1. Cedd was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria.
24 Facts About Cedd
1. 2.
Cedd was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which resolved important differences within the Church in England.
3.
Cedd is venerated in the Catholic Church, Anglicanism, and the Orthodox Church.
4.
The little that is known about Cedd comes to us mainly from the writing of Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
5.
Cedd was born in the kingdom of Northumbria and brought up on the island of Lindisfarne by Aidan of the Irish Church.
6.
The first datable reference to Cedd by Bede makes clear that he was a priest by the year 653.
7.
Cedd seems to have taken the lead, while Chad was his chosen successor.
8.
Cedd is not mentioned as one of the wandering scholars.
9.
Cedd is portrayed by Bede as very close to Aidan's successor, Finan.
10.
In 653, Cedd was sent by Oswiu of Northumberland with three other priests to evangelise the Middle Angles, who were one of the core ethnic groups of Mercia, based on the mid-Trent Valley.
11.
Cedd was recalled from the mission to Mercia by Oswiu, who sent him on a mission with one other priest to the East Saxon kingdom.
12.
Cedd went to the East Saxons partly as an emissary of the Northumbrian monarchy.
13.
Bede's record makes clear that Cedd demanded personal commitment and that he was unafraid to confront the powerful.
14.
Cedd excommunicated a thegn who was in an unlawful marriage and forbade Christians to accept the man's hospitality.
15.
Cedd founded monasteries at Tilaburg and Ithancester.
16.
Cedd undertook a 40-day fast to purify the site, although urgent royal business took him away after 30 days, and Cynibil took over the fast for him.
17.
Cedd occupied the position of abbot of Lastingham to the end of his life, while maintaining his position as missionary bishop and diplomat.
18.
Cedd often travelled far from the monastery in fulfillment of these other duties.
19.
Cedd delegated daily care of Lastingham to other priests, and it is likely that Chad operated similarly.
20.
Cedd had been brought up in the Celtic Rite, which differed from the Roman Rite in the dating of the religious calendar and other practices, including the tonsure of monks.
21.
Cedd's skills were seen as an eschatological sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel.
22.
Cedd returned to his work as bishop, abandoning the practices of the Irish of Dal Riata.
23.
Cedd dispatched Bishop Jaruman to take over Cedd's work among the East Saxons.
24.
The site of an ancient tree in Polstead, Suffolk, known as the Gospel Oak, is one of a number of sites where Cedd is traditionally supposed to have preached.