfrid, Theodore and others, the decrees of the councils established unshaken the hierarchical order, at times disturbed by the machinations of kings.
[30] he died holily. As regards the death-year of St. Acca, it does not indeed seem doubtful, since almost all agree on the year of Christ 740; so that our Saint must be said to have reached about the 72nd year of his age (compare above no. 11). Florence of Worcester indeed P. 271, Howard's edition assigns the year 739, but in these and similar things we prefer to follow domestic authors, such as is Simeon of Durham in the History of the Deeds of the Kings of the English Twysden, Scriptores, volume I, p. 101, and Richard of Hexham On the State and bishops of the Church of Hexham Ibid., p. 298, who say both that he sat 24 years and that he met his last day in the year of Christ 740. And Richard indeed sets forth his statements in such detail that he seems to have weighed everything diligently, since he passes over no point of time. "In the year," he says, "of the Lord's Incarnation 832, and the 4th of the reign of Ceolwulf, and the 24th of his episcopate, he was put to flight from his see, and, as it seems to some, lived afterwards 8 years: for in the year 740, and the 4th of the reign of Eadbert, as the Histories testify, on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of November he was taken from the present world." We have already said above that St. Acca more probably met his last day at Hexham, since he is read to have been buried there without any trace of a translation appearing. Certainly Roger of Hoveden relates this Savile, Scriptores, folio 230 verso: "In the same year (740) Acca the bishop of reverend memory was taken up into the region of the living, having completed twenty-four years in the episcopate of the Church of Hexham, at the eastern part of which church his body was honourably laid; and then, more than three hundred years having been completed from his deposition" (and so about the middle of the eleventh century), "he was translated by a certain presbyter by divine revelation into the church, placed with fitting honour within a shrine, where he is held in great veneration up to this day. To demonstrate to all the merit of whose sanctity, the chasuble and tunic and sudarium, which had been placed in the earth with the most holy body, preserve not only their appearance but also their former strength up to this present day." These are the principal things which occurred to us for illustrating the Acts of St. Acca; the rest we shall annotate to the text of the Life.
LIFE AND MIRACLES OF ST. ACCA, BISHOP OF HEXHAM,
Excerpted from the Book on the Saints of the Church of Hexham and their miracles, by an anonymous canon regular, in Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, third century, part I.
Acca, bishop and confessor, at Augulstadia in England. (S.)
BY AN ANONYMOUS CANON REGULAR.
A brief synopsis of the Life of St. Acca: Being about to commit to writing the miracles of the Saints who rest in the holy Church of Hexham, those which we have learned were done by them one by one a, let us take our beginning from the most holy pontiff Acca, who succeeded Blessed Wilfrid in the government of the holy Church of Hexham b, the companion of his pilgrimage, the sharer of his tribulations, the associate of his exile, the confidant of his secrets. For first, most religiously instructed in the clergy of the most holy Bosa, bishop of York c, he at length fulfilled his whole life under the teaching of Saint Wilfrid up to the death of that father himself. Having set out with him to Rome, he learned more fully the ecclesiastical institutions and the canons of the Fathers, and devoutly laying them up in the sacred little cupboard of his breast, he delivered them at a fitting place and opportune time to be observed by those subject to him. On which journey also the aforesaid man of the Lord Wilfrid disclosed, before other mortals, to Blessed Acca the secret of that great revelation which by divine grace, through the Holy Archangel Michael, promised him a swift return, a prosperous journey, tranquillity of life, restitution of honour and possession, and the certain day of his departure. And when enthroned d, of how great devotion he was toward God, of how great benevolence toward his neighbours, of what discipline concerning his subjects, how solicitous about the divine offices, how studious in the sacred Scriptures, you have learned from the testimony of the Venerable Bede the presbyter e. Witnesses are also the books which the same Doctor, favouring the desires of so great a pontiff, wrote with Prefaces addressed to him, in which he expressed gratefully enough his devotion and his skill in the divine utterances f.
[2] his vestments long after death incorrupt But why do we seek other witnesses of his sanctity? of whom we have in our hands (so to speak) speaking signs, which it is very easy both to touch with the hands and to discern with the eyes, in which not even an unbeliever has denied that divine miracles shine and that sure traces of his immaculate life remain. Who, I ask, preserved unharmed from all corruption his most holy vestments, in which his sacred Relics were wrapped in the earth for three hundred years, except the Lord wonderful in His Saints, who, to commend the incorruption of his life, transferred to the garments of him lying in the sepulchre the grace of integrity which the flesh of him living had merited? You have certainly his silken chasuble, likewise also the dalmatic, the linen sudarium also g, in which the ancient beauty is preserved, the former strength endures: to which nature yielded, the earth did no harm, age was no hindrance. "But why," someone says, "do you assert that there was granted to the vestments on account of the merit of the flesh what we know was denied to the flesh itself? For not flesh, but bones in dust were found wrapped in those very garments under the earth." But far be it that we should say this was denied to the flesh. It was certainly not denied, but deferred. For the incorruption of the flesh is not of this mortality, but of the future eternity. The holy one of the Lord, therefore, has been glorified: in his temporal things he will be glorified temporally, in his eternal things eternally, when his mortal shall put on immortality, and his corruptible shall put on incorruption. We have meanwhile in his vestments an indication of his sanctity, a sign of incorruption, the innocence of chastity. For who would not be animated to obtain cleanness of the flesh, which he understands to be pleasing to the Lord, friendly to the Angels, venerable to men? Which he recognizes as a certain common beauty of all the virtues, a certain powerful vanquisher of all the vices? To which nature yields, at which age is astounded, which imitates eternity, which displays the insignia of the resurrection?
[3] The blind at his sepulchre Nor yet was the grace of healings lacking about his most sacred Relics, where we know that both the blind were illuminated, the presumptuous terrified, the lame cured. There was in the region neighbouring this a certain man, Raven by name, who led a middling life under a certain noble and very rich man; a man, according to the measure of his capacity, simple and upright, and before the other Saints much devoted to the most blessed Acca. A darkness of blindness suddenly oppressed his eyes, and, taking away all the office of seeing, turned day into night for him for three years. In vain was a remedy hoped for from physicians for him for whom a heavenly medicine was being reserved. At length the sick man, returning to himself, and recalling in himself the grace of faith and devotion, said: "What am I doing? whither has my mind fled? how long will my faith sleep? how long will my devotion grow lukewarm? why do I tremble? why do I dissemble? I will rise, I will rise, I will go to my Acca, if perchance he may hear and have mercy on his little servant, and turn night into day, and after these long darknesses present the joys of the desired light." And already the birthday of the most blessed Acca was at hand, on which he escaped rejoicing from these bodily darknesses to the splendour of the true light, which is celebrated every year with great honour by the inhabitants of this region. Then, thinking it opportune to ask the suffrage which he hoped for, he bids himself be led to the church. The man presses on with prayers, kisses the sacred altar frequently, waters the pavement with tears, and so passes the greatest part of the night sleepless.
[4] those who keep vigil At length slumber falls on the wearied man, and he sees in a vision the Holy one of the Lord standing by him, with a splendid face, comely garment, displaying the pontifical insignia, caressing him with a cheerful countenance and saying: "Have you, O man, great confidence in the saints of this church?" And he: "Truly, Lord, for my one and special refuge is Saint Acca the bishop." To whom the Saint: "Not in vain," he says, "nor unto folly for you. For I am Acca the bishop, by whose prayers know that you have been healed." The man rises now seeing, and astounded looks at those beholding him. For he thought he was seeing a vision. Then addressing him who sat nearer: "Is it you?" he says. And he: "Yes indeed: do you see me?" "Plainly," he says, "I see, if however I am not dreaming." He leapt up, and brought the miracle out in public. It sounds in the mouth of all: "Raven, Raven sees": all rise, they offer in the tabernacle of the Lord a victim of jubilation, they sing and say a hymn. The fame of the miracle is carried to the lord of the village, who, wishing to show himself grateful to the Saint, handed over the man himself, freed, with all his money to the Saint, and appointed him to the services of that church as long as he lived h. Would that, dearest brethren, with the same faith, equal devotion, nor unequal hope, we might implore his help in the perils of the soul, considering in what tears, with what insistence of prayers, a carnal man obtained carnal safety. You who are spiritual, against the spiritual infirmities of the soul, offer libations of tears to so great a father, immolate sacrifices of prayers, kindle the holocausts of vigils and psalms with the fire of charity on the altar of the heart.
[5] he illuminates. But I do not think it should be passed over in silence how a blind woman was healed by the power of his most holy Relics i. You know, brethren, how by the venerable man Ædric, who first of the Canons Regular in this Church instituted his life and manners according to the form of apostolic tradition k, two caskets are reported to have been found under the holy altar, of which one, of Saint Acca,
the other of Blessed Alchmund l, contained certain bones of the Relics, mixed with dust, according to the credit of the inscribed title m. But lest the value of the treasure which the pious explorer had found should be hidden from the finder, its power is proved by miracles. A certain woman n, deprived of her eyes but devout in mind, wore the threshold of the church days and nights. But because the poor little woman was sometimes cheated of the comfort of a guide, the aforesaid brother, having compassion on the wretched woman, often guided her steps, giving her his hand. And one day, while he was rendering the accustomed benefit of piety to the needy woman, it came into his mind to explore the power of the Holy Relics which he had found. Therefore, entering the sacred repository, having made a prayer, he brings out one of the bones, and poured water over it. Then going to the blind woman, he bids her trust in the merits and power of the most holy prelate Acca. She assents, and, with bended knee and lowered neck, adores the bearer of the sacred treasure o. Then he anoints her eyes with the salutary washing, and, the sign of the Cross being impressed, asks that the power of the most blessed father be present. It is wonderful! at the touch of the heavenly water a certain divine force presently parted the eyelids joined together, and gradually, the darkness yielding, the long-desired light succeeded. Both exult: she because she experienced the effect of a bodily benefit, he because of a spiritual fruit.
[6] he heals an affected throat: And so that venerable brother, made bolder by this very experience, and as it were advancing from faith to faith, more secure concerning the power of the most holy prelate, as often as occasion was offered, so often the grace of the heavenly power *. For it happened that a smith, who alone at that time served the inhabitants of this city with the benefit of his craft, laboured about the throat with a subcutaneous disease, so much that the force of the swelling both took away the office of speaking and closed the passages by which food descends to the inner parts. The city was in peril, while he feared the loss of his health, they of a necessary craft [p]. But while the rest despaired, the often-mentioned brother presumed on the remedy of heavenly grace. "Will not," he said, "that power which turned darkness into light very easily put down this swelling?" Having therefore brought the water with which he had poured over the sacred Relics, he poured it into the mouth of the patient. A wonderful thing! the heavenly water invaded the disease, and presently, as if it had received not water but iron, the skin is broken from the lower part of the swelling, the pernicious matter is expelled, and gradually, the throat subsiding, a way is opened for the voice, a path for food. And so it came about that by the same miracle health was restored to the man, a necessary craft to the city.
[7] a cleric against the Saint In our times also two men, who had lived from boyhood in the service of the Brethren, being given due stipends, when they were already held more distinguished in house, household and money, were made dearer to their fellow-citizens by faith and good morals. It was agreed by both to visit the places of the holy Resurrection and of the Lord's Passion, that they might merit pardon of sins there, where the sins of the whole world were blotted out by the blood of Christ. They kindle each other, and the purpose having been set forth in frequent conversation, at a suitable time, fortified with the sign of the Cross, and commending themselves to the patronage of the Saints and the prayers of the Brethren, they take up the desired journey. When they had crossed the sea in body, pilgrims coming from other parts grew together with them into one fellowship of good will. And when they invoked the patron of their own city every day (as is wont to be done) more familiarly, the aforesaid men frequented Saint Acca with daily prayers, and in friendly conversations insinuated to their companions of what merit he was. A certain cleric, whom chance had joined to their company with his sister, saying that he did not even know who that Acca was, accused the young men of simplicity and rusticity, because they called him a Saint whose powers he himself had not heard of, nor found his name in the catalogue of the Fathers [q]. Most unhappy man, who disputed about the merits of the Saint according to his own sluggishness, thinking that what he himself had not read was not written, and that the Blessed one had not flourished in powers whom he himself had not heard of. He laughed also at the ignorance of those who, simply giving credence to their simple words, prayed with them that the most blessed Acca might be with them.
[8] the blasphemer is punished: Adding blasphemies therefore to blasphemies, laughing he inveighs against the Holy one of the Lord. They, no longer bearing the evil-speaker , showed their indignation by just imprecations. That whole multitude detests the blasphemer, and judging him unworthy of their fellowship, compelled him to turn aside from them. As they went forward, the accursed man stood still, and at once, struck with a most evil seizure, falling to the ground he rolled about foaming. The wretched face of the man dissolved his sister into tears. But what could she do? she feared the companions whom her brother had exasperated: standing by, she brought him no comfort. Grief drives her to beg a remedy from those to whom he had shown himself hostile with excessive perversity. Running, she overtakes those going ahead, declares the misfortune with tears and groaning: she asks them to give some counsel to the one in peril. All refuse, and congratulate themselves that the blasphemer was justly struck. One of the young men, however, moved by mercy, said: "Do you still believe that Saint Acca can help you in this peril?" At the name of the Saint he opens his eyes, and, having seen the young man, with what voice he could he says: "I believe, I believe, and I truly and from the heart believe, and I hand you over to him as hostage of my faith: only pray for me." The young man prayed, and in almost the same hour he rose from prayer and the other from the ground. Finally, placed upon a beast of burden, he came to his companions, no longer a blasphemer, but in part a devout asserter of his sanctity. None thereafter was more fervent in the praise of Blessed Acca, none more certain in faith of his power, none more secure of his help or consolation in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils of mountains. And having experienced on the journey very many benefits of the Blessed Confessor, having visited the most holy places, the young men returned prosperously to their own homes, bringing back fairly honourable gifts for the Saint and a miracle for the people.
[9] After the desolation of the Northumbrians, which it miserably incurred when the Danes [r] burst into England, like the other churches, this Church of Hexham, to use the words of the prophet, for a long time without priest, the church of Hexham destroyed by the Danes without ephod, without teraphim, sat groaning: then weeping she wept in the night, and her tears were on her cheeks. Whatever had been of wood, fire consumed: that most noble library, which the holy prelate had founded, wholly perished. In which devastation, finally, it is established that the monuments were consumed which the holy Fathers had transmitted by the pen to the knowledge of posterity concerning the Life and miracles of the Saints. Then, when, the rage of persecution cooling, the serenity of peace smiled, there flourished in the Church of Durham a certain presbyter, adorned with many virtues, who was venerated in the place of a Father by all the northern English, who so hung on his words that whatever they heard from him they received as a divine oracle. And he was called Alured, son of Weston [s], whom also on account of the grace of his doctrine and wisdom they named Alured Larwa [t], that is, Doctor. He, admonished by divine revelation, running through the sacred places which the savagery of the barbarians had laid waste, digging out of the tombs the Relics of many Saints, translated them to the church of Durham. But coming to the holy church of Hexham, when he had taken up the Relics of the most holy Acca, foreseeing perhaps in spirit (for he is said also to have had the spirit of prophecy) what of religion, what of honour that very church was to have, he would not or could not carry away those sacred Relics, but, laying them away honourably within the church [v], he provided, by the disposition of divine grace, for the veneration of the places, the devotion of those present, the profit of those to come.
[10] a cleric of Durham restores, Further, when under King Edward Northumbria had gradually breathed again, and the remnants of the dispersion, received back in their seats, had girded themselves to build up the ruins, again, in the reign of William [w], when Bishop Walcher [x] had been killed by the English, flight from calamity and desolation followed. William [y], a monk by habit, succeeded Walcher, who, eliminating the clerics from the Church of Durham, substituted monks, and to some indeed he ordained possessions outside the Church, others, scorning to accept this, he did not delay to expel [z]. Among whom the son of the aforesaid Alured, who presided over the rest, since he did not deign to accept anything from the bishop, went to the venerable archbishop Thomas, who first of the Normans ruled the Church of York [aa], asking that he grant him the church of Hexham to be rebuilt. The venerable pontiff assented to his wishes, and committed the aforesaid church to him to rule. The man, coming to the place, found everything desolate, the walls of the church without roof, filthy with hay, bristling with woods growing over them, the plaster thrown down by rains and tempest, having retained nothing of its former beauty. And such was the desolation of that land that for almost two years he sustained himself and his household by hunting and fowling alone. He set his mind therefore to renew the church, and, beginning first from the eastern part, he erected an altar, and fitted it suitably for the heavenly sacrifices. But a little after, the business being unfinished, departing from life, he left the fruit of his labour to his son. Who, although as a sinner he lived otherwise than he ought, yet showed himself devout and solicitous about renewing, adorning and serving the churches of Christ.
[11] and he hands it over He therefore, expending his whole mind and care on renewing the church of Hexham, the wood which had grown over it being cut down, the walls purged of all filth, covered the whole church with tiles, and, the walls being plastered within and without, decorated it with its ancient painting and beauty. And a pavement of squared stones being laid in the eastern part, he placed in a fitting place an altar supported on columns. But taking it ill that the sacred Relics were buried in a lower place, it pleased him to take them out of the tomb and to lay them up more honourably with worthy honour behind the high altar in a casket covered with a pall [bb]. Having therefore taken the bones out of the tomb, until the necessary things should be prepared about the place in which they were to be laid up, he arranged them in the southern porch upon the altar of Saint Michael, linen cloths being spread under them, and for their custody he left his young brother, afterwards in this church a canon of the best life and good morals, named Aldred, secure of his simplicity. The youth, beholding the sacred Relics in his presence, touched with compunction by a certain inward sweetness, coveted some small particle of those Relics. "For," he said, "this church alone ought not to glory in so great a gift: since so great a multitude of bones could be sufficient for many churches." Shuddering, however, to touch such a sanctuary with his hand, he first said the seven penitential psalms with tears and compunction: and, prayer having thus been made, approaching the porch, he met at the very entrance so great a fire of heat that he thought he could suffer nothing like it at the mouth of a burning furnace. Terrified, he goes back, believing himself unworthy of so great a benefit. He prostrates himself again, weeps, beats his breast, and, repeating the sacred psalms, tried the approach. But presently a more vehement heat coming out of the porch repelled him as he entered, and took away also the hope of entering; for he did not presume to attempt it a third time. Having heard these things, his brother, who presided over the church, dissolved in tears, with great devotion and compunction laid up with due honour the most sacred Relics, wrapped in a most precious pall and placed in a most fitting shrine, upon a stone table which he had becomingly prepared for this.
[12] to the canons regular, The devotion of the presbyter himself toward the Saints increasing afterwards, he began to think within himself more strictly of his own unworthiness, of the sanctity of the church, of the reverence of the Saints, and judging himself unworthy of approach to so great Fathers; fearing moreover lest after
his departure the church should be handed over to men, if not less worthy, certainly less solicitous, kindled with zeal for the house of the Lord, he went to the venerable man, the younger Thomas, archbishop of York, and suppliantly asked that he would commit the Church to canons regular, and that he might hand over himself and his property to them [cc]. And when the venerable prelate had assented to his wishes, he built with his own hands workshops befitting Religion, yet of wood, and at the nod of the said pontiff introduced first into the church of Hexham two Brethren of honourable life, of whom one had lived laudably in the Church of York, the other in that of Beverley. And after the death of Thomas, Thurstan [dd], succeeding him, committed the care of that church to a certain Asketill, a canon of the convent of Huntingdon, and sanctioned in perpetuity that the regular life be kept there. That man was elegant and affable, skilled in conforming himself to the manners of all, and in winning for himself the favour of rich, poor, clerics, knights and countrymen. In his times the house of the Lord so advanced both in spirituals and in temporals that in a short time it abounded in good and honourable men professing the regular life, and the regular workshops, becomingly built of stones and roofed with wooden tiles, afforded a pleasant dwelling to the inhabitants. The church itself moreover, decorated with precious ornaments, and enriched with Relics of Saint Andrew and of other Saints, increased the devotion both of those who came and of those who dwelt there. To him succeeded a certain religious and excellently lettered man, Robert, surnamed Biset [ee], professed in the same Church, who, more apt for religion than for the administration of external things, after some years renounced the pastoral care, having as successor Richard, a man truly of honourable life and gravity from his very youth, who even when he was in the world was thought almost a monk on account of his signal chastity and sobriety.
[13] who, roused by zeal of piety, resolve Meanwhile in the Brethren, to whom the power of the Saints had so often shone forth, inward devotion grew, and love was the more excited. They felt them to be present not only in their Relics but also in their miracles, by whom they were consoled in sorrows, guided in joys; when they were tempted, they were lifted up, when persecution arose, they were defended, fleeing to them in any necessity they were heard. And because by their merits they were increased daily in temporal riches, they also emulated temporal glory. They were indignant that the Saints, covered with cheap wood, displayed nothing of glory and honour before the eyes of the people, which was quite often gladdened by their benefits. And first the heart of each grew warm within them, and in their meditation a fire burned out. At length conferring with one another, and quite often holding converse on these things, they kindled each other, and inquired more diligently how the matter might be brought to effect. At length, meeting the prior on this matter, they roused the devotion of the holy man to this very thing by their desire. The wills of all therefore agreeing in one, they undertake the desired work, those whom it concerned furnishing the necessaries with willing mind and ready heart. A casket of fitting size is prepared, and is clothed with silver and gold. Gems are inserted in suitable places, and by the industry of the craftsman the work is varied with the highest beauty. Two smaller ones also are fitted together, of no small beauty, although not of the same value.
[14] to inquire into the bodies of the Saints, And in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred and fifty-four, all things being prepared, the prior appointed as the solemn day on which the sacred Relics should be translated the fifth day before the Nones of March. Meanwhile the Brethren prepared themselves for so great a work with psalms and prayers and spiritual exercises: and now the appointed day was at hand, when about the third hour, the prior with the Brethren meeting in the church, they prostrate themselves barefoot before the holy altar; and joining fitting prayers to the penitential psalms, they sing with lofty voice the responsory which is frequented in the Church in honour of the Holy Confessors. And the solemnity after the chant being finished, the Brethren proceed, clothed in albs and unshod, and setting out the reverend Relics with the coffer in which they had been kept up to then before the step of the altar, the sacrosanct pledges being taken out of it, they placed them with the highest reverence on palls honourably spread on the pavement. And there were the bones of four Saints, divided one from another and wrapped in most beautiful palls [ff]. And when they had begun to unwrap them, there met them a fragrance of wonderful odour, which touched the nostrils of all, soothed the hearts of all. Astounded by which divine visitation the Brethren at first thought that they had been buried with spices: but when no indication of this thing appeared, they understood that the Saints of the Lord had imparted this grace to their Holy Relics from the odours of paradise which they enjoy for ever. Being much consoled therefore by these things, they explore first the sacred remains of them. The bones were found glittering with heavenly beauty, breathing forth manifest sanctity both in colour and in odour, which so turned the gaze of all upon themselves and roused their affection that they did not doubt that he was spiritually present whose Relics they felt to be suffused with such grace, to be venerated with such majesty.
[15] among which the Relics of St. Acca are uncovered. And lest there should be hesitation for posterity about the name of the Holy Confessor, he who had laid them up had purged every scruple by the attestation of a writing. For they find in the very wrapping a slip containing: "In the year of the Lord's Incarnation seven hundred and forty, Acca the bishop of reverend memory passed from the world to heaven on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of November, in the twenty-fourth year of his episcopate, and here his relics rest in peace." By this most sacred sight, therefore, although not sated, yet much refreshed, wrapping again the heavenly pledges in most clean cloths, they lay them up with worthy honour. And lest, the slip failing, the name and merit of the Saint should be withdrawn from the memory of future times, writing and engraving the same both on parchment and on a plate of lead, they placed them with the Relics. Then they betook themselves to inspect the Relics of Saint Alchmund: which being found with equal glory and honour, they read the slip which contained his name and office. And the writing of its text was: "In the year of the Lord seven hundred and eighty, Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, over which he presided thirteen years, died on the seventh day before the Ides of September, who for his merits was made a partaker of eternal beatitude, and here rests in peace." And the Brethren stood about that heavenly treasure, and scrutinizing intently all the parts of which the human body is put together, they found the coverings. And because those who had formerly laid up the Saints had taken some small pieces from the bones of Blessed Acca out of devotion, they wondered that nothing such had been done about the Relics of Blessed Alchmund. For why this happened had slipped from some, others had not even heard [gg].
ANNOTATIONS.
adorned and formed in the manner of a cross with broad sleeves; while the tunic was of linen with narrower sleeves Gerbert, Vetus Liturgia Alemannica, volume I, pp. 244 and 264. From these things it is more probable to me that in the sepulchre of St. Acca a dalmatic rather than a tunic was found: because in the text of the Anonymous the word "likewise" seems to be referred to the material: then, since in the eighth century the subdiaconate was not reckoned among the major Orders, I do not know whether the tunic or tunicle was already numbered among the episcopal ornaments. It is helpful also to refer here what the praised Simeon narrates of the state of the buried body Twysden, volume I, p. 101: "There was found also," he says, "upon his breast a wooden tablet, made in the manner of an altar from two pieces of wood, joined with silver nails, and there is carved on it this writing: Alme Trinitati, Agie Sophie, Sante Marie To the kindly Trinity, to Holy Wisdom, to Holy Mary. But whether Relics were placed in it, or for what cause it was placed with him in the earth, is not known. Yet it is believed that it was by no means laid up with his holy body with the cult of the highest veneration without a reasonable cause of devotion."
p. Here there is exhibited to us a singular specimen of the rarity of crafts, even the most necessary; since the misfortune of a smith is held as a public calamity.
q. The catalogue of the Fathers seems here wholly to indicate the Martyrology, from which in fact the name of St. Acca is absent.
r. By no reason, so far as I know, can it be determined to what time this desolation of the Northumbrians is to be referred: for at various times the Danes laid waste that region: indeed the sequence of our text, where a little below there is treatment of that region as already breathing again under the kings St. Edward and William, would suggest that the described desolation should easily be referred to the eleventh century. But we are kept from subscribing to this conjecture by the text of Richard, prior of Hexham, who attributes the devastation of his Church to Halfdan, petty king of the Danes, in the year 875 Ibid., volume I, p. 300, and then says Ibid., p. 302 that in the year 1113 the church of St. Andrew the Apostle of Hexham was converted to religion, "after it had remained, through many courses of years, with the region lying round about, quite often plundered and depopulated and long deserted." This explanation is confirmed by the words of the summary of chapter VIII of book II of the same Richard on the state and bishops of the Church of Hexham, where it is read Twysden, volume I, p. 304: "When the Church of Hexham, after the second devastation made by Halfdan, king of the Danes, as has been said before, was converted to religion." From all which it is sufficiently manifest that the chief calamities of Northumbria are referred to Halfdan.
s. Of Alured or Alfred of Durham Richard of Hexham relates these things Ibid., p. 302: "Elferd, son of Weston, a man indeed active and sacristan of the Church of Durham, in the time of Egelwin, bishop of the same Church" (from the year 1056 to 1071), "forewarned by an oracle, raised them from the earth," namely SS. Acca and Alchmund.
t. Larwa is recognized from the Teutonic root leeren, where also e is changed into a, of which a trace exists among the Flemings, where Godsgelaerdheyd and Godsgeleerdheyd is said for Theology.
v. Richard of Hexham states the same fact in another way Ibid., namely that Alferd or Alvred placed the bodies of SS. Acca and Alchmund within the church in the more remote parts.
w. This William is the successor of St. Edward the Confessor, who, duke of Normandy, occupied England and left it to his posterity, whence the surname of Conqueror for him; he presided over the English from the year 1066 to 1087.
x. Walcher, bishop of Durham from the year 1071 to 1080, a Lotharingian by country, of Liège by education, accused of the murder of Liulf, a noble man, was slain in a riot Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, part II, p. 104. Compare Simeon of Durham, History, book III, chapter XXIV Twysden, volume I, p. 47.
y. William of Saint-Carilef (of St. Calais) belonged to the clergy of Bayeux before his monastic profession: he occupied the see of Durham from the year 1080 to 1096.
z. We think it worth while to exhibit this change of the clergy of Durham from Simeon's History of Durham, book IV, chapter II Ibid., p. 51: "Having obtained by the grace of God the see of the bishopric of St. Cuthbert" (of Durham), "he" (William) "found its land almost desolate, and saw the place which the presence of his sacred body illustrates despicably destitute, with a service more negligent than befitted his sanctity. For he found neither monks of his own Order nor regular canons. Whence, overcome with grievous sorrow, he sedulously and suppliantly asked God and St. Cuthbert that they would help him with counsel to amend the things he had seen less fitting, and by helping bring it to completion. Therefore the old and more prudent men of the whole bishopric,
being questioned by him how things were done at the beginning at St. Cuthbert's, answered that his episcopal see had been in the island of Lindisfarne, and that monks had venerably served him both living and buried there; with whose assertion also the little book of his Life and the Ecclesiastical History of the nation of the English agree. A long time having thereafter passed, the cruel hand of the barbarians, laying waste not only this but also other places round about, as was said above, delivered the noble company of that convent to death with sacrilegious daring. But not with impunity. For all, terribly struck in a short time by the just vengeance of God, were snatched away from temporal things to the eternal torments of being tortured. These things therefore being learned, considering restoring the former service at his sacred body, lest anyone should think that what he had done by his own effort alone should be made void, he sought the counsel of King William and of his wife Queen Matilda and of Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury. The king at once, that the consent to so useful a counsel might be strengthened on every side, sent him to Pope Gregory (VII), to consult him both about these things and to speak with him about other things which he had commanded him. To whom, when he had said some things, though few, about the sanctity of Blessed Father Cuthbert, his counsel pleased him in all things, namely that he should gather into one, before his holy body, the monks whom he had found in two places of the bishopric, Wearmouth and Jarrow, because the smallness of the bishopric did not suffice for three convents of monks. This also most devoutly confirming with apostolic authority, he directed his letters by the aforementioned bishop to King William and to Archbishop Lanfranc, bestowing his blessing on the part of the Lord and of St. Peter on them and on all endeavouring to help a purpose of this kind; but striking those, if any should presume by contrary effort to weaken such things, with perpetual anathema on the part of the same, unless they should come to their senses with worthy satisfaction. When the king had heard such consent of the Pope, rejoicing not moderately, under the testimony of Queen Matilda, Archbishop Lanfranc and the rest of his barons, he gave licence to carry this out, nay, ordered the bishop to carry it out speedily. Moreover also the laws of St. Cuthbert, which he himself had sanctioned by his faith before his holy body as good as they had ever been under any of his predecessors, he then confirmed again by renewing them."
aa. Thomas I, a Norman by nation, but educated in the schools of the Saxons in Normandy, ruled the Church of York from the year 1070 to 1100 Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, part II, p. 23.
bb. What is narrated in these words Richard of Hexham also exhibits Twysden, volume I, p. 302: "In the course of time," he says, "in the secretarium of the same church Acca indeed at the right horn of the altar, and Alchmund at the left, were placed more honourably and becomingly in two arches. Then, the devotion of the faithful increasing, both were placed together much more fittingly and honourably behind and beside the altar, as is seen at present, in one casket." In so far as the word secretarium is used here, it can signify nothing other than the choir of the church itself; for our Anonymous, treating of the same Relics, says that they were placed behind the high altar. This word in the meaning of choir or sanctuary I have not found in Du Cange's Glossary.
cc. The handing over of the church of Hexham, made to the canons regular, Richard of Hexham reports in the following words Ibid., p. 305: "Thomas (the second of this name), by the counsel and aid of his chapter, namely of the church of St. Peter of York, freed the aforesaid church of Hexham from the hand of Richard de Maton. With the consent also of the canons themselves in the aforesaid church of York he gave him one portion from their common property for its freeing. Without delay, in the same year, at the Kalends of November, he led canons regular there, to whom he handed over the church with its customs and with all things pertaining to it, quiet and free, as he himself had held it in his demesne, as their charters testify."
dd. On Thurstan, successor of Thomas II, compare what Richard relates Ibid., volume I, p. 306: Thurstan or Thurstanus occupied the see of York, yet not without manifold controversies, from the year 1114 to 1140 Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, part II, p. 29.
ee. To this Robert Biset, prior of Hexham, Eilan, a secular presbyter, restored the parish of Hexham with the chief endowment of the church, namely because, says Richard Twysden, volume I, p. 305, "he repented that he had long abused ecclesiastical things, by which the servants of God ought more rightly to have been sustained: wherefore he devised how he might better make this restitution. He made it, therefore, with a certain beautiful phylactery, namely a silver cross, in which were contained Relics of the Holy Confessors and bishops Acca and Alchmund."
ff. The four Saints of whose finding there is treatment here are Acca, Alchmund, who is venerated on the 7th day of September, Fridebert on the 19th of December, and Tilbert or Albert on the same day as Alchmund.
gg. Here end the things which properly concern St. Acca. That further, as our Anonymous has it, some small pieces of the bones of Blessed Acca were missing will not be wondered at by one who has read Simeon of Durham's History of the Deeds of the Kings of the English Ibid., p. 102: for he narrates how the brother of Aldred the presbyter endeavoured to separate the reverend bones of Saint Acca, still mixed with the dust of the body, and to lay them up separately in a casket which he had prepared for this. But a separation of this kind could not be made without some small pieces of the bones being lost. Finally, we cannot take our hand from the tablet without adding here in place of a colophon that the see of Hexham has been restored in our days by the apostolic Brief of Pope Pius IX, gloriously reigning, dated the 29th of September 1850, and that the northern district of England was assigned to it Ami de la Religion, 19th of October 1850, volume CL, p. 163.
* supply "requirebat" he sought.
* supply words
* "eum"? him?