Aldhelm

__NOTOC__Infobox Saint
name=Saint Aldhelm
birth_date=c. 639
death_date=25 May 709
feast_day=25 May
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion


imagesize=200px
caption=Stained glass window showing Aldhelm, installed in Malmesbury Abbey in 1928 in memory of Rev. Canon C. D. H. McMillan, Vicar of Malmesbury from 1907 to 1919
birth_place=Wessex
death_place=Doulting, Somerset
titles=Abbot & Bishop
beatified_date=
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canonized_date=
canonized_place=
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attributes=monk playing a harp; or bishop with staff sprouting ash leaves
patronage=Malmesbury; Sherborne; musicians; song writers
major_shrine=Malmesbury Abbey, now destroyed.
suppressed_date=
issues=
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prayer_attrib=

Saint Aldhelm (c. 639-25 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, Latin poet and Anglo-Saxon literature scholar, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex.Walsh "A New Dictionary of Saints" p. 21-22] He was certainly not, as Aldhelm's early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine.

Life

Aldhelm received his first education in the school of an Irish scholar and monk, Maildulf (also "Maeldubh" or "Meldun") (died c. 675), who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon (or "Bladow") on the site of the town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg, Meldunesburg, etc., and finally Malmesbury, after him.

In 668, Pope Vitalian sent Theodore of Tarsus to be Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same time the African scholar Hadrian, became abbot of St Augustine's at Canterbury. Aldhelm was one of his disciples, for he addresses him as the 'venerable preceptor of my rude childhood.' He must, nevertheless, have been thirty years of age when he began to study with Hadrian. His studies included Roman law, astronomy, astrology, the art of reckoning and the difficulties of the calendar. He learned, according to the doubtful statements of the early lives, both Greek and Hebrew. He certainly introduces many Latinized Greek words into his works.

Ill health compelled him to leave Canterbury, and he returned to Malmesbury Abbey, where he was a monk under Maildulf for fourteen years, dating probably from 661, and including the period of his studies with Hadrian. When Maildulf died, Aldhelm was appointed in 675, according to a charter of doubtful authenticity cited by William of Malmesbury, by Leuthere, Bishop of Winchester (671-676), to succeed to the direction of the monastery, of which he became the first abbot.

Aldhelm introduced the Benedictine rule, and secured the right of the election of the abbot to the monks themselves. The community at Malmesbury increased, and Aldhelm was able to found two other monasteries as centres of learning, at Frome, Somerset and at Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. The little church of St Lawrence at Bradford on Avon dates back to his time, and may safely be regarded as his. At Malmesbury he built a new church to replace Maildulf's modest building, and obtained considerable grants of land for the monastery.

His fame as a scholar spread to other countries. Artwil, the son of an Irish king, submitted his writings for Aldhelm's approval, and Cellanus, an Irish monk from Peronne, was one of his correspondents. Aldhelm was the first Anglo-Saxon, so far as we know, to write in Latin verse, and his letter to Acircius (Aldfrith or Eadfrith, king of Northumbria) is a treatise on Latin prosody for the use of his countrymen. In this work he included his most famous productions, 101 riddles in Latin hexameters. Each of them is a complete picture, and one of them runs to 83 lines.

That his merits as a scholar were early recognized in his own country is shown by the encomium of Bede ("Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" 5.18), who speaks of him as a wonder of erudition. His fame reached Italy, and at the request of Pope Sergius I he paid a visit to Rome, of which, however, there is no notice in his extant writings. On his return, bringing with him privileges for his monastery and a magnificent altar, he received a popular ovation.

He was deputed by a synod of the church in Wessex to remonstrate with the Britons of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) on their differences from the Roman practice in the shape of the tonsure and the date of Easter. This he did in a long and rather acrimonious letter to their king Geraint (Geruntius) achieving ultimate agreement with Rome.

In 705, or perhaps earlier, Haeddi, bishop of Winchester, died, and the diocese was divided into two parts. Sherborne was the new see, of which Aldhelm reluctantly became the first bishop in 705.Powicke "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 254] He wished to resign the abbey of Malmesbury which he had governed for thirty years, but yielding to the remonstrances of the monks he continued to direct it until his death. He was now an old man, but he showed great activity in his new functions. The cathedral church which he built at Sherborne, though replaced later by a Norman church, is described by William of Malmesbury. In his capacity as bishop, he displayed a great deal of energy. This included going into public places where he would sing hymns and passages from the gospels interspersed with bits of clowning to draw attention to his message.

Aldhelm was on his rounds in his diocese when he died in the church of Doulting on May 25 709. The body was taken to Malmesbury, and crosses were set up by his friend, Egwin, Bishop of Worcester, at the various stopping-places. He was buried in the church of St Michael at Malmesbury Abbey. His biographers relate miracles due to his sanctity worked during his lifetime and at his shrine. The cape in Dorset commonly known as St Alban's Head is more properly called St. Aldhelm's Head in his honour.

He was revered as a saint after his death, with his feast day being celebrated on May 25.

Writings

According to William of Malmesbury, Aldhelm wrote poetry in Anglo-Saxon also, and set his own compositions to music, but none of his songs, which were still popular in the time of Alfred, have come down to us. Finding his people slow to come to church, he is said to have stood at the end of a bridge singing songs in the vernacular, thus collecting a crowd to listen to exhortations on sacred subjects. Aldhelm wrote in elaborate and grandiloquent and very difficult Latin, which became the dominant Latin style for centuries, though eventually came to be regarded as barbarous. His works became standard school texts in monastic schools, until his influence declined around the time of the Norman Conquest.

Aldhelm's collected works were edited by R. Ehwald, "Aldhelmi opera omnia" (Berlin, 1919). An earlier edition by J. A. Giles, "Patres eccl. Angl." (Oxford, 1844) was reprinted by JP Migne in his "Patrologiae Cursus," vol. 89 (1850). The letter to King Geraint of Dumnonia, was supposed to have been destroyed by the Britons (William of Malmesbury, "Gesta Pontificum," p. 361), but was discovered with others of Aldhelm's in the correspondence of St Boniface, archbishop of Mainz. A long letter to Eahfrid, a scholar just returned from Ireland (first printed in Usher, "Veterum Epistt. Hiber. Sylloge," 1632), is of interest as casting light on the relations between English and Irish scholars.

Aldhelm's best-known work is the "De Laude Virginitatis", a Latin treatise on virginity addressed to the nuns of the double monastery at Barking. After a long preface extolling the merits of virginity, he commemorates a great number of male and female saints. Aldhelm later wrote a shorter, poetic version, which closes with a battle of the virtues against the vices, the "De octo principalibus vitiis"(first printed by Delrio, Mainz, 1601). The two works are what is sometimes called an "opus geminatum" or "twin work".

The chief source of his "Epistola ad Acircium sive liber de septenario, et de metris, aenigmatibus ac pedum regulis" (ed. A. Mai, "Class. Auct." vol. v.) is Priscian. For the riddles included in it, his model was the collection known as "Symposii aenigmata", that is, the riddles of one Symposius. The acrostic introduction gives the sentence, 'Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas,' whether read from the initial or final letters of the lines. His minor Latin poems include one on the dedication of a basilica built by Bugge (or Edburga of Minster), a royal lady of the house of Wessex.

ee also

* List of bishops of Salisbury

Notes

References

*
* Holweck, F. G., "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
* 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 & Oates 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X
* Lapidge, Michael. "The Career of Aldhelm." "Anglo-Saxon England" 36 (2007), 15-69.
* Orchard, Andy. "The Poetic Art of Aldhelm." Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 052145090X.
* "Aldhelm: The Poetic Works." Trans. Michael Lapidge and James L. Rosier. Boydell & Brewer, 1984. ISBN 0859911462.
* "Aldhelm: The Prose Works." Trans. Michael Lapidge and Michael Herren. D. S. Brewer, 1979. ISBN 0859910415.
* "The Riddles of Aldhelm." Text and translation by James Hall Pittman. Yale University Press, 1925.

External links

* [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/aldhelm.html Early British Kingdoms: St. Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne]
* [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1223 Catholic Online Saints and Angels: St. Aldhelm]
* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta4k.htm Patron Saints Index: Aldhelm of Sherborne]
* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=3489 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England entry for Aldhelm]

Persondata
NAME=Aldhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Sherborne; Abbot of Malmesbury
DATE OF BIRTH=circa 639
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=May 25, 709
PLACE OF DEATH=