FROM JUSTINIAN TO LUTHER

 

IV

THE ENGLISH CHURCH FROM ST. WILFRID
TO EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

 

 

THE organization of the Church in England and its assimilation to the Latin rather than the Celtic model was to a great extent effected in the second half of the seventh century. The two men who showed an untiring activity in this work were Wilfrid, who is specially connected with Northumbria, and Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury.

WILDFRID

Wilfrid (634-709), a well-born Northumbrian youth, was helped by Eanfled, the Northumbrian queen, first to gain instruction from a monk of Lindisfarne and then to visit Rome. On his way thither he stayed at Lyons, where he won the favor of the archbishop, and in Rome he fell completely under the spell of a Church which was already venerable as well as vigorous. He then stayed at Lyons for about three years, and while there received the Roman tonsure. On his return home he was given a monastery at Ripon, and soon afterwards his speech at the Synod of Whitby in 664 resulted in the adoption of the Roman date for keeping Easter and the departure of the Celtic bishop, Colman.

Oswy, King of Northumbria, opened the proceedings at Whitby by urging the benefits of uniformity, and asking which of the two different traditions as to Easter was the true. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, was called upon to speak, and defended the Celtic custom on the ground that it was derived from St. John. His speech was interpreted in English. Wilfrid replied with confidence and ability. In tracing the Roman custom to St. Peter he was as credulous as Colman in tracing the Celtic custom to St. John, his manner towards Colman was dictatorial, and his references to St. Columba were couched in a tone of superb indulgence. But he was correct in asserting the wide prevalence of the 'Catholic' Easter, he scored decisively when he pointed out that the Celts agreed with neither St. John nor St. Peter, and in a dexterous peroration introduced the great text 'Thou art Peter'. The perplexed king asked Colman if these words were really spoken by our Lord to St. Peter.

“Certainly”

“Did He ever give the like power to your Columba?”

 “Never”

And as both parties were in this agreed, the king resolved to be on the side of the door-keeper, “lest haply when I come to the doors of the kingdom of heaven, I may find none to unbar them, if he is adverse to me who is proved to hold the keys”. The cause was finished.

Colman departed for Iona, taking with him some of the bones of Aidan; and he died twelve years later in Inisboffin, a little island off the coast of Mayo.

Wilfrid was elected Bishop of York; and, scorning consecration at the hands of bishops whom he regarded as schismatics, he went to France and was consecrated with great pomp at Compiegne.

The rest of Wilfrid’s life was one of ceaseless activity and varying fortunes, caused by his invincible determination to uphold the jurisdiction of the Pope in England. As soon as he returned home after his consecration he found his see occupied by Ceadda (St. Chad). Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, deprived Ceadda, but, in conjunction with King Egfrid, divided Wilfrid’s huge diocese into four. Wilfrid declared that he would appeal to Rome. His words were treated with derision, and when he came back from Rome with the decision of a Roman Synod in his favor, he was put in prison. He had previously done active missionary work among the pagan Frisians, and, as soon as he was free, he began to evangelize the people of Sussex, whom he rescued from famine. After Egfrid's death he went again to York and was again expelled and even excommunicated by a Northumbrian Council. He again said that he would appeal to Rome, and in spite of his seventy years set out to accomplish the journey on foot. He reached Rome in 704 and obtained another decision in his favor. After his return he made peace with his opponents. He surrendered his claim to York and received instead the see of Hexham. In spite of his appeals to Rome he was left in a worse position than that created by Theodore in 678. He died at his monastery at Oundle in 709, but it is uncertain whether his relics finally rested at Ripon or at Canterbury. He was a man of great ability and courage, of genuine missionary zeal and high personal character, although too unbending in his attitude towards his real or supposed adversaries.

Wilfrid must be remembered as a patron of fine architecture. At York he restored the church of Paulinus, which was rebuilt on a grand scale in the eighth century. He built a large church at Ripon; and at Hexham built not only a fine church of the basilican type, but another which was in the form of a Greek cross with a central tower, possibly an octagon, with galleries like those at San Vitale, Ravenna. The minsters at Ripon and Hexham still contain the stone crypts which without doubt are Wilfrid's work and are among the few early Christian monuments of Western Europe of which the date is certain. Saxon architecture of the later period is akin to the Romanesque of Germany rather than that of Italy, a fact to be explained by the religious and political intercourse between England and the Continent in and after the reign of Charles the Great.

THEODORE

Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 690), was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, the early home of St. Paul. He was consecrated in Rome in 668 by Pope Vitalian on the recommendation of Hadrian, an African who was abbot of a monastery near Naples. Together with Hadrian and Benedict Biscop he set out for England and, after various delays in France, arrived at Canterbury. Theodore, who had a scholar’s knowledge of both Greek and Latin, immediately gave proof that his scholarship was not divorced from great administrative ability. The recent victory of the Roman party over the Celtic monks had as yet brought neither goodwill nor good order: and Theodore, on making a tour through all the English parts of the country, found only two or three bishoprics that were not vacant. He was able to get his authority almost universally recognized, and Ceadda even submitted to be reconsecrated by him in the Roman manner on leaving the see of York for that of Mercia.

Theodore proceeded to make Canterbury a centre of learning, and gave personal instruction to a crowd of scholars. He held the first Synod of the clergy of England at Hertford in 673, a Synod at which the Church of England first acted as a single body. He steadily increased the number of bishops. And though he acted with a high hand in dividing the diocese of York without the consent of Wilfrid, new dioceses were really needed, and the creation of them was sanctioned by Rome. A Synod of bishops held under Theodore at Hatfield in 68o made a declaration of orthodoxy, acknowledging the five Ecumenical Councils which had hitherto been held, and also the Synod held at Rome in the time of Pope Martin repudiating the Monothelete heresy. Theodore’s Penitential is the only important literary work ascribed to the great archbishop that still remains. It consists of a number of answers given to inquiries such as were necessitated by the life and morals of rude and recent converts. More than twenty references are made to the customs of the Greek Church, a fact which proves a real connection with the reputed author. The tone is austere, but tempered with ideas that are both spiritual and humane. Theodore’s Penitential informs us that the Greeks then communicated every Sunday, and Bede, who had observed the same custom in Rome, wishes that it were followed by the English.

The custom of assigning the penances due to sins had long been facilitated by old canonical regulations, and by letters of ancient fathers such as St. Cyprian and St. Basil. But these rules were hardly sufficient for the use of ignorant priests dealing with people who were only beginning to learn the moral principles of Christianity. Hence we find, especially among the Irish, the English, and the Franks, a growing attempt to provide manuals intended for the use of parish priests. These now took a larger share than before in the administration of penance, which had formerly rested mainly with the bishops. The development of auricular confession and private penances among the Celts increased the need of written manuals. So in Ireland we find in the fifth century the 'Canons of St. Patrick', followed in the next century by those of St. Finian, and by the British penitentials of St. David of Menevia and Gildas. They furnished material for St. Columban's Liber de poenitentia, which had a widespread influence. The Penitential of Theodore was of still greater importance. In its comprehensiveness, its orderly treatment, and fullness of detail it is in advance of any previous treatises of the same character. Theodore was well aware of the Roman custom of the bishop publicly 'reconciling' a penitent, after his penance had been accomplished, within the apse of the church, and he revered the decrees of Rome. In spite of this, he adopted the Celtic system of private reconciliation, the priest, and not the bishop, being the ordinary minister of reconciliation. He makes the interesting remark that there is 'no public penance' in this province, and he admits the lawfulness of confession made to God alone. But he realized the value of a regulated discipline by which the children of the Church might make their peace with God, and in. England the practice of private confession and penance quickly became habitual, and was so general as to be characteristic of 'the Church of the English'.

Archbishop Theodore, between the years 673 and 681, founded as many as seven new sees in England, and the boundaries of some of these sees remained the same for more than a thousand years. The earliest bishoprics were conterminous with the old English kingdoms of the eighth century and were usually attached to the royal court, so that Essex, Sussex, and even Wessex had each one bishop and one only. And it was Theodore who systematically divided the larger kingdoms into smaller dioceses. By 780 the dioceses were as follows: North of the Humber there were York, Hexham, and Lindisfarne, the last extending far into the south-eastern part of Scotland. South of the Hum­ber was the large diocese of Lichfield, and also Sidnacester, which covered modern Lincolnshire; Hereford, Worcester Leicester, and Dorchester (in Oxfordshire). Elmham and Dunwich roughly corresponded with Norfolk and Suffolk. London, Rochester, and Canterbury were what they remained until the nineteenth century. Selsey was the ancient equivalent of Chichester. And westward of Selsey were the two large dioceses of Winchester and Sherborne.

The Danish invasions caused the number of bishoprics to be reduced. Hexham, Sidnacester, Leicester, and Dunwich disappeared permanently, and in the tenth century a new distribution of dioceses prevailed. Lindisfarne and Hexham were joined so as to make the new diocese of Durham. Dunwich was merged into Elmham, and Sidnacester, Leicester, and Dorchester formed one huge see of Dorchester. While the bishops of the north and east were reduced in number, those in the south were increased. King Edward the Elder (d. 924) divided Winchester by assigning Berkshire and Wiltshire to the new see of Ramsbury and divided Sherborne by giving Somerset to Wells and Devon to Crediton. When Cornwall was annexed by Wessex, a new see was founded at St. Germans. The Normans only created two new sees, Carlisle and Ely. But their practical common sense caused the Norman prelates to reside in the largest towns in their dioceses, instead of remaining in mere villages like Dorchester and Selsey.