Vice-President Al Gore wasn't

the first person in history to concede a hotly disputed election. In the

fifth century, a monk named Cedda, brother of St. Cedd and St. Cynibild,

was born around 620 A.D. in Northumbria, England. Cedda was educated at

the great abbey of Lindisfarne on Holy Island, off the coast of Northumbria,

under the abbey's founder, Abbot St. Aidan.

Later he studied with St. Egbert,

a monk at the Irish monastery of Rathmelsigi, before being recalled to

England to assist in the establishing of a monastery, in Laestingaeu,

now present day Lastingham, North Yorkshire. Cedda's brother Cedd, was

the monastery's abbot and, upon his death, Cedda became the second abbot

of the monastery.

In 664, the king of Northumbria,

King Oswy, requested that Cedda be consecrated a bishop. The service was

scheduled and Cedda was installed as the bishop of the Northumbrians with

his see (or headquarters) at York. And herein lies the rub.

It seems that an ecclesiastical

dispute arose because Wilfrid had already been chosen bishop of York and

had gone to Gaul for his consecration, a terrible mix-up that was recorded

in Venerable Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People."

In 669, the new archbishop,

St. Theodore of Canterbury, arrived in England and charged Cedda with

improper ordination. St. Wilfrid returned to England the same year and

Cedda resigned his bishop's orders, left York, and retired to Laestingaeu.

It was reported that Cedda remarked, "The Church needs unity much

more than I need to be a bishop." Cedda told the archbishop that

he never thought himself worthy of the position, that he took it through

obedience, and he would surrender it through obedience.

The archbishop was so impressed

with Cedda's humility that, in 669, he consecrated Cedda as a bishop himself,

and appointed him as the bishop of the Mercians in Litchfield. As soon

as Cedda had been consecrated bishop, he began to devote himself to ecclesiastical

truth, purity of doctrine, and to give attention to the practice of humility,

self-denial, and study. Bishop Cedda determined to travel about, not on

horseback, but on foot, after the manner of the Apostles, preaching the

gospel in the towns, in the open country, in cottages, in villages, and

in castles. He attempted to instruct his hearers by the demonstration

of his life.

Cedda founded several monasteries

and built a cathedral on land that had been the site of the martyrdom

of 1,000 Christians at the hands of the pagan Mercians. One account says

that, on one occasion, two sons of King Wulfhere were hunting and came

upon Cedda praying. Wulfhere had ordered that Cedda be hunted down and

killed but, when the sons of the king came upon him, they were so impressed

that they knelt, asked his blessing, and converted to Christianity.

The pagan King Wulfhere was

so infuriated that he slew his sons and hunted down Cedda to kill him.

But as the king approached the bishop's cell where he was praying, a great

light shone through the window and the king was almost blinded by its

brightness. He abandoned his plan for revenge.

Cedda went on to be credited

with the Christianization of the ancient English kingdom of Mercia. On

March 2, 672, following a brief illness, probably the plague, Cedda died

in Litchfield. But, in the history books, he is not often referred to

as Cedda.

The brother of St. Cedd and

St. Cynibild, would eventually be canonized himself by the church he loved

so much. This man of humility who stepped down from a disputed election

in order to preserve unity would be known to ecclesiastical history as

St. Chad.

Today, some of his relics,

which were originally in the Cathedral of Litchfield, were saved by the

Roman Catholics during the Reformation and are currently preserved in

the Cathedral of St. Chad of Birmingham.

The next time you think of

"chad," remember this servant of God who, rather than allow

disruption and disunity to afflict the Church he loved, stepped aside

for the greater good and stepped into the halls of greatness.

(Many thanks to Citizen

reader Alison Dawson who provided much of the information on St. Chad

and inspired further study. Ms Dawson is the mother of a 32-year-old son

named Chad.)

[Father David Epps is rector

of Christ the King Church in Peachtree City. He may be reached at [email protected]

or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]