St. Kentigern, also called Mungo, is a very popular saint, about whom little
is known for certain, except that he died in 612. His name Kentigern means
something like 'Lord of the Hounds', a title of honour in a society where
dogs were highly valued, and the alternative name Mungo is probably a
combination of 'my' with an affectionately shortened form of his full name.
Modern writers have suggested 'my dear Kenti' as the meaning of Mungo.
The legendary outline of his life is as follows. His mother was the daughter
of a king of Lothian, and his father the son of the great British king Urien
of Rheged. His mother's father, enraged at her pregnancy, set her adrift in a
small boat, which grounded at Culross. Mother and new-born babe were carded
for by St Serf, the hermit of Culross, who also undertook the education of
the growing boy. As a young man Kentigern went his own way, and was led by a
pair of oxen to a place called Cathures, later to be Glasgow. This was the
centre of his work as a missionary in the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Legend also
credits him with extensive travels in Cumbria and in Wales, before he finally
returned to his Glasgow home for his remaining years. Many tales are told of
his wonder- working powers, including how he saved a distracted queen from
her husband's anger by finding the ring she had lost, in the mouth of a
salmon. The ring and the fish are now embodied in the coat of arms of the
city of Glasgow.
It is a pity that nothing was written down about Kentigern until 500 years
after his death and the material is clearly legendary. All the same, legends
are not told about nobodies. Behind all the wonders we can trace the outline
of a real and entirely credible man, an important missionary and monastic
founder at a time when the old British kingdoms were beginning to give way to
the incoming English. It was on the work of such men that the Christianity
which survived the pagans and then converted them was built.
8. EATA (eeyatta)
Eata was one of St.Aidan's original twelve English boys in the school on
Lindisfarne, the first school ever in Northumbria. By the time Aidan died in
651 Eata had become Abbot of Melrose, a monastery founded by Aidan on the
River Tweed, which later was famous as the monastery where the 17-year-old
Cuthbert entered as a novice immediately after his vision of St.Aidan' soul
being escorted to heaven by angels. Eata must have been pleased when his
monastery was given land at Ripon to found a daughter-house there. But later
the Melrose monks had to return, as their Ripon site had been handed over to
Wilfrid. Soon after, Cuthbert' great friend, Boisil the Prior (deputy-head)
of Melrose died of the plague, and Eata asked Cuthbert to be the next Prior.
Then came the meeting known as the Synod of Whitby, where King Oswiu decided
that Northumbria should no longer accept Irish leadership. The Irish monks of
Lindisfarne all went back to Iona, and Eata was asked to become Abbot of
Lindisfarne as well as Melrose. Eata accepted this, but it seems that he
chose to remain himself at Melrose, and sent his prior Cuthbert to sort out
the Lindisfarne monks.
Then the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus, decided to divide the
huge diocese of York, and Eata took the northern part, Bernicia. When this
was again divided into the two dioceses of Lindisfarne and Hexham Eata became
the fifth bishop of Lindisfarne. But when Cuthbert was asked to be bishop of
Hexham for some reason not known to us he was unwilling to go there. Eata
kindly agreed to transfer to Hexham and Cuthbert became Bishop of
Lindisfarne. Eata died the following year.
As a personality Eata is rather shadowy to us, but one thing seems clear: he
was a man of peace, who worked behind the scenes to make everything go
smoothly, and who was prepared to accept what was not congenial to himself if
it promoted the greater peace of the church. His acceptance of the Synod of
Whitby and of the authority of the Archbishop contributed greatly to the
unity of the church in Northumbria and in England.