Glastonbury Abbey [pp. 150-170]

Glastonbury Abbey, Past and Present.
monastery of Monte Cassino, and
three of them quitted the throne and
resumed the monastic life-Constantine II., Christopher I., and Gregory
XII. Two hundred cardinals had
been monks in their cloisters-they
produced 7,000 archbishops, 15,000
bishops, fifteen of whom took off
their mitres, resumed their monks'
frock, and died in seclusion; 15,000
abbots; 4,000 saints. They established
in different countries altogether
37,000 monasteries, which sent out
into the world upwards of 15,700
monks, all of whom attained distinction as authors of books or scientific
inventors. Rabanus established the
first school in Germany. Alcuin
founded the University of Paris,
where 30,000 students were educated
at one time, and whence issued, to the
honor of England, St. Thomas h
Becket, Robert of Melun, Robert
White, made cardinal by Celestine
II., Nicholas Breakspear, the only
Englishman ever made Pope, who
filled the chair under the title of
Adrian IV., and John of Salisbury,
whose writings give us the best description of the learning both of the
university and the times. Theodore
and Adrian, two Benedictine monks,
revived the University of Oxford,
which Bede, another of the order,
considerably advanced. It was in
the obscurity of a Benedictine monastery that the musical scale or gamut
-the very alphabet of the greatest
refinement of modern life-was invented, and Guido d'Arezzo, who
wrested this secret from the realms
of sound, was the first to found a
school of music. Sylvester invented
the organ, and Dionysius Exiguus
perfected the ecclesiastical computa tion.
England in the early periods of her
history contributed upwards of a
hundred sons to this band of immortals, the most distinguished of whom
we will just enumerate-St. Cuthbert,
bishop of Lindisfarne, whose life Bede
has written, and whose "Ordinationes" and "De Vita Monastica"
have reached to our times. St. Benedict Biscop, the founder of the monasteries of St. Peter and St. Paul, at
Wearmouth and Jarrow, a nobleman
by birth, and a man of extraordinary
learning and ability, to whom England
owes the training of the father of her
ecclesiastical history, the Venerable
Bede. St. Aldhelm, nephew of King
Ina, St. Wilfrid, St. Brithwald, a
monk of Glastonbury, elevated to the
dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury,
which he held over thirty-seven
years. His works which have come
down to us are a " Life of St. Egwin,
bishop of Worceater," and the "Origin of the Monastery of Evesham."
Tatwin, who succeeded him in the
archbishopric. Bede the Venerable,
who was skilled in all the learning of
the times, and in addition to Latin
and Greek, was versed in Hebrew;
he wrote an immense number of
works, many of which are lost, but
the best known are the greater portion of the "Saxon Chronicle," which
was continued after his death as a
national record; and his "Eeclesiastical History," which gives to England
a more compendious and valuable
account of her early church than has
fallen to the lot of any other nation.
He was also one of the earliest translators of the Scriptures, and even on
his death-bed dictated to a scribe
almost up to the final moment; when
the last struggle came upon'him he
had reached as far as the words, " But
what are they among so many," in
the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel,
and the ninth verse. St. Boniface, already alluded to as the apostle of
Germany, was a native of Devonshire.
He was made Archbishop of Mentz, but
beingpossessedwith an earnest longing
to convert the heathen Frieslanders,
he retired from his archbishopric,
and putting on his monk's dress took
with him no other treasure than a
book he was very fond of reading,
called "De Bono Mortis," went
amongst these people, who cruelly
beat him to death in the year 755;
and the book stained with his blood
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