Saints Hilda and Caedmon

Detail from Caedmon's Cross in Whitby

Last week, our Celtic Saints and the Arts class examined the town of Whitby and especially its synod of 664 at which the Roman mission in Christianity was embraced by those with political power.

St. Hilda oversaw that synod at which the Celtic and Roman ways were articulated as stemming from traditions related to Saints John and Peter, respectively.

It seems that it's easier to delineate some of the historical information about Hilda from the legendary material than with some of the other saints we've studied. For example, she oversaw that synod: historical. She decapitated a swarm of snakes with a whip and threw them off a cliff: legendary. That legend is an outdated explanation of fossils like these found on the beach at the bottom of the cliff. And they're not headless serpents, they are ammonite fossils - rocki-fied shells of mesozoic cephalopods.

 

Whitby is notable from a literary standpoint. Bram Stoker found inspiration in the city for his Dracula and its opening chapters are set there. Much earlier, while working in Hilda's abbey, Caedmon conceived his famous hymn, the cornerstone of sacred verse in the English language.

Under the sensitive eye of Caedmon, we wrote our own alliterative retellings of Bible stories. I share my effort below.

Bethlehem baby born with the beasts

Mary meets Messiah between midnight and morn 

Joseph joins with gentle gaze

Shepherds sing their soulful psalm

Angels answer in awe of incarnation

Considering Caedmon, we asked ourselves these questions:

Has a dream ever changed your course in life? 

Have you ever discovered you could do something you hadn't known you could do?  

If you were to be remembered for only one thing, what would that be?

   ". . . none could equal him, for he did not learn the art of poetry from men, neither was he taught by man, but by God’s grace he received the free gift of song." - Bede

In its language extolling the creator God, Caedmon's Hymn reminds me of the list of titles in Isaiah 9:6 and of the hymn of Terry York and Mark Blankenship, "Worthy of Worship."

(Image above of Caedmon with the sun found here.)