Litany of Saints
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Acca of Hexham

8th-century Bishop of Hexham

SaintResearchedKingdom of NorthumbriaPre-congregation

Feast: 20 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
660
verified
Died
742
verified
Beatified
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Acca, a Northumbrian, began in the household of Bosa, later Bishop of York, then became the devoted disciple and companion of St Wilfrid, going with him to Rome in 692. Wilfrid made him abbot of St Andrew's at Hexham, and on Wilfrid's death in 709 he became bishop.

He completed Wilfrid's churches, brought the Roman chant to the North, and encouraged learning; Bede dedicated several of his most important works to him. Driven from his diocese in 732 for unknown reasons, he died about 742.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A bishop and patron of learning, friend of Wilfrid and of Bede.

Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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