Skip to main content

Albinus

A scholarly English monk, pupil of Archbishop Theodore, and of Abbot Adrian of St. Peter's, Canterbury, contemporary of Saint Bede (673-735). He succeeded Adrian in the Abbatial office, and was buried beside him in 732. His chief title to fame lies in the fact that we owe to him the composition by Saint Bede of his "Ecclesiastical History of the English". The latter gratefully records the fact in the letter he sent to Albinus with a copy of the work, and at greater length in his letter to King Ceolwulf, both of which serve as a preface to the narrative. He calls Albinus a most learned man in all the sciences (Hist. Ecc. Angl., v, 20), and says that to his instigation and help the above-mentioned work was chiefly owing (auctor ante omnes atque adjutor opusculi hujus). Bede learned from him what had happened in Kent since the arrival of St. Augustine, both ecclesiastical and civil matters. Nothelm, a priest of London, served as their intermediary, and when the former returned from Rome with additional documents from the pontifical archives, Albinus was again called on to help in fitting them into their proper places. He seems to have been endowed with a fine historical sense, for the Father of English ecclesiastical history delights in confessing his earnestness, diligence, and erudition in all that pertained to the apostolic period of England's conversion.

More Catholic Encyclopedia

Search the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Browse Encyclopedia by Alphabet


Catholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Browse the Catholic Encyclopedia by Topic

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online


Newsletter Sign Up

Daily Readings

Reading 1, Acts 2:1-11
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when ... Read More

Psalm, Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Bless Yahweh, my soul, Yahweh, my God, how great you are! ... Read More

Gospel, John 20:19-23
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the ... Read More

Reading 2, First Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
Because of that, I want to make it quite clear to you that no ... Read More

Saint of the Day

May 19 Saint of the Day

St. Celestine
May 19: When the father of this Italian saint died, his good mother ... Read More




Marketplace

Click Here

THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY for an Ungodly Age Read More


Click Here

Gift of the Sprirt Crucifix
Striking walnut crucifix with Jesus reaching down from the cross with ... Read More