Read the Life of Ceolfrith in the Texts section of Seafarer. As you'll notice, Ceolfrith's tenure as prior is not peaceful. "Certain nobles" resist his discipline (are these novice monks?) and Ceolfrith wants to return to Gilling to live in obscurity. Benedict won't allow that, however, and draws Ceolfrith back to be a leader. Together they go to Rome to obtain books and relics for the new church of St. Peter, and they return with books, sacred vessels, and also John of Tours (abbot of the monastery of St. Martin of Tours), who teaches "the regular order of chanting." We see the great stress on doing things the correct way--chanting, prayer. It is important that Ceolfrith knows these procedures and customs. It is not time for him to "plant a deep root of monastic observance" (11). When the pestilence strikes (14), many of those learned in the rule and the liturgy are killed, and this produces a change in the routine of observance that is later quickly modified when there are enough knowledgeable about the "divine work."
Eventually Ceolfrith is appointed to head both monasteries (he does not succeed to this position by birth, see 16) and rules them for 27 years. His virtues as an abbot are celebrated (19), and in succeeding sections we see that he provided for the physical and spiritual well-being of his monastery. Thus the monastic life is never without its material side: one sign of a monastery's importance is the abundance and quality of its gold vessels and its library, and Ceolfrith makes sure his monastery is rich in both. Finally Ceolfrith exhibits a further ideal characteristic of the leader: he knows when to quit (21), and he chooses to spend his last year in contemplation. The concluding sections manifest his concern about orderly succession in the monastery. Up to the moment of his departure he instructs his followers in the ways of the rule. There is an elaborate liturgy to mark his departure (25), and he delivers a long sermon on the duties of monastic life (25) that sums up its main features: to live in peace and avoid giving offense, to admonish sinners and teach them the word of God, to subject oneself to the rule under God and for the monks never to be divided against themselves. After he departs, his successor is chosen, and he is allowed to approve of the choice (30), which is made on Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles (29).
Write a short paper in which you discuss how the duties of Ceolfrith as abbott are similar to the kingly duties of Hrothgar, Hygelac and Beowulf. What does a king / abbott have to do in regard to the people who will hold his office after him? What is the value of the abbott as an example? How has our thinking changed (or stayed the same) about the exemplary value of political and social leaders?
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