St. Ceolfrid

Benedictine abbot of St. Paul Monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England, also called Geoffrey. He was born in Northumbria in 642 and became a monk at Ripon. St. Benedict Biscop named him prior of Wearmouth, but he was too strict and was forced to leave. Accompanying St. Benedict to Rome in 678, Ceolfrid became the deputy abbot of St. Paul’s in 685. He and one young student were the only ones to survive the regional plague. He became the abbot in 690 and developed the twin monasteries into cultural centers. The CodexAmatianus, the oldest known copy of the Vulgate Bible in one volume, was produced at his command. He also trained St. Bede. In 716, Ceolfrid retired and started for Rome, dying on September 25 at Longres, in Champagne, France.