May 25 | Saint Bede

Welcome, young history buffs and curious minds, to My Daily Saint, the podcast that digs deep into the incredible lives of the saints, those remarkable people who shaped history and continue to inspire us today. Forget dusty old portraits and boring stories. Today, imagine being just 13 years old but living far away from your family in a massive stone monastery. You spend your days studying, singing, and praying, but suddenly a terrifying plague sweeps through your community, wiping out the entire population of the monastery.

Only you and the new abbot, a man named Selfred, are left alive. What would you do? Would you pack your bags and run back home? Would you be completely paralyzed by fear? For the teenage boy who would become Saint Bede, the answer was incredibly inspiring.

You stay, and you keep praying. Despite the immense tragedy surrounding them, just the two of them, the 13-year-old teenager and the abbot, continued chanting the divine office faithfully night and day. Born way back in the year 673 in the north of England, Bede was entrusted to the Jarrow Monastery of St. Paul to be educated when he was only seven years old. After he miraculously survived that terrible plague at age 13, the monastery was eventually built back up again, and the new monks discovered something amazing.

Bede had a genius-level literary talent. Bede was a voracious reader who took full advantage of the large monastery library. The monks taught him everything they could, including scripture, theology, sacred music, poetry, and the Greek language. He was ordained as a deacon at the surprisingly young age of 19.

He continued his rigorous studies for 11 more years before he was finally ordained to the priesthood at age 30. Once he was a priest, he took on the daily task of celebrating Mass for his community. Over the course of his lifetime, he wrote a staggering 45 books. Out of those 45 books, 30 of them were deep commentaries on the books of the Bible. In these writings, Bede focused on an allegorical and moral approach to Scripture, always searching for a deeper symbolic meaning and examining everything in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He taught hundreds of students in the monastery and its school. His writings were so highly respected that a church council even ordered his books to be publicly read in English churches. Even though he was famous, widely read, and had kings, church leaders, and political leaders constantly calling for his advice, he never let the fame go to his head.

Many of these powerful people begged the holy monk to come and live with them. However, Benedictine monks make a vow of stability, and Bede steadfastly refused all invitations to leave his monastery to live with influential people. Because he wouldn't leave, many poor and wealthy people made long pilgrimages directly to his monastery just to seek his spiritual guidance and counsel.

He even declined the powerful position of becoming the abbot, choosing instead to focus on his studies, commentaries, and translations. And despite his robust academic life, Bede always prioritized prayer, fasting, and charitable hospitality. He didn't think he was too good for hard work, either. He continued doing simple monastery tasks like farming and baking. He believed deeply in staying humble, once saying, It is better to be a stupid and uneducated brother who, working at the good things he knows, merits life in heaven, than to be one who, though being distinguished for his learning in the scriptures, or even holding the place of a teacher, lacks the bread of love.

Saint Bede died in the year 735, on the Feast of the Ascension. He is one of the last Western Christians to be called a church father, and he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

Now, St. Bede is the patron saint of lectors, scholars, English writers, and historians. So, what can we take away from Saint Bede's life for our own lives today? Saint Bede shows us that you can be the smartest, most talented person in the room, but if you don't have humility and love, all that talent means nothing. Today, your challenge is this. Take a simple, boring chore that you have to do, whether it's folding your laundry, taking out the trash, or washing the dishes.

And do it without complaining. Remember how one of the smartest men in history still took time to bake bread and farm for his brothers. Do your chores today with the bread of love, just like Saint Bede. Thank you for joining us on My Daily Saint. We look forward to sharing another incredible story of faith and courage with you tomorrow.