Summary. Chad, a 7th-century saint and first bishop in Lichfield, gave a cult that has been the centre of three cathedrals. His life and work have also been distorted.
2021 Chad statue at the south east corner of The Close
Little is known on the early life of Chad, or ceadda named by Bede.[1]
name from an existing copy of Bede;s history book
He had three older brothers[2] Cedd, Cynibil,(or Cynibild) and Cælin, and their names appear to be Celtic. Most likely he spoke Brythonic, the ancestral language of modern Welsh. All were prepared for priesthood by Bishop Aidan at Lindisfarne, 635‑51, and this would have meant learning the rite of a Celtic church.[3] He most likely became a novice when aged 12; Jesus was found in the temple courts aged 12 listening to the teachers. The first datable reference to Cedd, his oldest brother, by Bede[4] was that he was a priest by the year 653, which suggests Chad's birth date was in the 620s, assuming he was the youngest brother. Later dates of birth (634) do not accord with when Chad was priested and then made a bishop.
AI rendition of Bishop Aidan teaching all 4 brothers.
AI rendition of Chad and his three older brothers, being taught by Aidan. Based on a window in the Chapter House of the cathedral.
Aidan is thought to have sent him as a missionary to Ireland with his friend Ecgberht of Ripon (also of Rath Melsigni), c. 651, then aged 20-24,[5] based on the custom that most priests appear to have completed their preparation in Ireland or Iona. Savage (1926) wrote there was a general exodus of churchmen from Northumbria to Ireland on the death of Aidan in 651. Bede recorded he was in Ireland with Ecgberht and both were youths, but does not give any more detail.
His next mention is when he
followed his brother Cedd as Abbot of Lastingham (Bede’s Læstingau) in North Yorkshire, c.
664.[6]
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 after Cedd
Chad and Cedd at Lastingham church. Note the fine image of Lichfield Cathedral on bottom left. Also the richly decorated St Chad's Gospels.
Crypt at Lastingham
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; though his precise routes and when taken are unknown.[7]
Possible journey of Chad. It is uknown where Chad wandered as a missionary after Clonmelsh, but Bede wrote he visited cities and country districts.
The following is uncertain.
He was 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.[8] Chad and his brothers were drawn from a Northumbrian nobility; an assertion because all the early priests appear to have had some standing. It has been suggested Chad and Cedd visited north Perthshire, based on church and chapel dedications.[9] If Chad completed his church education in Ireland, then the monastery of Rath Melsigi (Rathmelsh or Clonmelsh) is considered to have been his base, but this is a deduction. Cedd is also thought to have stayed in this monastery.
The only standing stone left at Rath Melsigi.
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]
Chad’s
appearance would presumably be like the middle figure.
In 664, he was consecrated a bishop for the first time[11] and Bede wrote it as being King Oswiu wanted Chad to be ‘consecrated bishop of the church of York’.[12] Many writers have assumed this was as the Bishop of York, but it is 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 like his predecessor, Wilfrid, who had been nominated with this title. He was consecrated a bishop in the Celtic rite. This account of his installation, presumably 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 on his way back. He did not arrive home in Northumbria 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 his 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.[13] 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 managed 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 from being Celtic. When Wilfrid finally returned, he found his see now occupied and so he retired to Ripon. Chad, the stand-in ‘Bishop of Northumbria,’ lasted for three years.
In 669, the Mercian King Wulfhere, perhaps under
some obligation to the Christian Northumbrian King Oswiu, received advice from Bishop
Wilfrid of Ripon, and arranged for Chad to be sent to Lichfield as a way to
further good relations.[14]
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 attended 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.
AI rendition of Archbishop Theodore consecrating Chad for a second time at York. Based on a floor roundel in the presbytery.
AI rendition of Chad being given a horse by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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).
This shows Wilfrid as being a founding priest of Lichfield cathedral,[17]
and acting as a stand-in bishop of Mercia for less than two years.
Chad arriving at Licitfelda in 669 with 7 or 8
helpers. It is plausible the two churches mentioned by Bede were present at
this time. Chad would be in his early 40s.
In the short time Chad presided
at Lichfield, around 2½ years, he
was, according to Bede, greatly loved for his humility and asceticism.[18]
He had 7 or 8 ‘brothers’ to help with developing the church site.[19] The
site would be a mynster. One
of his pupils called Trumbercht (Trumbert) later went on to instruct Bede,
which must be a good reason why Bede’s account of Chad was so fulsome.[20] There
is reason to think the early church at Lichfield grew in size and importance
under Chad’s direction. However, Chad was never recorded as being the Bishop of
Lichfield. Indeed, Lichfield or Licitfelda, almost certainly was a field
on the bank of a river and not yet seen as a settlement. Instead, Chad was
Bishop of Mercia, an area larger than Northumbria and growing in importance
militarily and by the next century nationally. The diocese of Lichfield does
not become a defined area until the breakup of the diocese of Mercia around 680
by Archbishop Theodore.[21]
That means, it cannot be true Chad was the first Bishop of Lichfield, but he was
the first bishop in Lichfield.
Chad died in 672, 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.[22] 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 strangely there is no record of them succumbing to the disease which is unlikely considering the virulence of the disease.
AI gen. Chad dying of plague surrounded by eight men, 672 and angels.
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 local priesthood. Sargent[23]
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 visiting over time was exceptional. It is also clear Bishop Wilfrid,
later Bishop of the Middle Angles, with the assistance of Headda, Bishop of
Lichfield over eleven years of working together and the essential patronage of
Kings Wulfhere and his brother King Æthelred,
promoted and established the cult and subsequent pilgrimage to his grave site.
It is not possible to understand the life of Chad without considering alongside
the influence of Wilfrid and the patronage of Kings Wulfhere and Æthelred.
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.
AI enhanced Chad at St Chad’s church, Hanmer, near Wrexham, Wales, in the St Asaph diocese, and close to the
route for Irish pilgrims journeying down the Wirral, across Cheshire, along the
Trent River and finally to Lichfield.
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.[24] The
cathedral ought to review whether they sufficiently remember Chad; enshrining
one bone might be insufficient, when the grave site is not marked.
Suggested timeline.
627-31 Birth in Deira. Youngest of four brothers.
639-43 Novice in Lindisfarne monastery aged 12.
651 in Northern Ireland Monastery aged 20-4
653-4 Return to Northumbria
657-61 Made a priest in Northumbria, aged 30. Could have
been a missionary.
663-4 Synod of Whitby. Church to change from Celtic
to Roman.
664 Priest/Abbot at Lastingham, North Yorkshire. Also
made Celtic Bishop of Northumbria, aged 33-7.
667 Returns to Lastingham monastery.
669 Made Roman Bishop and first Bishop of Licitfelda. He was the 5th bishop of Mercia.
672 Dies aged 41-5.
Made a Saint when miracles happened near his grave. By the time of the Domesday Book, 1086, Chad was recorded as the patron saint of the cathedral. It is thought he became a national saint when elevated by Archbishop Roger Walden in 1398.
Why would Chad travel 150
miles from his monastery at Lastingham to be the bishop at Lichfield?
Chad had occupied the highest see at Northumbria, was the younger brother of Cedd who had been important at the Synod of Whitby, had known the beloved Ecgberht of Rath Melsigi, been a missionary around many churches in the north, was retired at his monastery in Yorkshire and was now ageing. He had converted to the Roman church which pleased the archbishop. So why move to a relatively young diocese in a large forest in the middle of England?[25] The answer could be he was made aware of a well-formed ecclesiastical settlement by Archbishop Theodore, Bishop Wilfrid and King Wulfhere. It had its churches and associated buildings and was self-sustaining. It must have sounded like the layout of Lindisfarne, Rath Melsigi, Lastingham and the many other mynsters Chad had known. Licitfelda meant approved and was acceptable. It was self-contained for Chad and his eight ‘brothers’. Perhaps, some of these brothers were Mercians. Perhaps, Chad was minded to be the bishop for three years as he did for Northumbria.
[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 means battle or war, Cynibil means Royal sword and Cælin means powerful warrior. There is a theme in names, but it contrasts with entering the church. For the original interpretation
of the names see J. T. Koch (ed.), Celtic culture: a historical
encyclopaedia, (California: 2006), 360.
[2]
J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The ecclesiastical history of the English
people. (Oxford: 2008), 149 (Historia Ecclesiastica- HE- 3, 23.).
[3]
Aidan was an Irish missionary who moved from Iona to Lindisfarne in 634 or 5.
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 5.
[5] Ibid 161–2 (HE 3, 27). Prior to Chad’s death, Bede
recorded angels visiting him. The account is confirmed by a vision of Ecgberht
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.
[6] See McClure and Collins (2008),149, (HE 3, 23). Note
2,
[7]
A. Breeze, ‘Bede’s castella and the journeys of St Chad’, Northern History, (2009),
46, 1, 137–9.
[8]
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.
[9]
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.
[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]
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.
[14]
Described in the biography of Bishop Wilfrid written by
a monk at Ripon called Stephanus and published 712–3. Title was Victa Sancti
Wilfridi I. Episcopi Eboracensis. It has been translated by B. Colgrave The
life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus (Cambridge: 1985). “He knew of a
place in the kingdom of Wulfhere, King of the Mercians, his faithful friend
which had been granted to him at Lichfield, and was suitable as an episcopal
see either for himself, or for any other to whom he might wish to give it.”
This infers Wilfrid was instrumental in appointing 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]
See note 14.
[17]
See the post ‘Wilfrid, creator of the first cathedral’.
[18]
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.”
[19]
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.
[20]
It was in stark contrast to Bede’s lesser treatment of Mercia and its Christian
development, knowing it could potentially rival and threaten Northumbria.
[21]
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. Eventually
Theodore created 14 territorial bishoprics all under the authority of
Canterbury.
[22]
See McClure and Collins (2008),177, (HE, 4, 3).
[23]
A. Sargent, Lichfield and the Lands of St Chad, University of
Hertfordshire Press Volume 19 (2020).
[24] See https://www.orthodoxbritain.co.uk/st-chadd-biography