Saint Chad, also called Ceadda, (died March 2, 672, Lichfield, Mercia, England), monastic founder, abbot, and first bishop of Lichfield, is credited with the Christianisation of the ancient English kingdom of Mercia.
With his brother St Cedd, he was educated at the great abbey of Lindisfarne on Holy Island under its founder, St Aidan, and later apparently studied with St Egbert, a monk at the Irish monastery of Rathmelsigi. Cedd recalled Chad to England to assist in establishing the monastery of Laestingaeu (now Lastingham, North Yorkshire). Upon Cedd’s death in 664, Chad succeeded him to become the second abbot of Laestingaeu, and, probably late in the same year, at the request of King Oswiu (Oswy) of Northumbria, he was consecrated bishop of the Northumbrians (with his see at York).
St Cedd was the brother of St Chad, Cynebill, and Cćlin, all of whom became monks. Cedd, whom Peada of Mercia invited to preach among the Middle Angles, was ordained in 653. A year later, the priest was sent as a missionary to Essex, when the East Anglian king Sigbert converted to Christianity. Finan of Lindisfarne made Cedd bishop because of his success. Cedd founded several monasteries, including Tilbury and Lastingham. In 664, Cedd was an interpreter at the Synod of Whitby and accepted Oswiu’s adoption of Roman usage. Cedd died that year at Lastingham of the plague.
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