A seventh-century Anglo-Saxon monk-bishop who evangelized the East Saxons, founded Lastingham Abbey, and died of plague in 664.

Saint Cedd was a Northumbrian monk trained at Lindisfarne who became a missionary bishop to the East Saxons of England in the mid-seventh century, founding churches at Bradwell-on-Sea and the monastery of Lastingham in Yorkshire. He took part in the pivotal Synod of Whitby in 664, and died later that same year of the plague that swept England, at Lastingham, around the age of forty-three. He was the brother of Saint Chad of Mercia.

Quick Facts

• Died: October 26, 664, Lastingham, England
• Venerated as: Bishop and monastic founder
• Brother of: Saint Chad of Mercia

Who Was Saint Cedd?

Cedd trained as a monk under Saint Aidan at Lindisfarne, the great missionary monastery of Northumbria, before being sent south around 653 to preach among the East Saxons at the invitation of King Sigeberht. He was consecrated bishop for that mission and established churches, most notably the still-standing chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall at Bradwell-on-Sea, before founding the monastery of Lastingham in the hills of Yorkshire as a place of prayer and burial for himself and his community.

Historical Setting

Cedd’s career unfolded during the formative decades of the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England, when Celtic-trained missionaries from Iona and Lindisfarne worked alongside Roman missionaries sent from Canterbury to bring Christianity to the various English kingdoms. Cedd himself represented the Ionan and Lindisfarne tradition, and his presence at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which decided in favor of Roman practices on matters such as the dating of Easter, placed him at the center of that historic reconciliation between the two missionary streams.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Cedd

The Church remembers Cedd as a tireless missionary bishop who built lasting Christian communities among a people not his own, and as a monk who established Lastingham as a center of prayer that endured long after his death. His willingness to submit to the Synod of Whitby’s decision, even though it favored practices different from his own formation, is remembered as a model of humility in service of Church unity.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal canonization process is recorded for Saint Cedd, as is typical for saints of the early Anglo-Saxon Church, whose veneration long predates the later medieval procedures of the Holy See. His cult rests on ancient and immemorial local devotion recorded by the Venerable Bede, received into the Church’s liturgical memory.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Cedd’s readiness to accept the outcome of the Synod of Whitby, setting aside customs he had been raised in for the sake of unity, offers a lasting lesson in humility and charity within the Church, especially when honest disagreements must be resolved for the good of the whole community.

A Prayer to Saint Cedd

Saint Cedd, missionary bishop and builder of Christian community, pray for all who labor to bring the Gospel to unfamiliar lands, and teach us your humility in seeking unity above our own preferences. Amen.

Sources

• Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints