The Collect
ALMIGHTY God, who hast enriched thy Church with the singular learning and holiness of thy servant Bede. Grant us to hold fast the true doctrine of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, and to fashion our lives according to the same, to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thy holy Church. through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings: (Malachi iii. 16; Saint Matthew xiii. 47)
The Venerable Bede – also known as St Bede – is widely regarded as the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon scholars. He lived and died in between the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow in the North East of England between 673 and 735 AD and wrote or translated some forty books on practically every area of knowledge, including nature, astronomy, and poetry. He also wrote the first martyrology.
In 1899, Pope Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.
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