St. Bede the Venerable: Patron Saint of Historians

St. Bede the Venerable (about 673–735) was an English Benedictine monk of Jarrow, the most learned man of his age in Western Europe, and the author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which earned him the title “Father of English History.” He is the patron saint of historians, and also of scholars and English writers. He spent almost his whole life in one monastery, praying, teaching and writing, and died singing the Glory Be. Pope Leo XIII named him a Doctor of the Church in 1899. His feast day is May 25. Below are his story, the moving account of his death, his own prayer, and a prayer to St. Bede for historians and students.

A short prayer to St. Bede, written for this page:

St. Bede, you loved the truth and told the story of God’s work in your people.
Pray for historians, teachers and students,
that we may study with honesty, write with care, and find God in all we learn. Amen.

Who was St. Bede?

Bede was born around 673 on the lands of the monastery of Wearmouth, in Northumbria, in the north of England. At seven he was entrusted to the abbot, St. Benedict Biscop, and soon moved to the new sister monastery of Jarrow, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was ordained a deacon at nineteen and a priest at thirty. He gave his days to the study of Scripture, the monastic discipline and the daily singing of the Office. “I always took delight,” he wrote, “in learning, or teaching, or writing.”

He wrote about sixty works: commentaries on almost every book of the Bible, sermons, lives of the saints, books on grammar, poetry, science and the calendar, and his masterpiece, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, finished in 731. In it he told the story of the conversion of England, from St. Augustine of Canterbury to his own day, carefully naming his sources. His books on time also made popular the custom of dating years “from the Incarnation of our Lord,” anno Domini, which we still use.

What is St. Bede the patron saint of?

Historians, because of his Ecclesiastical History and his care for sources and dates
Scholars, students and teachers
English writers; he is often called the father of English learning

The death of St. Bede

A young monk named Cuthbert, who was with Bede in his last illness, described his death in a letter. Bede kept teaching and translating the Gospel of St. John into English until the end. On the eve of the Ascension, 735:

Having said this and much more for our profit and edification, he passed his last day in gladness till the evening; and the aforesaid boy, whose name was Wilbert, still said, ‘Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written.’ He answered, ‘It is well, write it.’ Soon after, the boy said, ‘Now it is written.’ And he said, ‘It is well, thou hast said truly, it is finished. Take my head in thy hands, for I rejoice greatly to sit facing my holy place where I was wont to pray, that I too, sitting there, may call upon my Father.’ And thus on the pavement of his little cell, chanting ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ and the rest, he breathed his last.

A prayer of St. Bede

Bede ended his Ecclesiastical History with this prayer:

And I beseech Thee, good Jesus, that to whom Thou hast graciously granted sweetly to drink in the words of Thy knowledge, Thou wilt also vouchsafe in Thy loving-kindness that he may one day come to Thee, the Fountain of all wisdom, and appear for ever before Thy face.

The prayer of his feast from the 1916 daily missal:

O God, who didst distinguish thy Church by the learning of thy blessed Confessor and Doctor Bede, graciously grant thy servants to be always enlightened by his wisdom and aided by his merits. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.

Feast day and Doctor of the Church

The optional memorial of St. Bede the Venerable, priest and Doctor of the Church, is May 25 (before 1969 it was kept on May 27). The title “Venerable” was given to him soon after his death and stayed attached to his name. Pope Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1899, the only English Doctor of the Church until St. John Henry Newman was named one in 2025. His relics rest in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the patron saint of historians?

St. Bede the Venerable, author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

Why is Bede called “Venerable”?

The title was given to him as a mark of respect soon after his death, and it became part of his name.

What were St. Bede’s last words?

He died chanting “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.”

More saints

Texts and sources

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, closing prayer, and the letter of Cuthbert on the death of Bede, trans. A. M. Sellar (London, 1907), public domain (Project Gutenberg).
The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916), Venerable Bede (May 27), Collect, public domain (archive.org).