Extract from the Life of St. Aidan
Introductory educidations

In the following extract, one can distinguish on one hand that Aidan?s saintly life brought a new meaning and new ethos to the society of his time, and on the other hand which sensitivity of his elevated him to the Illuminator of the British people.

The extract is part of the "Ecclesiastical History" of the English historian, St. Bede (673-735), the writing of which was completed in 731, that is, eighty years after the passing away of Aidan. It comes from the book: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People (English translation from the Latin Original by Leo Sherley-Price and R.E.Lathan), Penguin Books, London 1990, pp. 150-151.

Extract from the "Life"

His way of life comes to a striking contrast compared to the indifference of our time; he requested from all those who followed him, monks or laity, to practice spiritually either by studying the Scriptures or by learning the Psalms. This was done on an every day basis, wherever they might go. Even when the king invited him for a meal (something that rarely happened), he used to go with one or two clergymen, and after they had eaten frugally, he retired as soon as possible, in order to read or pray along with them. A lot of pious men and women were inspired to follow his example and adopted the habit of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays till the ninth hour [1] all year round, apart from the fifty days after Easter.

If by any chance some rich people did an unjust act, he would never remain silent out of respect or fear, but corrected them with uprightness. He offered food to the powerful when he took care of them as a host, but never money. But id the rich by chance gave him gifts or money, he distributed it to the poor needing it, or used them to buy those unjustly sold as slaves. A lot of those he had released in this way later became his students, and after he had taught ant catechized them, he ordained them.

It is said that when king Oswald first asked by the Irish people [2] to send a bishop to teach the faith of Christ to himself and his people, they sent him a man excessively strict. After a long time, and after he had failed to preach to the English people, who refused to listen to him, he returned and reported to his superiors that it had been impossible for him to preach even the slightest to the nation to which they had sent him, because it was a people not susceptible to governing, a people with stubborn and barbaric mentality. Therefore, the Irish fathers assembled a great meeting to decide what was to be done. They were saddened that the English people hadn't accepted the preacher they had sent, but at the same time wanted to respond to that people's desire for salvation. Then Aidan, who was part of the assembly, told the priest whose efforts had failed:

-"Brother, I have the feeling that you were excessively strict with your listeners, who are in ignorance. You should have followed the Apostles' method; you should have started by giving them the milk of the simplest teachings, that is, and slowly feed them with the word of God until they are strong enough for greater progress and possible for them to follow the higher commands of Christ [3] ."

When they heard those words, everybody's faces and eyes turned to Aidan. They listened to what he was saying with great attention and understood that they had the right man to become a bishop and to be sent to the ignorant and unfaithful, right in front of them, since he had been remarkably gifted with the grace of discernment, the mother of all virtues. They then ordained him a bishop and sent him to preach. Time was about to prove that Aidan was not great just because he was gifted with discernment, but with all the other virtues as well.

[1] Writer's Note: That is, around 3 p.m.

[2] Writer's Note: That is, from the monastery of Iona.

[3] Writer's Note: Also see the missionary method of Apostle Paul, as it is impressed in the Apostle's own words: "I fed you with milk, not with solid food, because you hadn't been ready to accept it yet". (1 st Corinthians, 3:2). "You need to be taught again even the basic elements of the word of God. You ended up needing milk and not solid food. Because he who is fed with milk doesn't have the experience to discern good from evil, for he is an infant. Solid food is for the mature, who have practiced their sensory organs, to be able to tell good from evil"(Jews, 5:12-14).