St Cedd, the Synod of Whitby, and Puzzlement

The Synod of Whitby took place in 664 in the Abbey of St Hilda in Whitby.  St Cedd, whose feast day falls day, played a key role in the Synod.  He was not only a Bishop, an Abbot and a trusted adviser to the King of Northumbria (in whose kingdom the Synod took place), but also a talented linguist, and therefore able to assist in the complex discussions between the participants, who would have had spoken a mixture of Latin, a nascent form of English, Welsh, Gaelic and perhaps other languages too.  It is not unreasonable to conclude that he might have had a significant influence on proceedings.

While it had as its specific purpose the resolution of a small number of matters that we might today see as being of varying degrees of significance (the method of the setting of the date of Easter, and the method of applying the tonsure), the Synod of Whitby stands as a key milestone in the process of increasing the conformity of the practices of the Church in this country with the practices of the Church more widely.

Despite some rather wilful misinterpretations over the years (even to this very day in certain quarters), on a similar scale to the completely Brigadoon-esque fantasies of nineteenth century romanticisers of Scottish legends and "tradition" (eg Ossian, the clan tartan system etc.), it was not a case of an independent “Celtic Church” being subsumed into a territorially avaricious Roman Church. There was no proto-Church of England, let alone a proto-Church of Scotland, present at the Synod of Whitby.  What was happening was an alignment of local and universal practice, using an argument (advanced by the “British”, not by the “Italians”) of Petrine supremacy and the universality of the Church.

The leading advocate of the argument for falling into line with the wider practices of the Church was St Wilfred.  We have already commented in a blogpost earlier this month on our puzzlement at the choice of St Wilfred as a patron of a society for those dedicated to remaining in the Church of England rather than pursuing the option of the Ordinariate.  When one looks at the reasons advanced by St Wilfred for alignment with the universal practices of the Church rather than following the practices on Iona (which, in any case, were under pressure from Ireland to conform to wider practice), as cited by the Venerable Bede, the reasons for our puzzlement become even clearer. 

• it was the practice in Rome, where the apostles Ss Peter and Paul had “lived, taught, suffered, and are buried”;
• it was the universal practice of the Church, "even as far as Egypt";
• the customs of the apostle John were particular to the needs of his community and his age and, since then, the Council of Nicaea and established a different practice (the local Ionan or “Celtic” customs followed practices first established by St John the Apostle);
• Columba (the founder of Iona) had done the best he could considering his knowledge, and thus his irregular practice is excusable, but the Ionan monks at present did not have the excuse of ignorance; and
• whatever the case, no one has authority over Peter (and thus his successors, the Bishops of Rome).

Once these arguments had been presented, and all parties had agreed that they considered that, in line with what is stated in the Gospel, St Peter had been given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and was the rock on which the Church was built, and that therefore he and his successors had recognized authority, the conclusion of the Synod was clear.

A short while after the Synod had concluded, St Cedd returned to the monastery he had established at Lastingham, and died of the plague later that year.  Aside from his significance derived from the Synod of Whitby, he is variously known as the Bishop of the East Saxons and the Apostle to Essex (on account of his success in evangelisation there, even now several parishes and associated schools bear his name). 

The church constructed by St Cedd, St Peter (what else?) in Bradwell-on-Sea, one of the oldest churches still standing in the UK, and now run by the Church of England, can still be visited today.

St Cedd, St Wilfred and St Hilda, pray for us.

From Lepanto to Le Barroux

How to follow yesterday's post, Memories of Bourne St, Lepanto and Fr Hunwicke?  There's a challenge.  Traffic on this blog was double usual levels yesterday, and the post has rushed straight up the hit parade to be the most read blogpost we have yet put up.

Perhaps readers of this blog have a particular devotion of Our Lady of Victories and Our Lady of the Rosary.  Surely so, but no doubt the post was also happy reading for those present at St Mary's Bourne St when Fr Hunwicke delivered the homily quite brilliantly, and no doubt the post was manna to those who are fans of the Liturgical Notes blog.

Thanks are due once again to the homilist for his kind permission to reproduce his work.  Thanks also to friends of this blog who shared the Facebook post announcing the publishing of the blogpost : keep up the publicity!  New readers, please sign up to join our Facebook group to receive regular updates, the link is shown on the right.

The one unfortunate effect of having focussed on Our Lady of Victories yesterday is that we couldn't get in a mention for St Firminus of Uzès.  Uzès has a special significance for a significant number of current and former members of St Mary's Bourne St, with many happy memories of holidays spent near there in small and large groups at a traditional Mas belonging to a member of the St Mary's congregation.

Meeting the Sunday obligation there often involves attending Mass at Uzès Cathedral (a rather good photo can be found here), and for a special treat might involve a trip to Le Barroux.



Today's saint of the day is St Wilfred.  Over the past year or so, St Wilfred has become a slightly tricky saint to discuss in the context of Anglo-Catholicism and the Ordinariate.  An Anglican society has been named in honour of St Wilfred and St Hilda, attempting to seek to secure some kind of provision for Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England for the new era that will dawn once General Synod votes in favour of the ordination of women to the Church of England's episcopacy.  Since it is a tricky subject, I shall steer well clear, other than to echo the sentiments of others who find the naming of the society rather strange at at time when the Ordinariate is in existence, as both St Wilfred and St Hilda are saints who, in their time on this earth, were renowned for sorting out the English Church and, particularly in Wilfred's case, prioritising obedience to Rome over obedience to Canterbury.  I leave the polemics to others more skilled in the matter, and wish to assure all our Anglican friends of the prayers and support of the members of the Marylebone Ordinariate Group.  Shared years kneeling together at the same altar are not easily forgotten.  In the unlikely event that there are any comments on this particular topic, I regret to say that they will not be published: there are plenty of far more suitable places to discuss what is going on in the Church of England than here. 

All this talk of ex-Anglicans and remaining Anglicans brings to mind an article that the Ordinariate Portal highlighted earlier this week.  The piece by William Oddie talks of the significance and genesis of the Ordinariate project, not so much in  terms of the practical discussions of the last couple of years, but in terms of Blessed John Henry Newman's vision; of the conversations between the then Cardinal Ratzinger, Cardinal Hume and Monsignor Graham Leonard (then Anglican Bishop of London) that might, had things been different, have led to an Ordinariate far earlier; and of William Oddie's prescient book The Roman Option. 

While the article seems to assume that everything would happen at once, we know of course that those coming over will come over in a number of waves.   Avid readers of blogs will know that several new Ordinariate groups have been announced in recent weeks, including yet another one in Central London and one in Balham, as well as a number outside London.  We also note the pleasing article in the Catholic Herald, referring to statements by Cardinal Wuerl, made upon the occasion of his visit to Stirling in Scotland, about the imminent launch of an Ordiniarate in the US.

William Oddie concludes the article with a most wonderful extract from Blessed John Henry Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua.  We have now added that same extract to the right hand sidebar of this blog.  It is indeed very moving, expressing a hope that one day we shall all be united, and reunited, into One Fold and under One Shepherd.

… I gather up and bear in memory those familiar affectionate companions and counsellors, who in Oxford were given to me, one after another, to be my daily solace and relief; and all those others, of great name and high example, who were my thorough friends, and showed me true attachment in times long past….

And I earnestly pray for this whole company, with a hope against hope, that all of us, who once were so united, and so happy in our union, may even now be brought at length, by the Power of the Divine Will, into One Fold and under One Shepherd.

Powerful words indeed.  We finish with one of the most Catholic, if you will, settings in the Byrd Gradualia, Tu es Petrus.  As Anglican Patrimony, however, we have posted a version being sung by King's College Cambridge.  The performance is very much of its time, but the words and the music are as potent as ever.



St Wilfred, St Firminus, pray for us.