Did you work it out? 


The shrine is in Saint Aidan’s Church, Bamburgh. It was erected in recent times near to where it is believed Bishop Aidan died.

 

Saint Bede tells us that he was staying near the royal palace at Bamburgh. He had built a small wooden church nearby with a place for him to sleep. When he was taken ill he was leant against a buttress on the outside of the church.


There is a tradition that the beam which supported him was preserved and can now be seen in Saint Aidan’s in the roof.

Bede goes on to tell us that after his death his body was taken back to Lindisfarne. The monks placed him in a tomb to the right of the altar.

 

In 664 AD it was decided that the Church in Northumbria would follow the Roman Calendar and pattern of monastic life. The incumbent Bishop of Lindisfarne, Saint Colman, was unhappy with the change and returned to Iona.

 

With the permission of the king he took with him some of the bones of Saint Aidan. What was left remained on Holy Island. Colman most likely laid Aidan’s bones to rest on Iona, though he went on to be a missionary in Ireland.

Sadly both monasteries were destroyed by Viking raiders only to be rebuilt quite some time later.

 

So Aidan rests in two places; Lindisfarne and probably Iona.

Aidan was famous for his gentle and humble approach to people.

 

The first Celtic missionary to the English reported that we were ‘rude and barbarous’, unsuited to the Gospel message.

 

Aidan replied that what was needed was the milk of simple teaching, probably referring to the first letter of Saint Peter (Ch 2, v 2).

Did you work it out?


We have six winners as listed below in alphabetical order. Well done all of you for this week. Fr. Adrian provides the detailed answer above :



Well done to you all.