Today is the feast of Bede the Venerable. He reposed on this day in AD 735 on the feast of the Ascension, chanting the praises of the Holy Trinity. Whether you venerate him as a Saint or a venerable Father, he was one awesome dude. THREAD
(Icon pictured:redbubble.com/i/greeting-car…)
(Icon pictured:redbubble.com/i/greeting-car…)
Bede (+ 735) was an English Benedictine monk based in Northumbria. He was one of the greatest teachers and thinkers of the Church in the early medieval West. But particularly...
... in the area of time reckoning. Bede was a master of the academic discipline of computus, otherwise known to his contemporaries as the science of calculating calendar dates...
He laboured to accurately compute the date of Easter, an effort that was mired in difficulty and controversy...
To aid the process of computus, he developed an early prototype of Google calendars to help sync the diverse Church computations of the vernal equinox. That was a joke, just making sure you're still with me. Back to Bede...
He also helped popularize the practice of dating forward from the birth of Christ (Anno Domini – in the year of our Lord), originally proposed by Dionisius Exiguus in the fifth-sixth centuries. This practice eventually became commonplace in medieval Europe and beyond.
A note abt the AD practice: Dionisius Exegius was most certainly "off" in his reckoning of the year of Christ's birth by 4-6 years. His objective was historical precision in the modern sense necessarily, but to pave an alternative to the Diocletian eras.
Christians, he thought, should refer time to Christ, not to a tyrant who persecuted the Church. Fair enough.
Anyway, one thing is absolutely certain: always put "AD" *before* the year in question (e.g. AD 2021) not after (e.g. 2021 AD). Because Latin.
Back to Bede. Again.
Anyway, one thing is absolutely certain: always put "AD" *before* the year in question (e.g. AD 2021) not after (e.g. 2021 AD). Because Latin.
Back to Bede. Again.
His writings are refreshing, not only b/c of their historical content re. Christianity in the realy medieval British Isles, but b/c their humanity resonates centuries and centuries later. Here are a few beloved quotes, mostly from his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where He will.
-Bede the Venerable
-Bede the Venerable
I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything. - Bede the Venerable
The present life of man seems to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like the swift flight of a sparrow through the room where you sit at supper in winter with a good fire in the midst (read the rest in the image below...)
Venerable Bede, pray for us!
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