WhiteHouse 2000 election photo-finish biography

 

St. Chad,
patron saint of disputed elections

Illustration courtesy of the Parish of St. Chad in Lichfield. England

 

The Story of St. Chad

Saint Chad was a 7th Century Northumbrian cleric, who had a somewhat distinguished career, Christianizing the ancient British kingdom of Mercia. The only blot on his record was a disputed election to become bishop of York.

An ecclesiastical dispute arose because St. Wilfrid had already been chosen bishop of York and had gone to Gaul for his consecration, a mix-up recorded in Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (considered to be the best source for Chad's life).

The issue remains confusing. When in 669 the new archbishop, St. Theodore of Canterbury, arrived in England, he charged Chad with improper ordination. On Wilfrid's return in the same year, Chad resigned York and retired to Laestingaeu, saying: "If you know I have not duly received episcopal ordination, I willingly resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, in obedience submitted to undertake it."

Theodore, however, was so impressed with Chad's humility that when the bishop of Mercia died he asked King Oswiu to appoint Chad as the bishop's successor. The king approved, and Chad, having been reconsecrated by Theodore in 669, chose Lichfield, where he built a church and monastery, as the new seat of his diocese.

Chad died on March 2nd 672. He is today remembered for being of "excellent character" as well as "unusually humble."

 

To the story of St. Chad at the Parish of St. Chad in Lichfield.
To the facts on St. Chad in the Oxford Dictionary of Saints.
To the report on St. Chad at the Catholic Forum.
To the story of the minister who just rediscoved St. Chad.
To the "Gospel of Chad" [political analysis] in The New Republic

  "Keep us, we pray, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to step aside for others, in honor preferring one another, that the cause of Christ may be advanced." -- Suggested prayer on the Feast of Saint Chad, March 2.

[ "Thanks for the link (on WhiteHouse 2000). The US chads issue has resulted in an unexpected, but very welcome, increase in traffic to our site. God moves in mysterious ways, etc., I suppose." -- Stephen Smith, Webmaster, St. Chad's Church, Lichfield, UK. ]

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