Chad of Mercia
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Saint Chad of Mercia (Anglo-Saxon Ceadda) (died March 2, 672) was a monk and priest in 7th century England.
He was one of four brothers, all active in the Anglo-Saxon church - the others were Cedd, Cynibill and Caelin.
Most of our knowledge of Chad comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede. As a youth Chad was a student of Aidan at the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne. He travelled to Ireland as a monk, and there he was ordained as a priest.
Shortly after the Synod of Whitby in 663/4, Chad was invited to become Bishop of York by King Oswiu of Northumbria after the first choice for the position, Saint Wilfrid, failed to return from France, where he had gone in order to be consecrated to the position. In 666 Wilfrid returned from France freshly consecrated as Bishop of York, only to find Chad already occupying the same position. In 669 the Archbishop of Canterbury persuaded Chad to step down and allow Wilfrid to take over; Chad stepped down gracefully.
Later that same year, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop. Impressed by Chad's humility (he refused to ride a horse, preferring to walk as Jesus had), Archbishop Theodore sent Chad. Under Chad, the See of Mercia was fixed at Lichfield. He was the first bishop of Mercia and Lindsey. Chad then proceeded to carry out missionary and pastoral work within the kingdom.
Chad died on March 2, 672, and was buried at the church of Saint Mary at Lichfield. According to Bede, he was immediately venerated as a saint, and his relics were translated to the Cathedral Church of St. Peter. He is considered a saint in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. His feast day is celebrated on 2nd March.
Saint Chad gives his name to one church in Lichfield, many churches around the Birmingham area (including its Roman Catholic cathedral, where there are some alleged relics of the saint), St Chad's, as well as St Chad's College at the University of Durham.
Due to the somewhat confused nature of Chad's appointment and the continued references to 'chads' – small pieces of ballot papers punched out by voters using voting machines – in the 2000 US Presidential Election it has been jocularly suggested that St Chad is the patron saint of botched elections. This is not the case: in fact there is no patron saint of elections, though Thomas More is the one of politicians.
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| Preceded by: New Creation |
Bishop of Mercia and Lindsey 669–672 |
Succeeded by: Winfred |
| Preceded by: Paulinus |
Bishop of York 644–664 |
Succeeded by: Wilfrid |
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