Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is venerable. Pronounced / ˈvɛn ər ə bəl /, this adjective means “commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character,” “a title for someone proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church to have attained the first degree of sanctity or of an Anglican archdeacon,” “(of places, buildings, etc.) hallowed by religious, historic, or other lofty associations,” “impressive or interesting because of age, antique appearance, etc.,” or “extremely old or obsolete; ancient” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/venerable).

The word entered the language “c. 1400 (in reference to Bede, the Church fathers), ‘worthy of respect and esteem,’ also of Christ, ‘worthy of religious worship,’ from Old French venerable and directly from Latin venerabilis ‘worthy of reverence or respect,’ from venerari ‘to worship, revere,’ from venus (genitive veneris) ‘beauty, love, desire’ (from PIE root *wen- (1) ‘to desire, strive for’). As a title, used in reference to ecclesiastics (in the Anglican church, specifically of archdeacons) or those who had obtained the first degree of canonization. In general use, ‘hallowed by a combination of religious, historic, or other lofty associations,’ from late 15c” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=venerable).

The name most associated with the title venerable has got to be the Venerable Bede. Bede (c. 672-735) is most famous for his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), and for this work is sometimes called the Father of English History. And what little we know about Bede comes from his own chapter in the Ecclesiastical History.

“At the age of seven, Bede was sent as a puer oblatus to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk. It was fairly common in Ireland at this time for young boys, particularly those of noble birth, to be fostered out as an oblate; the practice was also likely to have been common among the Germanic peoples in England. Monkwearmouth’s sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede).

“In about 692, in Bede’s nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was Bishop of Hexham. The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was 25; Bede’s early ordination may mean that his abilities were considered exceptional, but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded. There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices” (ibid.).

Bede was a prolific writer. His works included Biblical commentaries, exegetical treatises, and hagiographies. Those “included lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose lives of St Cuthbert, an adaptation of Paulinus of Nola’s Life of St Felix, and a translation of the Greek Passion of St Anastasius. He also created a listing of saints, the Martyrology.

But the Historia is what Bede is famous for. One of the most interesting stories in it is the story of the sparrow. It is a comment by a councilor of King Edwin of Northumbria, while he and his councilors are considering converting from the pagan gods of their past to the new Christian god. After one of the pagan priests speaks, the councilor, according to Bede, says this:

This is how the present life of man on earth, King, appears to me in comparison with that which is unknown to us. You are sitting feasting with your ealdormen and thegns in winter time; the fire is burning on the hearth in the middle of the hall and all inside is warm, while outside the wintry storms of rain and snow are raging; and a sparrow flies swiftly through the hall. It enters in at one door and quickly flies out through the other. For the few moments it is inside, the storm and wintry tempest cannot touch it, but after the briefest moment of calm, it flits from your sight, out of the wintry storm and into it again. So this life of man appears but for a moment; what follows or indeed what went before, we know not at all. If this new doctrine brings us more certain information, it seems right that we should accept it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_History_of_the_English_People).

He also tells the story of the first known bit of Anglo-Saxon poetry, “Cædmon’s Hymn”: “According to Bede, Cædmon was an illiterate cow-herder employed at the monastery of Whitby who miraculously recited a Christian song of praise in Old English verse. In the story, Cædmon is attending a feast; when the revellers pass a harp around for all to sing a song, he leaves the hall, because he cannot contribute a song and feels ashamed. He falls asleep, and in a dream a man appears to him, and asks him to sing a song. Cædmon responds that he cannot sing, yet the man tells him to “Sing to me the beginning of all things”. Cædmon is then able to sing verses and words that he had not heard of before. On waking, Cædmon reported his experience first to a steward then to Hild, the abbess of Whitby. She invites scholars to evaluate Cædmon’s gift, and he is tasked with turning more divine doctrine into song. Hild is so impressed with Cædmon’s poetic gift that she encourages him to become a monk. He learns the history of the Christian church and creates more poems, such as the story of Genesis and many other biblical stories. This impresses his teachers. Bede says that Cædmon, in composing verse, wanted to turn man from the love of sin to a love of good deeds. Cædmon is said to have died peacefully in his sleep after asking for the Eucharist and making sure he was at peace with his fellow men” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dmon%27s_Hymn).

Bede did not quote the poem in Old English, perhaps because he considered himself a scholar and not a scop. But he paraphrases the poem in Latin, and then scribes who copied his Historia sometimes translated his paraphrase back to the Old English; hence there are variations. But here’s one of the Old English versions:

Nu sculon herian     heofonrices Weard,
Metodes mihte     and his modgeþanc,
weorc Wuldorfæder,     swa he wundra gehwæs
ece Dryhten,     or onstealde.
He ærest scop     eorþan bearnum
heofon to hrofe     halig Scieppend.
þa middangeard     mancynnes Weard
ece Dryhten,     æfter teode
firum foldan     Frea ælmihtig. (https://stella.glasgow.ac.uk/readings/?oe-5)

And here is a translation into Contemporary English:

Now [we] must praise [the] Guardian of [the] heavenly kingdom, [the power] of God and his conception,[the] work of [the] Father of Glory, in that He, eternal Lord, established [the] beginning of every marvellous thing.
He, holy Creator, first created
heaven as a roof for children of men.
Then [the] Guardian of mankind,
eternal Lord, almighty Master, afterwards adorned [the] earth for living beings.

Bede is not a saint. It takes the recognition by the Church of two miracles at least. But Bede was a scholar and a historian, and he was dedicated to his God and his church. He deserved the title the Venerable Bede.

Today’s image is of “The Venerable Bede writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, from a 12th-century codex at Engelberg Abbey, Switzerland” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede).