Benedict Biscop

Who they were

Benedict Biscop, of a noble Anglo-Saxon family, grew up at the court of King Oswy of Northumbria. He made five pilgrimages to Rome, took the monastic habit at Lérins in 666, and was sent by Pope Vitalian with Archbishop Theodore to Canterbury.

He founded the monasteries of Wearmouth in 674 and Jarrow in 682, filling them with relics, books and paintings from Rome, and brought a Roman arch-cantor to teach the chant. He was the first to build stone churches and glass windows in England. He died on 12 January 690; St Bede wrote his life.

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 monk who brought Rome's worship, learning and beauty to England.

Connected on this site

• Bede Saint Pupil
• Ceolfrith Saint
  “St Benedict Biscop made him prior of Wearmouth, and at Benedict's death in 690 he succeeded him as abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow; St Bede, his disciple, praised his extraordinary diligence.” — this site's research