Bede's Ecclesiastical History of EnglandBede, the Venerable, Saint
History
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede, the Venerable, Saint
England -- Church history -- 449-1066
At their first coming into Frisland, as soon as Wilbrord found that he had
leave given him by the prince to preach there, he made haste to go to
Rome, where Pope Sergius(831) then presided over the Apostolic see, that
he might undertake the desired work of preaching the Gospel to the
nations, with his licence and blessing; and hoping to receive of him some
relics of the blessed Apostles and martyrs of Christ; to the end, that
when he destroyed the idols,(832) and erected churches in the nation to
which he preached, he might have the relics of saints at hand to put into
them, and having deposited them there, might accordingly dedicate each of
those places to the honour of the saint whose relics they were. He desired
also there to learn or to receive many other things needful for so great a
work. Having obtained his desire in all these matters, he returned to
preach.
At which time, the brothers who were in Frisland, attending on the
ministry of the Word, chose out of their own number a man of sober life,
and meek of heart, called Suidbert,(833) to be ordained bishop for them.
He, being sent into Britain, was consecrated, at their request, by the
most reverend Bishop Wilfrid, who, having been driven out of his country,
chanced then to be living in banishment among the Mercians;(834) for Kent
had no bishop at that time, Theodore being dead, and Bertwald, his
successor, who had gone beyond the sea to be ordained, having not yet
returned to his episcopal see.
The said Suidbert, being made bishop, returned from Britain, and not long
after departed to the Boructuari; and by his preaching brought many of
them into the way of truth; but the Boructuari being not long after
subdued by the Old Saxons, those who had received the Word were dispersed
abroad; and the bishop himself with certain others went to Pippin, who, at
the request of his wife, Blithryda,(835) gave him a place of abode in a
certain island on the Rhine, called in their tongue, Inlitore;(836) there
he built a monastery, which his successors still possess, and for a time
dwelt in it, leading a most continent life, and there ended his days.
When they who had gone thither had spent some years teaching in Frisland,
Pippin, with the consent of them all, sent the venerable Wilbrord to Rome,
where Sergius was still pope, desiring that he might be consecrated
archbishop over the nation of the Frisians; which was accordingly done, as
he had made request, in the year of our Lord 696. He was consecrated in
the church of the Holy Martyr Cecilia,(837) on her festival; and the said
pope gave him the name of Clement, and forthwith sent him back to his
bishopric, to wit, fourteen days after his arrival in the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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