Thus wrote the humble monk

"From the time of my admission to the priesthood to my present fifty-ninth year, I have endeavored for my own use and that of my brethren, to make brief notes upon the holy Scripture, either out of the works of the venerable Fathers or in conformity with their meaning and interpretation."

Thus wrote the humble monk, who spent the whole of his life within the same monastery. A few years after he wrote these words, he died – on this very day.

This humble monk who made “brief notes” would be recognized as the most learned man of his day and one of the Church’s greatest historians.

Not long after his death, he was known as “the Venerable” and in 1899, more than a thousand years after his death (in 735), Bede the Venerable would be declared a Doctor of the Church.