Who was St Aidan?

  • 590 [ca] Born in Ireland, became a monk on the Scottish
    island, Iona.
  • 635 Consecrated a bishop, sent to Northumbria as a missionary,
    founded a monastery on Lindisfarne, now called Holy Island
  • 651 died in Bamburgh
  • August 31 Feast of St. Aidan

With thanks to St. Aidan’s Church, Malibu, CA:

In the seventh century, St. Aidan was the Bishop of Lindisfarne, an island in the North Sea, where he converted the Celts living in England’s far north. Little is known of the saint’s early life, save that he was an Irishman, possibly born in Connacht, and that he was a monk at the monastery on the island of Iona in Scotland.

St. Aidan lived in a time of conflict in the British Isles. There was conflict between Christianity and the pagan religions of the Anglo-Saxons and conflict between the Christianity of the Celts and that of the Romans.

In 633, King Oswald of Northumbria determined to bring Christianity to the pagans of his kingdom. From his fortress of Bamburgh, he sent messages to Iona asking for missionary monks to come and minister to his people. Aidan arrived in Northumbria around 635 accompanied by twelve other monks and was established as Bishop of the area. King Oswald gave him the island of Lindisfarne (now known as the Holy Island) for his Bishopric. It was eminently suitable for him since the island was cut off from the mainland except twice a day during the periods of low tide, when a land bridge was uncovered. It provided both solitude and a base for missionary work.

Aidan preached widely throughout Northumbria, traveling on foot, so that he could readily talk to everyone he met. King Oswin presented St. Aidan with a fine horse and trappings so the Bishop would no longer have to walk everywhere. No sooner had St. Aidan left the King’s palace when he came across a poor man asking for alms. The bishop gave the man his new horse and continued on his way. St. Bede has left us the following account:  “The King asked the bishop as they were going in to dine, ‘My Lord Bishop, why did you give away the royal horse which was necessary for your own use? Have we not many less valuable horses or other belongings which would have been good enough for beggars, without giving away a horse that I had specifically selected for your personal use?’ The bishop at once answered, ‘What are you saying, Your Majesty? Is this child of a mare more valuable to you than this child of God?’”

One story has St. Aidan saving the life of a stag by making it invisible to the hunters. Even though this miracle has also been attributed to St. Aidan of Ferns, the stag is one of the heraldic symbols associated with St. Aidan since the stag symbolizes solitude, piety, and prayer. St. Aidan’s crest is a torch, a light shining in the darkness, since ‘Aidan’ is Gaelic for ‘fire.’

St. Aidan’s feast day is on August 31.