40. SAINT EATA, BISHOP OF HEXHAM

Our holy Father Eata was one of twelve English boys educated by St. Aidan at Lindisfarne. He became a monk, and then abbot, of Melrose, and was, in the words of Simeon of Durham, «a man of exceeding gentleness».

In 659, St. Eata left with St. Cuthbert, who was one of his monks, to found the monastery of Ripon on land given him by King Alcfrith of Deira. In 661 Eata and Cuthbert returned to Melrose rather than accept the Roman-Byzantine paschalion. However, they changed their minds about the paschalion, and in 678 Eata was consecrated bishop of Bernicia. In 681 this diocese was divided into two, Lindisfarne and Hexham, and Eata ruled Lindisfarne from 681 to 685, appointing Cuthbert as superior of the monastery. In 685, when Bishop Tunbert of Hexham was deposed, Eata became bishop of Hexham while St. Cuthbert became bishop of Lindisfarne.

In 686 St. Eata died of dysentery, and was buried to the south of St. Wilfrid's church at Hexham. A chapel was later built over his tomb. In the eleventh century his relics were translated into the church. In 1113, Archbishop Thomas II of York tried to obtain Eatás relics for York, but the saint appeared to him in a dream and beat him with his pastoral staff.

St. Eata is commemorated on October 26.

Holy Father Eata, pray to God for us!

(Sources: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People; Simeon of Durham, History of the Church of Durham; David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Clarendon Press, 1978, pp. 44–45, 116)