Finan of Lindisfarne (died 10 or 17 February 661), also known as Saint Finan, was an Irish

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, trained at

Iona Abbey Iona Abbey is an abbey located on the island of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland. It is one of the oldest History of early Christianity, Christian religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point ...

in Scotland, who became the second

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

from 651 until 661.

Life

Finan was appointed to Lindisfarne in 651, to succeed Aidan. Originally from Ireland, he built on Lindisfarne, a cathedral "in the Irish fashion", employing hewn oak, with a thatched roof. Later Archbishop

Theodore of Tarsus Theodore of Tarsus (; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After studying there, he relocated to ...

dedicated to St. Peter."Northern Saints", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council
/ref> Finan also founded St. Mary's Priory at the mouth of the River Tyne.Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Finan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 12 May 2013
/ref> He also participated in the founding of

Gilling Abbey Gilling Abbey was a medieval Anglo-Saxon monastery established in Yorkshire, England. It was founded at Gilling in what is currently North YorkshireBlair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 187 footnote 20 by Queen Eanflæd, the wife of King Oswi ...

, established by Queen

Eanflæd Eanflæd (19 April 626 – after 685, also known as Enfleda) was a Deiran princess, queen of Northumbria and later, the abbess of an influential Christian monastery in Whitby, England. She was the daughter of King Edwin of Northumbria and Æt ...

in memory of her kinsman

Oswine of Deira Oswine, Oswin or Osuine (died 20 August 651) was a King of Deira in northern England. Life Oswine succeeded King Oswald of Northumbria, probably around the year 644, after Oswald's death at the Battle of Maserfield. Oswine was the son of Os ...

. He converted the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

s Sigebert of Essex and Peada of the Middle Angles to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 79–80

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 ...

is the main source for Finan's life.Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 203 He is specially noted by Bede as having borne an important part in the conversion of the northern Saxons.Webb, Alfred. ''A Compendium of Irish Biography'', M. H. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1878
/ref> The breviary of Aberdeen styles him "a man of venerable life, a bishop of great sanctity, an eloquent teacher ... remarkable for his training in virtue and his liberal education, surpassing all his equals in every manner of knowledge as well as in circumspection and prudence, but chiefly devoting himself to good works and presenting in his life, a most apt example of virtue". Finan ordained St.

Cedd Cedd (; 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which r ...

bishop of the East-Saxons, having called two other bishops to assist at his consecration. The Abbey of Whitby, his chief foundation, was the scene of the

Synod of Whitby The Synod of Whitby was a Christianity, Christian administrative gathering held in Northumbria in 664, wherein King Oswiu ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Roman Catholic, Ro ...

, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Irish monks from Lindisfarne. Finan was active for some time at a monastery on Church Island on Lough Currane in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

; today it is known as St. Finan's Church. To the south of the lake is Inis Uasal (Noble Island), an island which is dedicated to him. Finan died in 661,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219 and was buried at Lindisfarne, having held that see ten years.

Veneration

Finan's feast day is celebrated upon 9 January. He is venerated in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

, the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...

(celebrated on 17 February), and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Citations

References

* * * Walsh, Michael ''A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West'' London: Burns & Oats 2007

External links

*
''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''
Book 1, L.C. Jane's 1903 Temple Classics translation. From the

Internet Medieval Sourcebook The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the Fordham University History Department and Center for Medieval Studies. It is a web site with modern, medieval and ancient primary source documents, maps, secondary sources, bibliographies, ...

.
Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Continuation of Bede
a
CCEL
edited & translated by A.M. Sellar.
Catholic Online Saints and Angels

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finan 661 deaths Northumbrian saints Bishops of Lindisfarne 7th-century English bishops Irish Christian monks 7th-century Christian saints Medieval Irish saints Colombanian saints 7th-century Irish bishops People from County Kerry Year of birth unknown Burials at Lindisfarne