Eata of Hexham

Infobox bishopbiog
name =Eata of Hexham


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Hexham
Title = Bishop of Hexham
Period = 685–686
Predecessor = new foundation
Successor =Trumbert
ordination =
bishops = Bishop of Lindisfarne
post =
date of birth =
place of birth =
date of death =686
place of death =

Infobox Saint
name=Eata of Hexham
birth_date=
death_date=686
feast_day=October 26
venerated_in=


imagesize=
caption=
birth_place=
death_place=Hexham
titles=
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
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Eata of Hexham (died October 26, 686) also known as Eata of Lindisfarne or Saint Eata was bishop of Lindisfarne from 678 until 685, and of Hexham from then until his death.Powicke "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 238 and p. 231] He was the first native of Northumbria to take the bishopric of Lindisfarne.

Eata was originally taken to Lindisfarne as a boy under Saint Aidan and trained as an abbot under his predecessor Saint Tuda and then under Saint Wilfrid, Bishop of York in the intervening period while there was no bishop at Lindisfarne. In 651 he was elected Abbot of Melrose, and founded the monastery at Ripon in Yorkshire.Walsh "A New Dictionary of Saints" p. 166]

In 678, Archbishop Theodore split the diocese of Northumbria into two dioceses. Eata became bishop of Bernicia. Bernicia had two episcopal sees, one at Hexham and the other at Lindisfarne. Eata was the bishop of the whole of Bernicia for three years, after which the See of Hexham was assigned to Trumbert, and Lindisfarne to St. Eata. After the death of Trumbert in 684, St. Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Hexham. The two exchanged sees shortly thereafter, and for the last two years of his life Eata occupied the See of Hexham. He died of dysentery in 686, and was buried in the Benedictine Abbey of Hexham.

The only church dedicated to him in England is in Atcham, Shropshire.

Notes

References

* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
* Walsh, Michael "A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West" London: Burns & Oats 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05240c.htm Biography at the Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=965 Catholic Online Saints and Angels]
* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=405 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England entry for Eata]

Persondata
NAME=Eata
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Lindisfarne; Bishop of Hexham; Saint
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=686
PLACE OF DEATH=