Saint Ceolfrid (or Ceolfrith, ; also Geoffrey, c. 642 – 716) was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. He is best known as the warden of

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

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 Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

while en route to deliver a copy of the codex to

Pope Gregory II Pope Gregory II (; 669 – 11 February 731) was the Pope, bishop of Rome from 19 May 715 to his death on 11 February 731.monastic community was likely due to his own brother Cynefrid's devotion to the traditions of

Christian monasticism Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, m ...

. 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 North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, 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". After these four years, Ceolfrid left Gilling as he "sought a monastery of a stricter character". 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 Benedict Biscop ( – 690), also known as Biscop Baducing, was an Anglo-Saxon abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory (where he also founded the famous library) and was considered a saint after his death. It has been suggested that B ...

, except that he spent some time in the institutions of Abbot Botolph, whom he describes as being filled with "the grace of spirit". 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

In c.672/3,

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 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", 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", 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, 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, " hoselibraries of both monasteries, which Abbot Benedict had so actively begun, under his zealous care became doubled in extent".

Relationship with 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

The Codex Amiatinus is the oldest manuscript with a complete text of the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

. The Codex Amiatinus is described as a brilliant display of the beauty that is Early British, Pre- Carolingian

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

. It used as a model the (''

Vetus Latina The ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, are the Latin Bible translations, translations of biblical texts (both Old T ...

'') Codex Grandior of

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

, which Coelfrith had obtained in Rome. 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 Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. 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 The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or BML) is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze u ...

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 The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...

, sought authoritative advice from Abbot Ceolfrid on the reform of paschal cycles with a view to harmonising the celebration of Easter within his kingdom. By 716 both the Picts and the Columban clergy of Iona had adopted the ''pascha catholica''.Grigg, Julianna (2015), ''The Philosopher King and the Pictish Nation'', Four Courts Press, Dublin

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

External links

*
The Ceolfrith BibleAdditional MS 45025

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

{{Authority control Abbots of Jarrow Abbots of Wearmouth Northumbrian saints 8th-century Christian saints 642 births 717 deaths Bede 7th-century Christian abbots