St Benedict Biscop received his monastic training at the monastery of Lerins in the south of France taking upon himself the mantle of the great founder of monasteries in the West, saint Honoratus. St Theodore of Tarsus appointed him as abbot of St Peter and St Paul’s monastery in Canterbury, a position he held for two years.
The king of Northumbria gave him land for a monastery at Monkwearmouth to be dedicated to St Pater. He brought masons and other skilled workmen from the continent, also relics and books for the library. The king then gave more land at Jarrow for another monastery to be dedicated to St Paul. St Benedict intended his foundations to be showcases to Europe. They were the first church buildings in stone and the library was second to none save Rome. Its most famous pupil was St Bede.
