Benedict Biscop, St (c. 628-689)

Benedictine monk, patron saint of the English Benedictines. He was abbot of St Peter's monastery, Canterbury, 669-71, and made five journeys to Rome. In 674 he built a monastery at Wearmouth, Northumbria, which he endowed with his vast collection of books and manuscripts; in 682 he built a dependent house at Jarrow. He is said to have introduced into England glass windows and churches built of stone. His feast day is 12 January.

The English theologian and historian Bede was his pupil, and drew on Benedict's vast library as sources for his writing. At Benedict's death the two monasteries he had founded possessed a collection of books, relics, and objects of religious art unique in England.