Summary. Chad, a 7th-century saint, had a cult that endured, but his life and work has also been distorted. He was the first bishop at Licitfelda in 669.
2021 Chad
statue.
AI gen. St Chad imagined
Little is known on the early life of Chad, or ceadda according to Bede.[1]
name from an existing copy of Bede;s history book
He had three brothers[2] Cedd,
Cynibill, and Cælin, and their
names appear to be Celtic. All were prepared for priesthood by Bishop Aidan at
Lindisfarne, 635‑51 and this would mean learning the ways of a Celtic church.[3] The
first datable reference to Cedd by Bede[4] was that he was a priest by the year 653, which
suggests his birth date was in the early 620s, and this then suggests the birth
date of Chad was in the late 620s, assuming he was the youngest brother.
Chad and his three older brothers, Cedd, Cynebil and Caelin being
taught by Aidan. From a window in the Chapter House of the cathedral.
His next mention is when he followed his brother Cedd as
Abbot of Lastingham (Bede’s Læstingau)
in North Yorkshire, c. 664.[5]
Cedd was a married man with a son who was baptised well into his youth, so it
can be presumed Chad, as the abbot, would have looked after Cedd’s widow and presumably
his nephew.
Location of Lastingham.
OpenStreetMap® is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database
License by the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
Crypt at
Lastingham, probably original.
Chad and Cedd at Lastingham church.
Bede stated Chad journeyed extensively
preaching the gospel to ‘high and low’ (to oppida, rura, casas, vicos,
castella – meaning to towns, villages, cottages, roads and castles). He
appears to have travelled long distances through Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Northern England; his precise routes are unknown.[6]
The following in the frame has been written as factual, but is derived and uncertain.
He was said to be born in 634. A date with obvious
difficulties since it does not fit with dates for being a bishop and when he
was most likely to have been priested.[7] Chad
and his brothers were drawn from the Northumbrian nobility; an assertion
because all the early priests appear to have had some standing. He most likely became
a novice at Lindisfarne aged 12 (thus c. 646 according to his wrong
birth date) since this is thought to be the age when novices started. It has
been suggested Chad and Cedd visited north Perthshire, based on church and
chapel dedications.[8]
Aidan is thought to have sent him as a missionary to Ireland with his friend Egbert
of Ripon, c. 651, then aged 17 or 18,[9] based
on the custom that most priests appear to have completed their preparation in
Ireland or Iona. If true, the monastery of Rath Melsigi (Rathmelsh or
Clonmelsh) is considered to have been his base. Bede recorded he was in
Ireland with Egbert and both were youths. The inference is he returned to
England in 653 or 4. A supposition is he then spent around 2½ years in Mercia and this has been
said to explain the many churches dedicated to the saint.[10]
In 664, he was consecrated a bishop for the first time[11] and
Bede wrote it as being ‘consecrated bishop of the church of York’.[12] Many
writers have assumed this was as Bishop of York[13],
but more likely he became the Bishop of Northumbria. It is quite clear that King
Oswiu intended Chad to be bishop over the entire Northumbrian people; his
predecessor, Wilfrid, had been consecrated with this title. He was consecrated a
bishop in the Celtic rite.
Chad’s Celtic training meant he viewed the dating of Easter
in the Celtic way, becoming a bishop was done with one other bishop present and
his hair cut and simplified dress would presumably have showed this persuasion.
Chad’s
appearance would presumably be like the middle figure.
The account of his installation
as Bishop of Northumbria is complicated and probably incomplete. After the
Synod of Whitby, 663/4, and a change from Celtic worship to a Roman form of worship,
the Bishop of Northumbria resigned. King Oswiu wanted Bishop Wilfrid of Ripon
to have the post and he accepted with the condition of going to Paris to be
consecrated in style with many bishops attending. Unfortunately, he lingered
abroad and then spent much time at Canterbury. Consequently, he did not arrive
back for at least two years, that is, in 666. During his prolonged absence there
was much trouble within the diocese so Oswiu asked Chad of Lastingham to be the
bishop. Chad set out for Canterbury to be consecrated and ended up in
Winchester. It is strange Chad did not go to Bishop Berhtgisl of East Anglia
for consecration. At Winchester the bishop had to engage two Celtic bishops to
licence Chad.[14]
This was uncanonical for the Roman Church which held three Roman Bishops had to
be present. Whether Chad kept his personal faith in a Celtic rite or changed to
a Roman observance is unknown. Perhaps, his observance of both Celtic and Roman
worship was useful to the King governing a large diocese that had just become
Roman and needed time in transition. When Wilfrid finally returned, he found
his see now occupied and so retired to Ripon. Chad, the stand-in bishop of
Northumbria, lasted for three years.
The following
was recorded by Bede and is accepted as true. In 669, the Mercian King
Wulfhere, under some obligation to the Christian Northumbrian King Oswiu and
receiving advice from Bishop Wilfrid of Ripon, arranged for Chad to be sent to
Lichfield as a way to further good relations. The new Archbishop, a Greek
called Theodore, agreed for Chad to be moved out of Northumbria and away from
Wilfrid. It was almost certainly managed by the kings, approved by Canterbury
and Rome, and apparently accepted by Chad. Before this occurred, Theodore
arranged for Chad to be re-consecrated in the Roman custom and this was
undertaken in York; probably Wilfrid was present with Theodore. This conversion
by Chad to Roman theology occurred three years before Chad’s death. Despite
this conversion Bede’s description of his last hours suggested he kept a
preference for the Celtic rite. Essentially, he was a Celtic saint prepared to accommodate
Roman worship and help grow the church in every way. He was made a Bishop of Mercia.
The location of Lichfield moved
the see away from wherever the previous bishop’s churches were located. The
notion the Mercian See was moved from Repton to Lichfield[15]
is unattested, though plausible. Similarly, the notion the early church was on
St Michael’s hill is also speculative. In Stephen of Ripon’s biography of
Bishop Wilfrid,[16]
he claimed Wilfrid and King Wulfhere identified the site at Lichfield (Licitfelda).[17]
This shows Wilfrid as being a founding priest of Lichfield cathedral.[18]
Chad died in 672, 1353 years ago.
He died probably from a variant of plague, but smallpox and yellow fever have
also been implicated. Bede described it as a progressive bodily weakness which
grew worse over seven days.[23]
Chad had foreseen he was soon to die and told his fellow monks he had been
visited by the beloved guest who has been
in the habit of visiting our brothers. All this indicated the plague
bacterium, but he was surrounded by others and there is no record of them
succumbing to the disease, which would be unlikely. He was buried near to his
church of St Mary and Bede recorded miracle cures occurred close to his grave
leading to him being besainted by the priesthood. Sargent[24]
has suggested the title of Chad as a saint was established by the monks at
Lastingham.
Chad from
the north door of the cathedral.
The cult of St Chad
It has been said in the age
of saints, 7th and 8th-century, every monastery had a saint and over 100
Saxon sites with a cult have been identified. Chad at Lichfield was one of the
earliest, proved to be one of the most enduring and in terms of numbers of
pilgrims was exceptional. However, it is also clear Bishop Wilfrid, later
bishop of Mercia, with the assistance of Headda, Bishop of Lichfield over
eleven years of working together promoted and established the cult and subsequent
pilgrimage to his grave site. It is difficult to understand the life of Chad
without considering alongside the influence of Wilfrid and to a lesser extent
Bishop Headda.
Chad died on March 2 672 and this
day might well have been kept for a special service every year and could be one
of the oldest acts of patronal remembrance in England. In the 14th-century,
following the Sarum missal, the translation of Chad’s relics to a shrine was on
Rogation Sunday in May.
Chad is a recognised saint
in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Celtic Orthodox churches. He is mentioned
in The Synaxarion; a book containing the lives of the saints of the Orthodox
Church.[25] The
cathedral ought to review whether they sufficiently honour the legacy of St
Chad. Enshrining one bone might be seen as insufficient, especially when the
grave site is not even marked.
[1]
The Saint Chad's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Saints has no mention of his
early life. The Victorian County History avoids his biography. The name
‘Ceadda’ probably derives from the Brittonic element ‘cad’ meaning battle or
warrior. Cedd also has this Celtic origin and perhaps also Cynibill and Cælin. For the original interpretation
of the names see J. T. Koch (ed.), Celtic culture: a historical
encyclopaedia, (California: 2006), 360. Four similar names, all plausibly
Brittonic, with possibly the same origin is quirky.
[2]
J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The ecclesiastical history of the English
people. (Oxford: 2008), 149 (Historia Ecclesiastica- HE- 3, 23.).
[3]
It is thought Chad entered Lindisfarne at the age of 12. However, Wilfrid was
14 when he entered.
[4]
Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the
English People, Book 3, chapter 21. Their suggested dates have been Cedd c.
620–664, unknown for Cynebill and Cælin and Chad
c. 634–672. These dates are derived, see note 6.
[5] See McClure and Collins (2008),149, (HE 3, 23). Note
2,
[6]
A. Breeze, ‘Bede’s castella and the journeys of St Chad’, Northern History, (2009),
46, 1, 137–9.
[7]
This does not make sense if Chad is traditionally priested when 30 years old,
around 664, since this would mean he became a bishop before a priest! It is
logical if Chad’s birth date was in the late 620s, say 626 which means he was
46 when he died.
[8]
I. Styler, ‘Understanding and illustrating the influence of the Cult of St Chad
of Lichfield’, The Journal of the Historical Association, (2020), 105,
367, 591.
[9] Ibid 161–2 (HE 3, 27). Prior to Chad’s death, Bede
recorded angels visiting him. The account is confirmed by a vision of Egbert
who was stated to be in Ireland with Chad as youths. Both were engaged in
prayer, fasting and meditating. Bede’s HE (4, 3) (McClure and Collins 178) stated,
Ceadda adulescente et ipse adulescens in Hibernia (Chad is a young man
in Ireland). Adulescens can mean a youth, but for Romans this was the
age of 14/15–27/30. A young man would normally be in his 20s. Chad is much more
likely to be in Ireland c. 651 in his early 20s which makes his birth
date 627–631. He is then priested 657–661 and becomes a bishop in 664 aged
33–37. He dies aged 41–45.
[10]
H.E. Savage, Life of St Chad. (Unpub. Article in Cathedral Library,
reprint dated 1972), 15. Savage mentions 31 churches with ancient dedication to
Chad, but none can trace back their origins to the 7th-century. It is more
likely churches with Chad as patron were situated on pilgrimage routes.
[11]
This is the same year as being made Abbot of Lastingham.
[12]
See McClure and Collins (2008), 163, (HE, 3, 28).
[13]
Ibid. 17.
[14]
This is the year 664, but some accounts have different dates. The bishop at
Winchester was called Wini. He was made to leave Winchester by the king and
flee to Mercia. It is said he then paid to be the bishop of London in 656 and
this simony led to his condemnation by Bede. This probably reflected on Chad.
[15]
O. Mosley, A short account of the Ancient British Church. (London:
1858), 109. This reference to Repton surprisingly once appeared in the
Wikipedia account for Lichfield Cathedral.
[16]
Written sometime between July 712–March 714. Called ‘Vita Sancti Wilfrithi’.
[17]
See the post ‘Reasons why Lichfield (Licitfelda) had approval’
[18]
See the post ‘Wilfrid, creator of the first cathedral’.
[19]
See McClure and Collins (2008), 174, (HE, 4, 3). Chad “in addition to all his merits of temperance,
humility, zeal in teaching, prayers and voluntary poverty he was greatly filled
with the fear of the Lord and mindful of his last end in all he did.”
[20]
Bede mentions brothers several times. When announcing his impending death, he
urged Owine, a brother, to fetch seven brothers from the church. (Book 4
Chapter 3) McClure and Collins (2008), 176.
[21]
It was in stark contrast to Bede’s lesser treatment of Mercia and its Christian
development, knowing it could potentially rival and threaten Northumbria.
[22]
F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: 1989), 134, wrote by 680
Theodore had created the diocese of Worcester and Hereford. Bishops of
Leicester were recorded. This left the Diocese of Lichfield.
[23]
See McClure and Collins (2008),177, (HE, 4, 3).
[24]
A. Sargent, Lichfield and the Lands of St Chad, University of
Hertfordshire Press Volume 19 (2020).
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