RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Becket Beeoher
deacon in his nineteenth year, and priest in his thirtieth. He was trained by the abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid (qq.v.), and probably accompanied the latter to Jarrow in 682. There he spent his life, rinding his chief pleasure in being always occupied in learning, teaching, or writing, and zealous in the performance of monastic duties. His works show that he had at his command all the learning of his time. He was proficient in patristic literature, and quotes from Pliny the Younger, Vergil, Lucretius, Ovid, Horace, and other classical writers, but with some disapproval. He knew Greek and a little Hebrew. His Latin is clear and without affectation, and he is a skilful story-teller, lake all men of his time he was devoted to the allegorical method of interpretation, and was credulous concerning the miraculous; but in most things his good sense is conspicuous, and his kindly and broad sympathies, his love of truth and fairness, his unfeigned piety, and his devotion to the service of others combine to make him an exceedingly attractive character. His works were so widely spread throughout Europe and so much esteemed that he won the name of " the teacher of the Middle Ages."
Bede's writings are classed as scientific, historical, and theological. The scientific include treatises on grammar (written for his pupils), a work on natural phenomena (De rerum natura), and two on chronology (De temporibus and De temporum ratione). The most important and best known of his works is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, giving in five books the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Caesar to the date of completion (731). The first twenty-one chapters, treating of the period before the mission of Augustine, are compiled from earlier writers such as Orosius, Gildas, Prosper of Aquitaine, and others, with the insertion of legend and tradition. After 596, documentary sources, which Bede took pains to obtain, are used, and oral testimony, which he employed not without critical consideration of its value. His other historical works were lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, and lives in verse and prose of St. Cuthbert. The most numerous of his writings are theological, and consist of commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testaments, homilies, and treatises on detached portions of Scripture. His last work, completed on his death-bed, was a translation into Anglo-Saxon of the Gospel of John.
Bibliography: The collected editions of Bede's works (such as by J. A. Giles, with Eng. transl. of the historical works and life, Patres ecclesice Anglicance, 12 vols., London, 1843-44; in MPL, xc-xcv) leave much to be desired. Good editions of the historical works, particularly of the Historia ecclesiastica, have been issued by J. Smith, Cambridge, 1722; J. Stevenson, Hist, eccl., London, 1838, Opera historica minora, 1841; G. H. Moberly, Oxford, 1869; J E. B. Mayor and J. R. Lumby, Hist, eccl., books iii and iv, Cambridge, 1881; A. Holder, Freiburg, 1890; C. Plummer, 2 vols., Oxford, 1896; Eccl. Hist., transl., introduction, life, and notes, by A. M. Sellar, London, 1907. The two works on chronology have been edited by T. Mommsen in MGH, Chron. min., iii (1898). There are English versions of the Ecclesiastical History by Stevens, 1723, revised by J. A. Giles, London, 1840; J. Stevenson, ib. 1853; and L. Gridley, Oxford, 1870. The
old Eng. version of the Hist, eccl., with transl. and introduction, was ed. by T. Miller, in 4 parts, ib. 1870. For Bede's life consult the introductions and notes to the editions mentioned, particularly those of Stevenson and Plummer; G. F. Browne, The Venerable Bede, in The Fathers for English Readers, London, 1879, New York, 1891 ; K. Werner, Beda der EhrwiXrdige und seine Zeit, Vienna, 1881; J. B. Lightfoot, in Leaders of the Northern Church, London, 1890 (biographical sermons); F. Phillips, in Fathers of the English Church, vol. i, London, 1891 (simple, scholarly, fair); W. Bright, Early English Church History, pp. 367-371 et passim, Oxford, 1897.
BEDELL, WILLIAM: Irish bishop; b. at Black Notley, near Braintree (50 m. n.e. of London), Essex, England, on or near Christmas day, 1571; d. at Drum Corr, near Kilmore, County Cavan, Ireland, Feb. 7, 1642. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (B.A., 1588; M.A., 1592; B.D., 1599), was ordained priest Jan. 10, 1597, and settled at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, in 1602. In 1607 he went to Venice as chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, British ambassador at that city, and there he made the acquaintance of a number of noteworthy men, including Marco Antonio de Dominis and Father Paolo Sarpi, author of the History of the Council of Trent, the last two books of which, as well as Sarpi's History of the Venetian Interdict, he afterward translated into Latin. He returned to Bury St. Edmunds in 1610, and removed to Homingsheath, a neighboring parish, in 1616. In 1627 he was appointed provost of Trinity College, Dublin; in 1629 he became bishop of the united dioceses of Kilmore and Ardagh (County Longford); in 1633 he resigned the latter see owing to conscientious objections to pluralities, and the belief that the proper administration of the diocese required a separate bishop . His position was difficult ; the dioceses were in wretched condition, and his earnest efforts to effect improvement stirred up opposition. Nevertheless he reformed many abuses and enjoyed great esteem among the people. He wrote a short summary of Christian doctrine in English and Irish (published, Dublin, 1631), and a translation of the Old Testament into Irish was made under his supervision (published, London, 1685). When the rebellion of 1641 broke out, he refused to leave his diocese, and, after suffering many hardships, died of fever brought on by the privations which he had undergone. His Life with the Letters between Waddesworth and Bedell was published by Bishop Burnet (London, 1685), and has been rewritten several times. The best biography is one by his son (ed. for the Camden Society T. W Jones, London, 1872).
BEECHER, CHARLES: Congregationalist, fifth son of Lyman Beecher; b. at Litchfield, Conn., Oct. 7, 1815; d. at Georgetown, Mass., Apr. 21, 1900. He was graduated at Bowdoin College 1834 and at Lane Theological Seminary 1833; became pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., 1844; of the First Congregational Church, Newark, N. J., 1851; of the First Church, Georgetown, Mass., 1857- He lived in Florida 1870- 1877, and for two years was State superintendent of schools. He published: The Incarnation (New York, 1849); A Review of the Spiritual Manifestations (1853); David and his Throne (1855); Redeemer
Beecher Beelzebub