studying the Scriptures, he the more earnestly applied himself to the labor of his hands. In short, having been received, in company with the bishop, into the house aforesaid, and there entertained with the brethren for the sake of his reverent devotion, he, while they were engaged within in reading, would remain outside, and do such things as were necessary.

One day when he was thus employed abroad, his companions having gone to the church, as I began to state, and the bishop being alone, reading or praying in the oratory of that place, on a sudden, as he afterwards would say, he heard the voice of persons singing most sweetly and rejoicing, and appearing to descend from heaven to earth. This voice he said he first heard coming from the southeast, that is, from the point where the winter sun rises, and that afterwards it drew near him till it came to the roof of the oratory where the bishop was, and, entering therein, filled the same and all about it. He listened attentively to what he heard, and after about half an hour perceived the same song of joy ascend from the roof of the said oratory, and return to heaven, with inexpressible sweetness, the same way it came. When he had stood some brief space astonished, and was seriously revolving in his mind what it might be, the bishop opened the window of the oratory, and snapping his fingers, as he was often wont to do if any one was outside, bade him come in to him. He accordingly went in with speed, and the bishop said to him: Make haste to the church, and cause those seven brethren to come hither, and do you come with them.' When they were come, he first admonished them to maintain the virtue of love and peace among themselves and toward all believers, and

1 See below, p. 245.

2 A sacred quarter; cf. p. 62, note.

indefatigably to practise the rules of regular discipline which they had either been taught by him or seen him observe, or had noticed in the words or actions of the fathers who had gone before. Then he added that the day of his death was at hand, 'for,' said he, 'that lovely guest who has been wont to visit our brethren has vouchsafed also to come to me this day, and to call me out of this world. Return, therefore, to the church, and speak to the brethren that they in their prayers recommend my departure to the Lord, and that they be careful to provide for their own, the hour whereof is uncertain, by watching, prayer, and good works.'

When he had spoken thus much and more, and they, having received his blessing, had gone away in sorrow, he who had heard the heavenly song returned alone, and prostrating himself on the ground, said: 'I beseech you, father, may I ask a question?''Ask what you will,' answered the bishop. Owin rejoined: 'I entreat you to tell me what song that was which I heard issuing from those rejoicing ones who descended from the sky upon this oratory, and who after some time returned to heaven?' The bishop answered: If you heard the singing, and knew of the approach of the heavenly company, I charge you in the name of the Lord not to tell the same to any one before my death. They were angelic spirits, who came to call me to the heavenly reward which I have always loved and longed for, and they promised to return seven days from now and take me away with them.' This was fulfilled as had been said to him; for being presently seized with a languishing distemper, and the same daily increasing on the seventh day, as had been promised to him, when he had prepared for death by receiving the body and blood of our Lord, his holy soul being delivered from

the prison1 of the body, and the angels, as may justly be believed, attending him, he departed to the everlasting joys.

22. JOHN, THE SINGER OF THE APOSTOLIC
SEE (A.D. 680)

Bk. 4, chap. 18

He [Benedict Biscop] then received the aforesaid Abbot John to be conducted into Britain, that he might teach in his monastery the annual round of musical services as it was practised at St. Peter's at Rome. Abbot John did as he had been commanded by the pope, teaching orally to the singers of the said monastery the order and manner of singing and reading, and also committing to writing all that was requisite throughout the whole course of the year for the celebration of festivals; all which are still observed in that monastery, and have been copied by many others in various places. Not only did the said John teach the brothers of that monastery, but such as had skill in singing resorted from almost all the monasteries of that province to hear him, and many invited him to teach in other places.

23. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE ABBESS HILD

Bk. 4, chap. 23

In the following year, namely that of our Lord's incarnation 680, on the 17th of November, the most religious servant of Christ, Hild, abbess of the monastery that is called Whitby, as above mentioned, after having performed many heavenly works on earth, passed from thence to receive the rewards of the heavenly life, at the age of

1 Various occurrences of this figure in English and other literatures are noted in Cook's edition of The Dream of the Rood, pp. 38-9.

sixty-six years, which fell into two equal divisions: the first thirty-three she spent in living most nobly in the secular habit, and more nobly dedicated the remaining half to our Lord in the monastic life. She was noble too by birth, being the daughter of Hereric, nephew to King Edwin, with which king,1 moreover, at the preaching of Paulinus of blessed memory, the first bishop of the Northumbrians, she embraced the faith and mysteries of Christ, and preserved the same undefiled until she attained to the vision of Him in heaven.

3

Resolving to quit the secular habit, and to serve Him alone, she withdrew into the province of the East Angles, since she was a connection of the king;2 being desirous, if it were at all possible, to pass over from thence into France, forsaking her native country and all she had, and so live for our Lord in the monastery of Chelles as an exile, that she might the more easily attain to the eternal kingdom in heaven; because her sister Hereswith, mother to Aldwulf, king of the East Angles, at that time living in the same monastery under regular discipline, was waiting for her eternal crown. Being led by her example, she planned to go abroad, but was detained a whole year in the aforesaid province; afterwards, being recalled home by Bishop Aidan, she accepted a hide of land on the north side of the river Wear, where again for a year she with a very few companions led a monastic life.

After this she was made abbess in the monastery called Hartlepool, which had been founded not long before by

1 Cf. p. 34.

2 Her sister had married the king's brother.

3 A little to the east of Paris. Mayor and Lumby say: 'The studies pursued in these nunneries may be inferred from the example of St. Radegunde, queen of France, foundress of Holy Cross convent at Poitiers, who there read Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, Athanasius, Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Sedulius, and Orosius.'

4 Eighteen miles S.E. of Durham, on the sea.

the religious handmaid of Christ, Heiu, who is said to have been the first woman in the province of the Northumbrians who took upon herself the vow and vesture of a nun, being consecrated by Bishop Aidan; but she, soon after she had founded that monastery, went away to the city of Tadcaster,1 and there fixed her dwelling. Hild, the handmaid of Christ, being set over that monastery, began immediately to reduce all things to a regular system, as far as she could ascertain from learned men; for Bishop Aidan, and as many religious men as knew her, frequently visited, fervently loved, and diligently instructed her, because of her innate wisdom and attachment to the service of God.

When, therefore, she had for some eight years governed that monastery, wholly intent upon establishing the regular life, it happened that she also undertook either to build or to set in order a monastery in the place called Whitby. This work laid upon her she industriously performed, for she put this monastery under the same regular discipline as the former, and taught there the strict observance of justice, piety, chastity, and other virtues, particularly of peace and charity, so that, after the example of the primitive church, no person was there rich and none poor, all being in common to all, and none having any property. Her prudence was so great that not only indifferent persons, but even kings and princes, as occasion offered, asked and received her advice. She obliged those who were under her direction to attend so much to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and to exercise themselves so much in works of righteousness, that many

1 Nine miles S. W. of York. 'The village of Healaugh, about three miles north of Tadcaster, is believed to mark the site of St. Heiu's foundation, and possibly preserves her name' (Murray's Yorkshire, quoted by Plummer). 2 A.D. 657. 3 Cf. Acts 4. 32-4; 2. 44-5.