Saint Cedd: A Life of Reaching Out

St. Cedd is an interesting Celtic saint because he was actually completely Anglo-Saxon. Cedd was born in the kingdom of Northumbria and was raised on the island of Lindisfarne by Aidan of the Irish Church. He had three brothers: Chad of Mercia (Ceadda), Cynibil and Cælin). All four were priests and both Cedd and Chad became bishops. The first datable reference to Cedd by Bede makes clear that he was a priest by the year 653. This probably pushes his birth date back to the early 620s.

A Bishop Concerned with Reaching People

What we do know about Cedd is that his first mission was an outreach to the Middle Angles of Mercia. In this first outreach Cedd likely did more learning than evangelizing, but whatever his contribution it was phenomenally successful.

From this he was sent by the king of the East Saxons to evangelize in that region. He had been so successful in these two places that within a year he was recalled Lindisfarne to be consecrated a Bishop. He then established Christian communities at Mersea, Prittlewell and Tilbury. Whatever way he was reaching out it was phenomenally received and accepted quickly by these non-Christian cultural groups.

A Bishop with Concern for All People

He was successful because he had taken on the uniquely Celtic way of Evangelizing. This method sought to bring the cultures it touched into Christianity intact, not made to look like the culture bringing the faith. They did not discount the way in which other tribes worshipped.

Instead, they took the attitude of acknowledgement for the reaching out to the gods of their religion, but also added that he was teaching of a God who sought to reach back. By taking on this attitude, The Celts kept their traditions, and only changed the object of affection. Because of this, Ireland and Scotland in particular still hold many of the pre-Christian culture although now they are largely Christian. Cedd reached out to people with an open hand, not with a balled fist.