Jan 12th - Benedict Biscop

Obscure saints often miss our attention, working in obscurity or in the shadow of much better known saints. But it is the foundation that they lay down which builds the Faith that we enjoy so easily today. Benedict is one such person. Born to wealth and honor he took vows and became a monk. Having had traveled broadly, when it was time for him to establish an abbey brought Romanesque architecture to England. But greater yet, within the stone monastery he built and the guidance he gave rose up St. Bede, a saint whose name we all recognize.
It does us all good to remember that without Benedict, where would be Bede?

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Abbot John taught the cantors of the monastery the theory and practice of singing and reading aloud, and he put into writing all that was necessary for the proper observance of festivals throughout the year. This document is still preserved in this monastery, and many copies have been made for other places. John’s instruction was not limited to the brethren of this monastery alone; for men who were proficient singers came from nearly all the monasteries of the province to hear him, and he received many invitations to teach elsewhere.

-- St. Bede