Gave us a new way of naming the years

	St. Bede the Venerable When: 672-735 Where: England What: Monk, scholar, Doctor of Church Feast: May 25 (traditionally, May 27)

"Father of English History" is quite a title, but it's not how this saint is best known. Indeed, his title may make some think he's not really a saint, but a person in an early stage of the canonization process.

The saint is Bede, whose title "the Venerable" was formally approved in 853 at the Council of Aachen as a way to acknowledge him as a wise and learned man.

Bede was born near St. Peter Abbey at Wearmouth and St. Paul Abbey at Jarrow, England. When he was seven, his parents sent him to Wearmouth to be educated by Abbot Benedict Biscop. Later, he went to Jarrow under the tutelage of Abbot Ceolfrid. He became a monk at Jarrow and was ordained to the priesthood when he was 30.

After that, he stayed at the abbey for most of his life, other than a few months of teaching in York. As a monk, he studied Scripture, taught and wrote.

As a writer, his works are seen as summaries of the era's knowledge and he is considered to have been a major influence on English literature. He wrote 45 books, including 30 commentaries on various books of the Bible, as well as books on philosophy, astronomy, arithmetic, grammar, histories and biographies.

His writings were considered so faith-filled and knowledgeable that, during his lifetime, a church council ordered that they be read aloud in churches.

In 731, he completed his best known work, a history of Christianity in England up to the year 729, called Historia Ecclesiastica. It is considered a primary historical source on the church and people of England.

It was not just a listing of dates and events, but a narrative on the saints and missionaries who had united the various tribes and races into a single country. Some have compared it to the Acts of the Apostles.

Shortly before he died, Bede completed his English translation of St. John's Gospel.

Most of us unknowingly acknowledge St. Bede when we write historical dates. Bede was the first to designate years since the birth of Jesus as anno Domini or AD (the year of the Lord). In 1899, St. Bede was named the only Doctor of the Church from England.