The Venerable Bede (A.D. 673-735), a Benedictine monk best known for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, also compiled one of the church's oldest and most inspiring devotional books, the Abbreviated Psalter. Now this classic work of Christian literature is available in this first accurate English translation.Crafted for personal prayer and meditation, the Abbreviated Psalter consists of carefully condensed renderings of each of the Psalms. Focused as it is on the praise of God and on the essential spirituality of human existence, Bede's ancient book remains moving and relevant today. All persons of faith will find this little book a constant source of devotional strength. This new edition of Bede's masterpiece is based on Gerald M. Browne's own critical edition of the Latin text, Collectio Psalterii Bedae Venerabili adscripta. Browne also includes an informative preface introducing Bede and his work. The convenient size of this attractive volume will allow Bede's Abbreviated Psalter to be readily at hand whenever there is need for its message of consolation and hope.
Author
Saint Bede (672/673 - 735), referred to as Venerable Bede (Latin: Bēda Venerābilis) for over a thousand years before being canonized, was an English monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow (see Monkwearmouth-Jarrow), both in the Kingdom of Northumbria. He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The Father of English History.” In 1899, Bede was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII, a position of theological significance; he is the only native of Great Britain to achieve this designation (Anselm of Canterbury, also a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy). Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons. Bede's monastery had access to a superb library which included works by Eusebius and Orosius among many others.
