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20 SCOTTISH ANNALS
sent thither from lona, the island and monastery of the
Scots ;
and he continued no short time in the episcopate. l
651
BEDE, HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, III, 17 ;
VOL. I, PP. 161-162. 2
Now I have written these things of the person and works
of the man aforesaid, by no means praising or approving in
him that he knew less perfectly about the observation of
Easter ; nay, detesting it much, as I have most clearly shown
in the book which I have wr 3
ritten De Temporibus but as
;
a truthful historian relating frankly the things which were
done by him or through him, and praising in his actions what
things are worthy of praise, and placing them on record for
the benefit of the readers : namely the cultivation of peace
and of charity, of continence and of humility ; a mind victorious
over anger and greed, and scorning pride as well as
the divine
vainglory ; diligence in keeping as in teaching
commands ;' assiduity in reading and in vigils ; authority,
befitting a bishop, in exposing the proud and the powerful,
as also in comforting the sick and ; mercy in refreshing
or defending the poor. And, to include much in few words,
^-in so far as we have learned from those who knew him, he
endeavoured to neglect nothing of all the things which in
evangelic, apostolic or prophetic writings he had learned
should be done, but to fulfil them all, to the extent of his
strength, in works.4
These things in the aforesaid bishop I greatly esteem and
love, because I doubt not they were truly pleasing to God.
But that he kept Easter not at its right time, either not
knowing the canonical time for it, or prevailed upon by the
authority of his own nation not to follow what he knew,
this I do not approve nor commend. And yet in it I approve
of this, that in the celebration of his Easter he held in' his
heart, and venerated, and preached, nothing other than -do
we :
that is, the redemption of the human race through the
passion, resurrection and ascension to the skies of the mediator
1 Finan died probably in 661. Cf. Bede, H.E., III, 26 ; i, 189, infra,
s.a. 664.
2 This part of the chapter is omitted by two MSS. of the A.S. version ;
q. cf., i, 206, 208.
3
Cf. Plummer, Bede, i, pp. xxxix ff. ; ii, 167. The De Temporibus Liber
Major or De Temporum Ratione is in Giles's edition of Bede, vi, 141-342.
4
Cf. S. of D., H.D.E., i, 20.