St. Bede the Venerable (735) Commemorated on May 27

He spent almost his entire life as a monk in England and is known primarily for his many writings. He entered the monastery at Wearmouth at the age of seven and later moved (perhaps as one of the founders) to the monastery of Jarrow, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was ordained to the priesthood in his thirtieth year. In addition to many works of biblical exegesis, very popular in the middle ages, he compiled the Ecclesiastical History, still the primary source for the history of Christianity’s establishment in the British isles. He reposed in peace. 

Quotes from the Venerable Bede

“The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all.”
― St. Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People

“It has ever been my delight to learn or to teach or to write.”

“Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where He will.”
“I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.”

“Christ is the Morning Star, who, when the night of this world is past, gives to his saints the promise of the light of life, and opens everlasting day.”

“No man taketh away sins (which the law, though holy, just and good, could not take away), but He in whom there is no sin.”