Editing Ceolfrith

{{short description|Anglo-Saxon abbot of 7th-8th centuries}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Ceolfrid
|birth_date=642 
|death_date=716
|feast_day= 25 September
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|image=File:St Pauls Monastery Jarrow.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Remains of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey|St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow]], where Ceolfrid was Abbot.
|birth_place=
|death_place=monastery of [[Langres]] in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]]
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|canonized_date=
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'''Saint Ceolfrid''' (or '''Ceolfrith''', {{IPA|ang|ˈtʃeːolfriθ|lang}}; also '''Geoffrey''', c. 642 – 716) was an [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Christians|Christian]] [[abbot]] and [[saint]]. He is best known as the warden of [[Bede]] from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey]], and a major contributor to the project to produce the [[Codex Amiatinus]] Bible. He died in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]] while en route to deliver a copy of the codex to [[Pope Gregory II]] in Rome.<ref>George Elphege Hind (1908). "[[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Ceolfrid|St. Ceolfrid]]". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''3'''. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>

== Early life ==
Not much is known about the earlier period of Ceolfrid's life.<ref>Low, J. Low., Boutflower, D. Samuel. (1912). [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001591572/Home The life of Ceolfrid: abbot of the monastery at Wearmouth and Jarrow]. Sunderland: Hills & company.</ref> His desire to join the [[monastic community]] was likely due to his own brother Cynefrid's devotion to the traditions of [[Christian monasticism]]. Historians date Ceolfrid's induction into monastic tradition around the date of Cynefrid's death in 660. Ceolfrid is known to have a strong family connection to monastic tradition. In addition to his brother, his cousin Tunbert was the first Abbot of the Monastery of [[Hexham]]. His first four years in [[cloister]] took place at [[Gilling Abbey]] in what is now [[North Yorkshire]], which was also attended by Cynefrid, prior to his departure to Ireland. Ceolfrid is described as having "behaved of the greater devotion, giving his mind continually to reading, to labour, and monastic discipline".<ref>D.S Boutflower, 56</ref> After these four years, Ceolfrid left Gilling as he "sought a monastery of a stricter character".<ref>Boutflower,10</ref> He soon took in with a band of men, led by Wilfrid, later canonized as [[Saint Wilfrid]]. These monks are identified by Boutflower as being the Benedictines of [[Ripon]] at a monastery under the same name. During this time, he came to refine his own understanding of proper monastic principles. At the age of 27, Ceolfrid was ordained as a priest, and began to acquaint himself to the utmost with the practices of monastic life.

Very little is revealed about the period between the end of his days at Ripon, and his appointment under [[Benedict Biscop]], except that he spent some time in the institutions of Abbot [[Botolph]], whom he describes as being filled with "the grace of spirit".<ref>Boutflower, 57</ref> While having been revered as an inspiration for the way of divine living, Botolph also served to inspire a greater sense of humility within Ceolfrid.

== Relationship with Benedict Biscop ==
[[File:CeolfridBibled11v.jpeg|thumb|One of the few surviving pages from the [[Ceolfrid Bible]], one of three versions of the [[Vulgate Bible]] created in Wearmouth and Jarrow under Ceolfrid at the turn of the eighth century.<br />[[British Library]], London.]]
In c.672/3, [[Benedict Biscop]] received a land grant from King [[Ecgfrith of Northumbria]] for the explicit purpose of erecting a monastery. During the construction of his first monastery at [[Monkwearmouth|Wearmouth]], Biscop appointed Abbot Eosterwini (anglicized as "[[Easterwine]]") as his primary Abbot and Coadjutor. The monastery took eight years to build. This institute had left Ecgfrith so enamoured that soon after the completion of the Wearmouth Monastery, he granted Biscop another segment of land for the construction of a second monastery, [[Jarrow]], with the intention that the two should be administered as one.

It is during the construction of the Wearmouth Monastery that Benedict Biscop sought out Ceolfrid, who would become "his most zealous assistant from the first foundation of the former monastery",<ref>{{cite web
  |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html
  |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Bede: The Lives of The Holy Abbots of Weremouth and Jarrow
  |last=Halsall
  |first=Paul
  |date=June 1997
  |publisher=[[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]]
  |access-date=2008-10-28
  |archive-date=24 March 2012
  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324064211/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html
  |url-status=dead
  }}</ref> as well as a close friend. It appears that Biscop's invitation came at a most opportune time, for Ceolfrid had been contemplating the idea of leaving the post he held at the time. He had grown rather disenchanted with the power stratification within the institution (the name of which is unknown), and had had enough of the "jealousies and very bitter persecutions of certain men of rank",<ref>Boutflower, 60</ref> and had been looking to return to his own monastery (assumed to be Ripon).

Upon the completion of the Jarrow Monastery, Ceolfrid became the Abbot of the St. Paul's Church on the monasterial grounds. Conflicting reports state that the presence of Ceolfrid during Jarrow's construction varied. Some papers state that Jarrow came into his hands after its completion, while another identified Ceolfrid as being paramount to the actual construction of the monastery; as the individual who directed the construction of the monastery itself.

The friendship between the two was fairly close. When Benedict sailed across the English channel to Rome for the last time, he chose only Ceolfrid to join him in his journey. This trip was to be the very trip that would lead to both Abbot's immortalization in the works of Ceolfrid's ward and later contemporary, [[Bede|The Venerable Bede]]. Ceolfrid also used the trip as an opportunity to explore his role in Biscop's institution, feeling that Rome would be an opportune place to learn his position's responsibilities. Twelve years later, upon the death of Abbot Eosterwini, Ceolfrid was appointed as the sole Abbot for both Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, an honour never heard of before. In 690, Benedict Biscop died, after being bedridden for a lengthy period of time, and Ceolfrid became the leading head of both monasteries, "[whose] libraries of both monasteries, which Abbot Benedict had so actively begun, under his zealous care became doubled in extent".<ref>Ruby Davis, "Bede's early Readings"</ref>

== Relationship with Bede ==

[[Bede]] came into Ceolfrid's care at the young age of seven, and became the pupil of the Abbot as well as friend. In his early years at the twin Monasteries of Wearmouth – Jarrow (686), the Plague had struck Northumbria, and ravaged most of the countryside, including the twin Monasteries. Ceolfrid and Bede appeared to have remained untouched by the epidemic, and took the duties of caring for the infected and dying monks of the monasteries with unyielding fervour. They further worked together in maintaining the regular sermons when fear had gripped the population. When the Plague finally passed over, master and pupil began to rebuild the monastic foundations and succeeded effectively. Bede remained in Jarrow for the majority of his life, never straying more than 70 miles from the monastery at any time. He was a loyal pupil until Ceolfrid's death, and he died in Jarrow in 735.

== The Codex Amiatinus Project ==
[[File:CodxAmiatinusFolio5rEzra.jpg|thumb|250px|Portrait of [[Ezra]] from the [[Codex Amiatinus]] in the [[Laurentian Library]], Florence.]]
The [[Codex Amiatinus]] is the oldest manuscript with a complete text of the [[Vulgate]]. The Codex Amiatinus is described as a brilliant display of the beauty that is Early British, Pre-[[Carolingian Renaissance|Carolingian]] [[calligraphy]].{{whom|date=April 2025}} It used as a model the (''[[Vetus Latina]]'') [[Codex Grandior]] of [[Cassiodorus]], which Coelfrith had obtained in Rome.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meyvaert |first1=Paul |title=Bede, Cassiodorus, and the Codex Amiatinus |journal=Speculum |date=1996 |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=827–883 |doi=10.2307/2865722 |jstor=2865722 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2865722 |issn=0038-7134|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The composition of the Vulgate was part of the project to expand Wearmouth and Jarrow's extensive library, and Ceolfrid ordered three copies of this Bible manuscript to be composed; one of which would be dedicated to the Pope Gregory II, while the other two copies were meant to stay in the respective churches of Wearmouth and Jarrow. There are no official records that state that the text made it to Rome. It is said that instead, it made its way into Florence, where it was presented by the Lombard Abbot Peter to the [[Abbazia di San Salvatore]] at [[Mount Amiata]] in [[Tuscany]]. It is believed that he changed the dedicatory note inscribed within the leaves as donated to the monastery. This occurred in the 9th century. The document remained at Mount Amiata until 1786, when it was relocated to the [[Laurentian Library]] in Florence. There is some dispute over what consisted of this Vulgate Codex. Over the past few hundred years, additional leaves that appear to be related to this text have been located in Britain, some having been used as book wrappings. These new discoveries have led scholars to question the total length of the codex, as there are still fragments missing from it today.

== Ceolfrid and the Picts ==

Sometime after 711, [[Nechtan mac Der-Ilei]], King of the [[Picts]], sought authoritative advice from Abbot Ceolfrid on the reform of paschal cycles with a view to harmonising the celebration of Easter within his kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsDaEAAAQBAJ |title = For the Catholic Easter and the Roman Tonsure |isbn = 9798868900235 |last1 = Curtin|first1 = D. P.|date = June 2013|publisher = Dalcassian Press }}</ref> By 716 both the Picts and the Columban clergy of [[Iona]] had adopted the ''pascha catholica''.<ref>Grigg, Julianna (2015), ''The Philosopher King and the Pictish Nation'', Four Courts Press, Dublin</ref>

== Final days ==

Ceolfrid apparently knew that he was coming to the end of his life, and so he resigned his post and was succeeded by [[Hwaetberht]]. He then set sail for Rome with the intent of delivering the Codex Amiatinus Bible to Pope Gregory II. He made it as far as [[Langres]] in Burgundy, where he died on 29 September 716 and was buried.

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==

* Davis, Ruby, ''Bede's Early Readings'', as appearing in '''''Speculum''''' Vol.8, No.2, 1933. PP.179–195.
* Anon., "The Anonymous Life of Ceolfrith," in ''Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow'', ed. and trans. Christopher Grocock and I. N. Wood (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2013).
* Anon., ''Life of Ceolfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow.'' As translated by D.S. Boutflower. London: Sunderland Hills & Company, 1912. Pgs 10,56,57.
* Bede, ''Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow'' As appearing in '''''The Medieval Sourcebook''''' [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324064211/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html |date=24 March 2012 }}
* Marsden, Richard, ''The Text of Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Book 15 of '''''Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England'''''
* Bell, H.I, ''Leaves of an Early Bible Manuscript''. As appearing in '''''[[British Museum Quarterly|The British Museum Quarterly]]''''', Vol.12, No.2 April 1938, Pp.&nbsp;39–40
* Laistner, M.L.W, ''Bede as a Classical and Patristic Scholar'' As appearing in '''''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society''''', Fourth series, Vol. 33, (1933), Pp.&nbsp;69–94
* Lowe, E.A. ''The Uncial Gospel Leaves attached to the Utrecht Psalter'' As appearing in '''''The Art Bulletin''''', Vol.34, No.3 (September 1952)
* McGurk, Patrick ''An Anglo-Saxon Bible fragment of the Late 8th Century'' As appearing in '''''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes''''', Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (January - June, 1962), pp.&nbsp;18–34

==External links==
{{commons category|Ceolfridus}}
* {{PASE|10069|Ceolfrith 1}}
* [https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/05/the-ceolfrith-bible.html The Ceolfrith Bible], [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_45025 Additional MS 45025], [[British Library]]
{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
before=&ndash; |
title=[[Abbot]] of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory|Jarrow]] |
years=682&ndash;716/7 |
after=[[Hwaetberht]] |
}}
{{succession box |
before=[[Sigfrith]] |
title=[[Abbot]] of <br />[[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory|Monkwearmouth]] |
years=690&ndash;716/717 |
after=? |
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bede}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Abbots of Jarrow]]
[[Category:Abbots of Wearmouth]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:642 births]]
[[Category:717 deaths]]
[[Category:Bede]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian abbots]]