The place and role of early Christian saints of the Universal Church in the Venerable Bede’s “Ecclesiastical history of the English people”

Abstract

The article examines the place and role of veneration of early Christian saints of the Universal Church mentioned in the Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The Anglo-Saxon veneration of these saints, who lived on the continent from the first to the sixth centuries AD, played a major role in the development of the Anglo-Saxon Church and the Christian identity of the English people. However, until now, this veneration has not been sufficiently explored and systematized in the scholarly literature. By analyzing the text of the Ecclesiastical History, the authors seek to identify the nature of the veneration of these saints in Anglo-Saxon England during Bede’s time and their perception by clergy and laity. The analysis focuses on the Apostles Peter and Paul, as well as Saint Martin of Tours. References to these saints in descriptions of the Christianization of England in the late 6th — early 8th centuries demonstrate the connections between Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical institutions and customs and those of Rome and Gaul. The Holy Fathers of the Church and the Apostles appear in Bede’s narrative as bearers of dogmatically correct teaching and as fighters against heresies. Thanks to Bede’s introduction of the “visionary text”, a form of medieval narrative, the Apostles Peter and Paul are presented as participants in the events described, guiding the missionaries and encouraging the believers during times of tribulation, as well as fostering the veneration of local Anglo-Saxon saints. The emphasis on the role of Saint Peter testifies to the growing power of the Roman Church in England, which at that time protected the Anglo-Saxons from a shift toward local Celtic customs, which often violated canonical norms.