Written by Stephen Smith
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When the episcopal consecration of St. Chad was disputed over some minor technicality, he cheerfully resigned as Bishop of York, saying he'd never been worthy in the first place. The archbishop of Canterbury was so impressed he reconsecrated Chad himself and appointed him bishop of Lichfield.
St. Chad was a seventh century cleric who, according to some, is most famous for not being Bishop of York.
Chad lived in a time of religious dispute between the Roman church and the Celtic church. Although matters were largely resolved in favor of Roman customs at the Synod of Whitby in 664, there were some who did not accept this decision and were not, therefore, officially accepted by the authorities of the Roman church.
Chad was born in Northumbria, probably in the 620s. While still a boy he became a student of Aidan at the Celtic monastery on Lindisfarne and later went as a monk to Ireland, where he was priested, for further study.
It is known that one of Chad’'s four brothers, Cedd, came to Mercia in 653 when the province of the Middle Angles converted to Christianity. It is possible that Chad worked alongside his brother, instructing and baptizing the people.
In 664, a synod was held at Whitby to decide which method for calculating the date of Easter was correct. After listening to the argument between the two sides, King Oswy declared the Roman tradition the truer. Although the majority of Celtic clerics accepted Oswy’s decision, some refused to conform and this was to later directly affect Chad.
From Mercia, Chad'’s brother Cedd had gone to work first with the East Saxons before going north to Lastingham (in modern-day Yorkshire) where he had been given land for a monastery. On Cedd’'s death from plague in 664, Chad succeeded his brother as Abbot of Lastingham.
The following year, Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, was sent to France to be consecrated as bishop of the Northumbrians. However, as time went by and still Wilfrid did not return to take up his post, Chad was summoned to be consecrated in his place. Bishop Wini of the West Saxons was the only bishop of the Roman tradition left in England, but, as three bishops were required for a consecration, two others still following the British traditions assisted.
In 669, Theodore of Tarsus became Archbishop of Canterbury and immediately set about reforming the English church. On discovering two bishops in Northumbria, he declared Chad’'s consecration invalid because of the participation of the two British bishops. Chad’'s reply revealed his deep humility. He did not argue or fight for his position. Rather, he simply replied: "If you know I have not duly received episcopal ordination, I willingly resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, in obedience submitted to undertake it." ” Moved by this reply, Theodore completed Chad’'s consecration according to Roman rites. However, Wilfrid remained as Bishop of York and so Chad returned to Lastingham.
This state of affairs did not last long, and before long, Chad's deep humility was rewarded. Later in the same year King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop and Theodore sent Chad. It is likely that Chad’'s church, dedicated to St. Mary, was somewhere on the site of the present cathedral and that the church at Stowe was the site of he ‘house near the church, where he used to retire privately with seven or eight brethren in order to pray or study whenever his work and preaching permitted’. Although there had been previous bishops working in Mercia, it was with Chad that the see was fixed at Lichfield and so Chad can be correctly described as the first Bishop of Lichfield.
As Bishop of Lichfield, Chad carried out his missionary and pastoral work with zeal. The kingdom of Mercia was huge, and Chad spent much of his time traveling. In accordance with the Celtic tradition in which he had been brought up, he at first insisted on making all journeys on foot, following the example of the apostles. However, Theodore insisted that Chad used a horse for long journeys. Chad, unwilling to do anything that he felt would put him above the common man, refused, but Theodore, Bede tells us, lifted Chad bodily onto the horse.
After two and a half years at Lichfield, there came a time of plague which ‘freed many members of the reverend bishop’'s church from the burden of the flesh’.
One day, a certain monk named Owini was working alone in the fields near Chad’'s house when he heard the sound of singing apparently descending from the sky to the oratory where Chad was praying. Owini listened with rapt attention. The voices could be heard for about half an hour before returning heavenwards. Chad then summoned his monks and, after urging them to live good Christian lives and to continue in keeping the rules of monastic discipline, announced that he was soon to die.
When the other brothers had gone away, Owini returned to Chad and begged to know what the singing had been that he had heard. Chad replied that he had been visited by angelic spirits summoning him to heaven and that these spirits would return in seven days and take him with them. He then commanded Owini to tell nobody of this until after his death.
Chad was quickly taken ill and on the seventh day (2nd March, 672), ‘his holy soul was released from the prison-house of the body and, one may rightly believe, was taken by the angels to the joys of heaven’.
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