Exarchate of the British Isles
The Anglo Saxon Church
St. Augustine of Canterbury – prior of the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome (S. Andrea al Quirinale) was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by the bishop of Rome St. Gregory the Great 595AD in order to secure the Church in Kent. Thus, nurturing the spirituality of Princess Berta of Paris wife of King Ethelbert who was still pagan, yet converted along with his subjects (597AD) on Holy Nativity at which the Gregorian ecclesial tradition spread.
King St. Oswald - exiled king raised by the monks of Iona reclaims his throne (Northumbria) in 634AD spreading the faith via the help of St. Aiden of Lindisfarne. Although he was a brave warrior and practiced the laws of mercy towards the defeated, yet he reposed in the Lord within the Battle of Maserfield (642AD) whilst opposing Penda of Mercia’s army uniting with Welsh nobility.
St. Aiden – a Celtic monk of Iona is appointed Bishop of Northumbria by the local synod in 635AD with the support of St. Oswald in order to avoid the Roman missionaries who sort to suppress the Celtic and regional spiritualties of the local Church. Although the Church grew with the financial help of the nobility, yet St. Aden was adamant that the Church be a refuge for the forgotten, abandoned, and frail – a voice and aid for those in slavery.
St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne – grew up in the tradition of monasticism as they were centres of learning and spirituality for the faithful who lived in such surroundings having the honour of being baptized by bishop St. Paulinus of York. He began his monastic journey in 652AD and eventually was appointed bishop of the region in 684AD. It is interesting to note that he as a devoted Celt accepts the Roman reforms in 664AD at the Synod of Whitby. Yet, St. Cuthbert was an ascetic and preferred to spend time in prayer and contemplation rather than administration and entangling himself with the politics of the day resigning in 686AD.
St. Bede of Northumbria – alike St. Cuthbert and other contemporaries, St. Bede also grew up in the monastic tradition (673 – 735AD) and was educated well by these great centres of learning and spirituality. St. Bede was a church historian and we are truly thankful for the great legacy he has left us in opening a portal to the past. It is through St. Bede that we unearth in reverence the lives of the early saints of these lands and venerate them through his much devoted commentary concerning them and the life of the Church in Britain.