Baring-Gould’s sources: Gallican Martyrology; venerated on this day in the dioceso of Langres Dempster’s Scottish Menology. Authority: — Bede’s Eccl. Hist.] S. Ceolfrid, or Ceolfrith, the friend and coadjutor of Benedict Biscop (January 12), was born about the year 647, and was probably a native of the kingdom of Northumbria. S. Ceolfrid.

He is first mentioned in 674 as aiding Benedict in the foundation of the abbey of Wearmouth, and about the year 678 he accompanied him to Rome. A little later — about the year 681 — Ceolfrid was an active, learned, and zealous man, and worthy to be the successor of Benedict Biscop, He increased the library which had been formed by his predecessor, and enriched the monastery, by obtaining from King Aldfrid a grant of lands on the river “Fresca/' which were afterwards exchanged for an estate nearer the monastery, at a place then called “ Sambuce." By some monks whom he sent to Rome, Ceolfrid obtained from Pope Sergius a new charter of privileges for the monastery, or rather a renewal of those which had been given to Benedict by Pope Agatho. Ceolfrid continued to preside over the two monasteries of Wearmouth and Yarrow during twenty-six years, and he appears to have occupied himself exclusively with his monks in study and teaching. The celebrity of his school, in which Bede [English monk and historian (d. 735)] imbibed his great learning, was very extensive; and in 701 the Pope sent a messenger to invite one of his monks to advise with him in deciding certain ecclesiastical questions of great difficulty. A few years afterwards (about 7ro) Ceolfrid’s advice was sought by Naitan, King of the Piets, who had become a convert to the Roman practice concerning Easter and the tonsure [shaving part of the head as a sign of entering the clergy or monastic life]; and, at the earnest solicitation of that prince, he sent him a letter setting forth the arguments on which this was founded, and along with it architects to build a stone church after the Roman style. This letter has been preserved by Bede. When age and sickness announced to Ceolfrid the near approach of death, he was suddenly seized with the desire of ending his days in the apostolical city. Bede, who was probably one of the actors in it, describes the scene of parting with pathetic minuteness. The monks urged him to stay, for they saw that he wanted strength for so long a journey, and they feared that he would die on the way; hut their efforts were in vain; and on Thursday, the 4th day of June (716), immediately after the first religious service of the day had been performed, Ceolfrid prepared for his departure, amid the lamentations of those with whom he had passed so many tranquil years. The monks, about six hundred in number, were assembled in the church at Wearmouth, and Ceolfrid, after having prayed, stood by the altar, holding in his hand the censer with burning incense, and gave them his peace. Then they left the church and moved towards the shore, their chants being* frequently interrupted by loud sobs. When they came to the dormitory Ceolfrid entered the oratory of S. Laurence, which stood there, and delivered his last admonition, urging the monks to persevere in brotherly love, to keep strict discipline, and to be constant in their duties to God, and he ended by requesting their prayers for himself. On the bank of the river Tyne he gave them severally the kiss of peace, and they then fell on their knees and received his blessing. He was accompanied across the river by the deacons of the church, bearing lighted tapers and the cross of gold. When he reached the opposite shore he reverenced the cross, and then mounted the horse which was to carry him to the place of embarkation. On their return to Wearmouth, the first care of the monks was the election of a successor, and their new abbot, named Hwetbert, was immediately despatched, with a few of the brethren, to see Ceolfrid for the last time. They found him on the coast waiting for a ship; and when Hwetbert acquainted him with what had passed since his departure from amongst them, he approved their choice and confirmed their election, and then received from the new abbot a commendatory letter to Pope Gregory. The apprehensions of the monks were soon verified; for after journeying slowly through France, as he was approachS. Sergius.

ing the city of Langres (Lingonas), in the diocese of Lyons, on the 25th of September of the same year, Ceolfrid became suddenly so feeble that his attendants were obliged to halt in the midst of the fields, where he died almost immediately. His body was deposited in the monastery of the Twin Martyrs, in the southern suburb of that city, and his companions returned to England to bear the tidings to his friends. Bede, who gives the date of Ceolfrid’s death, tells us that he was then seventy-four years of age, and that he had been forty-seven years a presbyter and thirty-five years an abbot, including, of course, the period during which he presided only over the monastery of Yarrow. His bones were afterwards removed from Langres, and carried to Wearmouth; and at a subsequent period, on the approach of the Danes [Viking raiders from Scandinavia], who reduced that monastery to ruins, they were again taken up by the monks, and, with those of the Abbess Hilda, finally deposited at Glastonbury. Ceolfrid would merit a place among the Anglo-Saxon writers if he had written nothing but the letter, or tract, on the observance of Easter, addressed to the King of the Piets. It is distinguished by clearness of style, and remarkable vigour and perspicuity, if we consider that the writer was then in his sixty-eighth year, relatively a much greater age then than now.