Boethius

In 523 Boethius (480-524), who was the head of the civil service and chief of the palace officials for Theodoric The Great in Rome, was arrested on suspicion of secret dealings with Theodoric’s enemies in Constantinople. During his time in prison awaiting execution, he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which encouraged man to find consolation through meditation and prayer. During the Middle Ages this was a much-revered work and both Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth 1st translated it into English.
Boethius also wrote five theological treatises, which systematically applied the logic of Aristotle to Christian theology. They earned him the label of the first of the scholastic philosophers- one who attempts to use philosophy to explain Christian faith.
Boethius famously claimed that it is wrong to say what God is. Instead we should say what God is not, since the moment we say what he is we reduce him, thus diminishing him to the level of our inadequate thoughts and even more inadequate language.

William Blake

The visionary English artist and poet William Blake was known as “barmy” Blake, as he believed he had long conversations with biblical heroes and other famous historic figures. Even as a child he had visions of angels in a tree and the prophet, Ezekiel in a field. If his wife Catherine decided that her eccentric husband was spending too much time with his visions and angels and not enough earning his daily bread, at mealtime she placed an empty plate at his end of the table.
The Non-conformist mystic wanted to escape from puritanical repressive Christianity and had contempt for organized religion. He believed that England had a special relationship with God, having accepted the myth that Christianity had been established at Glastonbury almost in Christ’s own lifetime, by his follower Joseph of Arimethea, and that as the Jews have failed him, God replaced them with the English as his “chosen people.” In 1804 Blake wrote in his preface to his long poem Milton, Jerusalem, a poem of spiritual power and sexual liberty. The line “and did these feet in ancient time” referred, according to Blake, to Joseph of Arimethea. Sir Hubert Parry put the poem to music in 1916 to beef up British morale during the bleakest days of the First World War. Despite the unorthodox theology of the words it is now one of the most popular hymns in the English language and many of the English population would like this to replace "God Save The Queen" as their national anthem.

Tony Blair

In 1997 the voters of the United Kingdom dispatched the Conservative Party into opposition after 18 years in power and replaced it with the Labour Party and a new Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Twelve years later Blair won his third general election. making him the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister and the only person to have led the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Blair had his political views motivated by his Christian beliefs and was arguably the most devout British Prime Minister since William Gladstone. A High Church Anglican, he frequently attended Catholic services with his equally devout Roman Catholic wife, Cherie. On 22 December 2007, it was disclosed that Blair had converted to the Catholic faith, and that it was "a private matter."

Antoinette Blackwell

Antoinette Blackwell (1825-1921) was inspired by evangelical revivals to enrol at the Presbyterian Oberlin College and study theology, but as a woman she was refused a degree and ordination. After lecturing on women's rights and occasionally preaching at progressive churches, she was appointed in 1853 pastor by the First Congregational Church in South Butler, New York, thus becoming the first woman minister in an established Protestant denomination. However due to theological disagreements she resigned after less than a year and later joined the Unitarian church.
One of Antoinette Blackwell’s sister in laws was Elizabeth Blackwell, the first British woman doctor and the first woman to gain a medical degree anywhere.

The Black Death

In the mid-14th century a great epidemic of plague, mainly the bubonic variant known as The Black Death swept through Europe killing millions. Many people feared it was God’s judgement on a wicked world. Dice-makers turned their dice into beads for prayer and the Archbishop of York ordered solemn processions to ask for God’s mercy. One particular group who subscribed to this judgement theory were the Flagellants, groups of hooded men who marched with their white robes emblazoned on both sides with a red cross. They marched in parties of around 100 in a funeral procession from town to town with a combination of hymnal singing and sobbing. Throughout Europe they preached against church corruption and persecution of the Jews. Twice a day they performed a ceremony in public where they whipped themselves or beat themselves with iron spikes. The general public had tremendous regard for the Flagellants, as they see their acts as symbolizing man’s remorse for his wicked ways in a period when God’s judgement and wrath were manifestly evident.
By the 1350s there was a religious revival in Europe aimed at atoning for whatever sins may have caused the plague. This revival lead to an increase in charitable works and the founding of many new hospitals across Europe.
Also many people paid money to their priests to dedicate Masses to them and their families, believing that this would ensure divine protection on Earth. The result of this was a large income for the church that was spent on intricate decoration and liturgical music. As a result most churches had at least one resident musician whose task was to produce music on a weekly basis for both the Mass and the choir.

The Black Church in America

Richard Allen (1760-1831) was born a slave and converted to Methodism as a young man. After he converted his owner, he was given his freedom. In 1874 he was accepted as a Methodist preacher and returned to Philadelphia to preach . After an incident in which white parishioners forced the African-Americans present to segregate themselves, he led his black parishioners to form a Free African Society in 1787 , and in 1794 Allen established a separate Methodist church for African-Americans. Many African-Americans flocked to the new denomination as it allowed them to worship God in a culture that they could relate to. Allen, who campaigned for many years against the slave trade, worked to make the church an organization that was able to unite the African-Americans together.
In 1816 a number of independent black Methodist churches around the North East came together to form the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and on 11th April 1816 he was ordained its first bishop leading it until his death.

Otto Bismarck

As prime minister of Prussia, Otto Von Bismarck (1815-1898) pursued an aggressively expansionist policy, waging wars against Denmark (1863–64), Austria (1866), and France (1870–71), which brought about the unification of Germany and the founding of the German empire. Having received a humanistic education in his younger days, Bismarck was a freethinker, however his devout Lutheran wife, Joanna helped him to discover the Christian faith.
Bismarck believed that the Roman Catholic Church held too much political power and in 1871 he began an anti-Catholic campaign known as the Kulturkampf (cultural struggle). It was an attempt to subordinate the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to the state and the laws arising from this prohibited all Catholic religious assemblies. Many members of Catholic religious orders were expelled, including the Jesuits, a thousand priests were imprisoned or exiled and a million Catholics were left without their sacraments.

The King James Bible

In the early 17th century, the Geneva Bible was by far the most popular English Bible. It was the Geneva translation, not the King James, that was used by William Shakespeare and the early American Puritans. In 1604 Puritan John Rainolds suggested " . . . that there might bee a newe translation of the Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek." England's King James I granted his approval the following day and three years later, 47 leading scholars of the Church of England gathered in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey to plan the production of the Bible authorized by King James.
In 1611 The King James Bible was completed and published, using much of the original Hebrew and Greek. Despite making no mention of William Tyndale it preserved 90 per cent of his translation. Amongst the well-known lines taken from Tyndale’s translation work are “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) and “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1).
For the next three hundred years it was the translation generally used by English-speaking people.

The Bible

Due to all the false Gospels being produced the Christian leaders decided to collect together in one book all the known writings of the original apostles, who had the truth first hand. The division of the Hebrew Scriptures and the classical Christian documents came to be known as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The word “covenant” translated in Latin is “testamentim”. Hence the Old and New Testament.
By 100 AD the different parts of the New Testament had been written, but not yet collected and defined as ‘Scripture’. Early Christian writers such as Polycarp and Ignatius quoted from the Gospels and Paul’s letters, as well as from other Christian writings and oral sources. Paul’s letters were collected late in the first century. Matthew, Mark and Luke were brought together by AD150.
The New Testament canon originated when due to many false gospels being produced. The church leaders of about AD200 decided to get together in one book all the known writings of the original apostles. This was also done as a true statement of faith to refute the criticisms of those who misunderstood Christianity. Around this time Tertullian was writing of the ‘New Testament’ which he placed on a level with the Old as regards divine inspiration.
The first evidence for a canonical list which completely matches that widely accepted for the New Testament today is the 39th Easter letter of Athanasius written in 367, which designated 27 books of the New Testament alongside the canon of the Old Testament.
In 397 At the Council of Carthage the western church agreed on the same New Testament canon as the Eastern church.

Bible Timeline

285BC The Old Testament is translated into Greek. This version is called the Septuagint meaning “70” as 70 noted Jewish scholars worked on it.

100 AD All the different parts of the New Testament had been written, but not yet collected and defined as ‘Scripture’

200AD The church leaders decided to get together in one book all the known writings of the original apostles. This is also done as a true statement of faith to refute the criticisms of those who misunderstood Christianity.

200AD Tertullian is writing of the ‘New Testament’ which he placed on a level with the Old as regards divine inspiration.

367AD The first evidence for a canonical list which completely matches that widely accepted for the New Testament today is the 39th Easter letter of Athanasius written in 367, which designates 27 books of the New Testament alongside the canon of the Old Testament.

375 AD The Goths in Germany were introduced to Christianity by Roman prisoners, whom they had taken captive during raids into the Empire. Now Ulfilas, a missionary bishop to the Goths, has translated the Bible into their everyday speech, a monumental task as in order to achieve this task, he had to first of all devise a Gothic alphabet. He has omitted the books of Kings as he is concerned the accounts of the military campaigns of the Hebrews in those books will urge the warlike Gothic tribes to acts of war. This is the first barbarian translation of the Bible and the first done specifically for missionary purposes.

397 At the Council of Carthage the Western church agrees on the same New Testament canon as the Eastern church.

C720 Rather than copying from any one source, The Venerable Bede researched from several sources to create single volume bibles, a practice which was highly unusual for the time: previously, the bible had circulated as separate books.

1205 Stephen Langton, a professor in Paris, inserts chapter divisions into a Vulgate edition of the Bible. He is the first person to divide the Bible into defined chapters. Langton later became the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1408 In England the Council of Oxford forbids translations of the Scriptures from Latin into English unless authorized by the Church.

1466 First German bible is printed in Strasbourg by Johannes Mentelin.

1514: The first section of the Complutensian Polyglot (the world's first multi-language Bible) was printed at Alcala, Spain. (The complete translation was published in 6 volumes in 1517.)

1521 Martin Luther translates the New Testament into German. His German New Testament had a profound effect on the development of the German language and contributed largely to restructuring German literature.

1523 The New Testament is first translated into French.

1525 William Tyndale begins the printing of his English New Testament, the first complete translation from the original Hebrew and Greek text. After being forced to flee, he completes it clandestinely in Worms.

1526 William Tyndale's New Testament is completed. When it is read in church it’s popular reception is the 16th century equivalent of the popular soaps of today. The common people flock to hear the humour, violence and suspense of the Biblical stories. Despite its popularity the Bishop of London orders all copies to be seized and burned but these are soon replaced and copies continue to circulate.

1535. Miles Coverdale’s English Bible is printed. It is the first complete translation of the Bible and the Apocrypha to be printed in English. When Henry VIII, at Archbishop Cranmer’s request, authorises that it can be bought and read by all his subjects there is a tremendous widespread excitement. So much the English King is forced to draw back and issue new regulations restricting the reading of the Bible to wealthy merchants and aristocrats.

1539 Having banned Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, Henry VIII has a change of heart and orders a new version with an image of himself on the title page. The Great Bible is the first complete translation of the Bible and the Apocrypha to be printed in English. When Henry VIII, at Archbishop Cranmer’s request, authorizes that it can be bought and read by all his subjects there is a tremendous widespread excitement.

1540 The Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, places six copies of the Great Bible in St Paul's Cathedral. So enthusiastic are the people to hear the humor, violence and suspense of the Biblical stories that the overwhelming crowds are constantly disrupting his services. Consequently Bonner has to threaten to remove the Bibles unless the common people calm down.

1545 A law is passed by Parliament restricting the reading of the Bible in the new English translations to churchmen, aristocrats and wealthy merchants. It is now illegal for artisans, labourers or servants or women (except noblewomen) to read the Bible for fear the effect it will have on them

1557 Whilst Jewish Masoretes divided the Old Testament Hebrew text into verses, the New Testament was not divided into verse numbers until Robert Stephens’ Greek and Latin versions in 1557.

1560 The Geneva Testament under the leadership of William Whittingham is produced in Geneva. It is the first English Bible to be divided into chapter and verses. The Geneva Bible is the Bible taken to America by the Pilgrim Fathers.

1611 The King James Bible is completed and published, using much of the original Hebrew and Greek.

1646 The Massachusetts Bay Colony passes a law making it a capital offence to deny that the Bible is the Word of God. Any person convicted of the offence is liable to the death penalty.

1653 The ‘Unrighteous’ Cambridge Bible is published in England. It includes the following two mistakes: 1 Corinthians 6 v 9 “know yet not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God”. And Romans 6 v 13 “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness unto sin.”

1690 John Eliot (1604-1690), an American who was called the "Apostle to the Indians," was the first translator of the Bible into an Indian tongue — the first Bible to be printed in America.

1759 For the first time, the Pope gives his permission for the Bible to be translated into all languages of the Catholic states.

1782 A Philadelphian Printer, Robert Aitken, publishes the Robert Aitken Bible. This first ever published English language Bible in America has been printed due the lack of new Bibles available in the United States. The supply of English language Bibles has been cut off as a result of the Revolutionary War.

1901 The American Standard Version, a revision of the Revised Version is published. This is the first ever major Bible to be written in American English.

1952 The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published. It is a revision of the 1901 American Standard Version made by a committee of thirty-two Bible scholars and its aim is to provide an accessible, accurate modern translation of the Bible.

1971 The New American Standard Bible is published, updating and modernising the
American Standard Version. It is incorporating the Hebrew and Greek textual
discoveries that have been found, since the ASV was published.

1976 The Good News Translation is published. Its objective is to provide a clear, simple and accurate contemporary English translation. A New Testament version was published ten years previously, which has proved very popular having sold over 40 million copies. The line drawings and the easy-to-understand English have made it particularly popular with children.

Bible Trivia

The word Bible comes from the Greek word for "papyrus plant" (biblos), since the leaves of that plant were used for paper.

The oldest surviving copy of the four Gospels date back to 350. Cynics would need to move forward 500 years to approximately 850 to find the date of the oldest surviving copy of the supposedly more historically sound Caesar’s account of the Gallic War.

During the Middle Ages the medieval church walls were covered in paintings of Biblical scenes, which, in a period of almost universal illiteracy were thought to be the poor man’s Bible. Though reformers such as John Wycliffe and John Hus advocated the importance of the Bible, throughout the Middle Ages the clergy were afraid to let the common people have any knowledge of the Scriptures and in most of Europe it was dangerous to possess or even to be found reading the Bible. In England, for instance, in 1399 the death penalty became the punishment for heresy and many Lollards were burnt alive with their Bibles around their necks.

William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament introduced some of the most familiar phrases to the English language, such as ‘filthy lucre’, and ‘God forbid.’

Many common expressions were taken from the King James Bible. These include:

Casting pearls before swine (Matthew 7.v6)

Pride goes before a fall (Proverbs 16 v 18)

Go from strength to strngth (Psalm 84 v 7)

In the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15 v51-52)

The eleventh hour (Matthew 20 v 6)

Paul McCartney’s song “Uncle Albert” was about a real uncle of his, who when drunk would quote and read from the Bible, but when sober would not be seen near one.

In the Authorised version of the Bible there are 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31173 verses, 774746 words and 3566480 letters.

The middle verse in the Old Testament is 2 Chronicles 10 v17 & 18 and in the New Testament is Acts 17 v17.

The shortest verse in the Old Testament is 1 Chronicles 1 Chronicles 1 v25 (Eber, Peleg, Reu) and in the New Testament is John 11 v35 (Jesus Wept).

Ezra 7 v 21 “And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.” (King James), contains all the letters of the Bible except J.

The word ‘And’ occurs 35,543 times in the Old Testament and 10,684 times in the New Testament.

There are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible and 5,624 different Greek words translated into 12,143 different English words in the King James version.

Esther is the only book in the Bible that doesn’t mention the name of God.

An American linguist spent six months translating the New Testament into Klingon, the language created for Star Trek movies.

The Bible was translated at the beginning of the 21st century into Hawaiian pidgin English. Da Jesus book features characters such as “da bad guy” (Satan) and renders verses such as “Our Father who art in Heaven” as “God you our Fadda You stay inside da sky.”

Among the plethora of market-serving "versions" of the Bible made to please sub-groups and consumerist niche markets are the following: . A magazine-style Bible for teenage girls, Revolve, which has tips on cosmetics and boys and it counterpoint, the Refuel edition for boys, the African-American Woman's Study Bible, the Promise Keeper's Bible for Men, the Twelve-Step Bible. and the Green Bible with its green-inked verses having to do with the environment

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153) was a Frankish abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order. After the death of his mother in 1112, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order along with 27 of his friends and relations including four of his brothers. The young Frenchman had decided to withdraw from riches in order to live a life of poverty and a diet of cooked beech and herbs. He was soon recognised as a saint of such purity that he made others feel their impurity and many of his fellow monks were afraid even to come into his presence. It only required a few minutes in his company to learn how far they have fallen short.
Three years after entering the order Bernard was sent by the abbot of St Citeaux to start a monastery at Clairvaux. Within a few years the monastery had become under Bernard of Clairvaux’s rule the most prominent of the Cistercian order. His eloquent preaching and the miracles witnessed there attracted numerous pilgrims. By 1146 around 70 monasteries had been founded under the auspices of the one at Clairvaux and Bernard had established himself as one of the most influential men in Christendom. He advocated a more personal faith in which the Virgin Mary is the bridge between humanity and our saviour Jesus Christ. He also gained a reputation for denouncing liberal monks who undermine the mysteries of God by trying to understand the Christian faith through philosophy and intellectual means.
Around this time News came from the Holy Land that alarmed Christendom. Christians had been defeated at the Siege of Edessa and most of the county had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks. At the command of the pope, Bernard preached a sermon at Vézelay, promoting a second Crusade that aroused enthusiasm throughout Western Europe. Louis VII, the King of France was persuaded to join the Crusade and recruits from northern France, Flanders and Germany also signed up. It did not succeed in any of its aims and the last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade he had preached, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him.

Saint Bernadette

One cold February day in 1858 a poor 13-year-old peasant girl from Lourdes, France, called Bernadette was collecting twigs for firewood together with her sister, Marie and friend, Jeanne Abadie when she saw a vision of a lady near a small cave on the bank of a river. This lady looked like, according to Bernadette, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. To make sure the vision was not a manifestation of the devil, Bernadette threw holy water at her. The lady inclined her head gracefully until the bottle was empty. Despite the temptation to run away the young peasant girl fell to her knees transfixed. Despite no one else seeing the vision, soon crowds gathered at the place of her “acquero” as Bernadette referred to it. The peasant girl started seeing more visions. During the ninth vision the gathered crowd witnessed Bernadette dig into the earth and uncover a trickle of water that proved to be a spring. An old stone mason with a blind eye bathed it in the spring’s water and his eyesight was restored. A large crowd of people gathered at Lourdes on the day of Bernadette’s eighteenth vision but still she was the only one to see the lady. This time she asked the young woman who she is; the answer in Provencal was “Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou”, (“I am the Immaculate Conception”.) The young peasant girl did not understand this but reported it to her parish priest. Despite the church authorities scepticism regarding Bernadette’s claims of a miracle sick people from all over France began making their way to Lourdes.
The sisters of Nevers had a house at Lourdes where they cared for the sick and instructed children. They received Bernadette, who disliked the attention she was attracting and wanted to get away from the trying publicity and the over enthusiastic attentions of insensitive pilgrims. The sisters taught her to read and write and kept her busy with light work. She then joined a convent, moving into their mother house at Nevers at the age of 22. Bernadette spent the rest of her brief life there, and in her later years contracted tuberculosis of the bone in the right knee. On 16 April 1879 the terminally ill Bernadette was heard to mumble “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, poor sinner, poor sinner.” A few seconds later Bernadette died. She had spent the last 12 years of her life working as an assistant in the infirmary and later as a sacristan, creating beautiful embroidery for altar cloths and vestments. Bernadette had followed the development of Lourdes as a pilgrimage shrine while she still lived at Lourdes, but was not present for the consecration of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception there in 1876.

Berlin Wall

During several visits to his homeland, Poland, Pope John II proved to be a rallying point for opponents of the communist regime there and democratic elections were eventually promised. Meanwhile other Eastern European countries, encouraged by this and Gorbachev’s reforming policies also proceededto overthrow their Communist regimes. The culmination of this was the symbolic breaking up of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989.

Benedictine Liquor

Dom Bernardo Vincelli, a member of the Benedictine order in the early 16th century was an enthusiastic botanist who collected the plants and herbs that abundantly grew around his local area at Fécamp on the Normandy coast. Some of the specimens he used for medications, which he prepared for the hospital attached to his monastery. One of these concoctions contained a mixture of various herbs, fruit peels, twenty-eight different aromatic plants, and a fine brandy. When Dom Bernardo first tasted it with his fellow brothers, he immediately remarked on its "refreshing and recuperative" qualities. The exact formula however was highly classified. Closely guarded, its secret was confined to a maximum of three of his brethren.
Three hundred and fifty years later in 1862 a French merchant, Alexandre Le Grand discovered in some family archives the Benedictine, Dom Bernardo Vincelli’s, old secret recipe for a liqueur. He perfected the formula and began selling the liqueur, which he named Benedictine as a homage. The bottles of his liqueur contain the inscription Deo, optimo, maximio (or DOM), which translated means “To God, most good, most great”.

Benedictines

In 529 The Benedictine Order was founded by St Benedict (480-543) at Mount Cassino and 51 years later the Mount Cassino monastery was sacked by the Lombards thus fulfilling a prophecy of Benedict. The monks took refuge in Rome and started to spread knowledge of Benedictine rule. The Benedictine movement within the next few centuries became a key source for the conversion of Germany and England to Roman Christianity.
The Benedictine order arrived in England in 597 when a monastery was built in
Canterbury by the Benedictine prior St Augustine. Other Benedictine missionaries
completed the conversion of England to Roman Christianity. A century later the
English Benedictines, Saints Willibrord and Boniface successfully evangelized Germany and from there it spread northwards to Scandinavia and southwards to Spain. In 816 the Benedictine monastic order was imposed on the Holy Roman Empire. By this time the Benedictine had become the only form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the Celtic form of
Christianity remained prevalent.
A typical Benedictine day in England in the ninth century was : 12.00 Laud and Mass. Back to bed. 7.00 Service (prime) and mass. Breakfast. Discuss day’s business. 12.00 Work. 5.00 Vespers then relaxation. 6.30 Supper. 7.00 Compline then bed.
A typical Benedictine day in England in the ninth century was : 12.00 Laud and Mass. Back to bed. 7.00 Service (prime) and mass. Breakfast. Discuss day’s business. 12.00 Work. 5.00 Vespers then relaxation. 6.30 Supper. 7.00 Compline then bed.
In 910 The Benedictine Abbey of Cluny was founded in France by the Abbot Berno as a
reaction to the corruption and lack of zeal in the Benedictine Order. It became the
headquarters of the Cluniac order, who were noted for their strict adherence to the rule of St Benedict. From here monastic reforms were spread and Cluny became the leader of western monasticism from the later 10th century.
The Benedictine rule is a monument of wisdom that has survived the centuries. At its peak forty thousand monasteries were following it in the west.

Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX (c. 1012 – c.1085), born Theophylactus of Tusculum, was Pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048. One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy.
Benedict IX’s immoral character aroused much indignation. In 1044 a Roman faction drove him from office as unfit to rule due to his dissolute lifestyle but a year later he reinstated himself. The pope proceeded to marry his cousin and sell the papacy to his godfather, Gregory VI. In 1047 Benedict regained the papal throne again before finally being driven out from Rome a year later. After 16 years under Benedict the papacy had reached an all-time low in immorality and debauchery.

Saint Benedict

Born at Nurcia in Umbria, Benedict (c480-543) was a pious and virtuous child. He was sent to study at Rome and at the age of 15, disgusted at the vices of the city, fled to a cave on the face of a cliff in the mountains of Subiaco. Benedict survived on bread lowered to him in a basket attached to a rope by Romanus, a monk living at one of the numerous monasteries nearby.He had forsworn the consumption of meat in order to suppress his own carnal desires. After three years in the cave, the fame of Benedict's virtues reached some monks whose abbot had just died and they insisted that he become his successor. Though Benedict remained in the cave, more and more disciples placed themselves under his guidance. Eventually he established an abbey at Vicovano to house the growing number of his followers. It was the first of twelve monasteries he built for them, each of twelve monks.
About 529 Benedict founded the Monte Cassino abbey on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to the God, Apollo. He established there his Rule of St Benedict, which he composed 15 years earlier. The rule encouraged monks to participate in manual labour and studying, a novel idea at the time, but a monument of wisdom that has survived the centuries. Benedict declared “Idleness is hostile to the soul, and the brethren should be occupied at fixed times in manual labour and at definite hours in religious reading.”
A few weeks after the death of his sister Scholastica, Benedict had her tomb opened as he wished to be laid to rest beside her. He was then without warning taken with a violent fever. The dying Benedict was carried into the chapel at Monte Cassino by his fellow Benedictines where he received communion before he drew his last breath standing erect supported by his disciples.

Ben Hur

Lew Wallace (1827-1905), the Governor of the New Mexico Territory decided to write a book that would explode once and for all the supposedly absurd claims of Jesus Christ. After researching his material he began writing only to find he couldn’t go any further as it contradicted his original thesis denying Christ is the Son of God. So he converted his book into a novel, whose primary purpose was to support the claims of Jesus. The novel’s title was Ben Hur, and it became the best selling American novel of the nineteenth century, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and it had the honor of being the first work of fiction to be blessed by a Pope.

Beggars

Lambert le Bègue, (d c1187) a Flemish priest, was deeply perturbed by the pitiful sight of the many destitute wives and children of crusaders who had been killed. He made it his special mission to assist such homeless widows and orphans. To house them, he established refuges all over the area. It did not take long for them to be called after the priest who had done so much for them, to be referred to as a Bèghard. That is how the word “beggar” came into the world.

Ludwig van Beethoven

In 1820 the composer Beethoven wrote his Mass in D Minor (Missa Solemnis). Despite writing such spiritually uplifting music, Beethoven was not a conventional Christian himself. However he considered his compositions to be inspired by God.

Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher (1813 – 1887) was a 19th century prominent, Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist and speaker. Born to US Congregational and Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher, Henry was the seventh of 13 siblings, some of whom were famous in their own right, including Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.
In 1847 Henry was appointed the first pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York. For the next thirty years he crusaded from the pulpit for temperance and against slavery and became one of the most influential public figures in America. One of the great preachers of the age, amongst the many thought-provoking quotes in his Life Thoughts was, “There are many people who think that Sunday is a sponge to wipe out all the sins of the week.”
In the highly publicized scandal known as the Beecher-Tilton Affair he was tried on charges that he had committed adultery with a friend's wife, Elizabeth Tilton. After a sensational trial, in 1875 he was acquitted, however the whole affair scandalized America as Beecher was an immensely popular and respected Christian public figure.

Saint Bede

At the age of seven Bede (672-735) was confided to the care of the Abbot Benedict by his family at the newly founded monastery in Wearmouth. The monastery was founded by Benedict Biscop, formerly the Abbot of St Peter’s in Canterbury. He bought builders and glass-workers from continental Europe to help erect the building, thus introducing stone edifices and glass windows to England.
Bede later transferred to Jarrow monastery, where he became a priest in about 703. He devoted his life there to study, writing and prayer. He cheerfully often spent a whole night in prayer and thanksgiving to God. He once wrote “I have devoted my energies to the study of the scriptures, observing monastic discipline and singing the daily services in church; study, teaching and writing have always been my delight.”
Much of our knowledge of England in the Dark Ages prior to the 8th century depends on Bede's historical works and his painstaking efforts to research and validate original sources. Rather than copying from any one source, he researched from several sources to create single volume bibles, a practice which was highly unusual for the time: previously, the bible had circulated as separate books. He also worked on translations of parts of the Bible into old English, unfortunately these have not survived.
His Ecclesiastical History of the English People is a primary source for early English history. It tells of the early Anglo Saxon kingdoms and their conversion to Christianity.
The 62-year old Bede spent the last day of his life at Jarrow Monastery teaching and distributing the few goods he owned to fellow priests. He then knelt on the floor to pray before dying surrounded by his brethren.