Died c. 686. It is impossible to write about Eata, the 7th century
English saint, without going back to
Saint Aidan
(f.d. August 31),
and
from Saint Aidan to
Saint Paulinus of York
(f.d. October 10),
and from
Saint Paulinus to
Saint Augustine (Austin) of Canterbury
(f.d. May 28),
and from Saint Augustine to
Saint Gregory the Great
(f.d. March 12)
who
began this chain reaction. Nor should we forget the
Venerable Bede
(f.d. May 25)
without whose "Ecclesiastical History" we would never have
heard of Saint Eata, nor
Saint Cuthbert
(f.d. March 20),
who was Eata's
close friend.
In the 7th century, England was divided into the Heptarchy, seven
independent kingdoms in none of which was Christianity firmly
established. At the request of
Saint Oswald
(f.d. August 9),
king of
Northumbria, Saint Aidan had gone from Iona to Lindisfarne--the Holy
Island--and from there had begun to evangelize the northern parts of
England. Aidan himself and many of his monks came originally from
Ireland and therefore followed the Celtic usages which differed in some
ways from those of Rome.
Pope Saint Gregory's plan was to send a properly organised group to
England, rather than rely on the isolated efforts of the northern
missionaries. The man he chose was the prior of a monastery that he had
founded in Rome, Saint Augustine of Canterbury. In 596, he landed in
Kent with a group of 40 monks.
They had to start from nothing, but fortunately they quickly enlisted
the support of Bertha, the wife of
King Saint Ethelbert
(f.d. February 24)
--just as Saint Paulinus won the support of
Saint Ethelburga
(f.d. April 5),
sister of Eadbald, and
Saint Remigius
(f.d. October 1)
won that of
Saint Clotilde
(f.d. June 3),
wife of Clovis.
Augustine received the 'pallium' and became the first archbishop of
England, establishing his see at Canterbury.
At the time of Augustine's death, which took place shortly after that of
Gregory the Great, relations between the Roman and Celtic churches were
still strained. Apart from their differences over usage and
organisation, the situation was complicated by the resentment felt by
some of the Celts towards the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who only a
relatively short while before had driven them out of their own country
and persecuted their religion. So it was left to a number of saints,
among them Eata, to effect a union between the Celtic and Roman
Christians, their personal saintliness persuading the ones to abate
their racial pride and the others to make concessions.
The first saint who went to Northumbria was a Roman one, Saint Paulinus,
who had been sent by Gregory the Great to assist Saint Augustine of
Canterbury. The next one was the Celtic Saint Aidan, who had
established his monastery at Lindisfarne and who also founded a
monastery at Ripon. It was at Ripon that Eata, who had been born an
Anglo-Saxon and was one of the 12 English boys brought to Northumbria by
Saint Aidan, was educated in the Celtic observance. When
Saint Wilfrid
(f.d. October 12)
arrived at Ripon, Eata left it to become abbot at
Melrose, which was attached to Lindisfarne.
As a result of the Synod of Whitby, which was held in 664, the Roman
usage was extended throughout England and the Celtic practices were,
sadly, gradually suppressed. Eata accepted the Roman liturgical
observances.
Saint Colman
(f.d. February 18),
who had succeeded Saint Aidan as abbot
of Lindisfarne refused to accept the decision and withdrew from his
position. Reportedly he requested that Saint Eata take his place. At
the same time Saint Cuthbert became prior, and they both fully accepted
the Roman usage and liturgy.
In 678 Theodore, who had been consecrated in Rome as the new archbishop
of Canterbury by
Pope Saint Vitalian
(f.d. January 27),
met Eata in York
and at once consecrated him as bishop of Bernicia. It was a wise choice,
for Eata quickly showed himself to be worthy of his office. He and Saint
Cuthbert were often together, travelling from Melrose to Ripon and to
Lindisfarne. Later Eata and Cuthbert exchanged sees, and Eata became
bishop of Hexham, where he remained until his death.
Eata seems to have been a kind and gentle man, more so even than
Cuthbert, and vastly more so than Colman or that other saint, Wilfrid,
who quarrelled so violently with Theodore. He died in 686 and was
buried in the Abbey of Hexham. It is said that when, in 1113, plans
were made to disinter his body and take it to York, he appeared in a
dream to the archbishop of York and told him to leave his mortal remains
in peace
(
Benedictines).
(
Delaney).
(
Encyclopaedia).