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56 YORK.
Hadrian had refused, but he consented at the Pope's
urgent request to accompany Theodore to Canterbury.
Benedict Biscop, then at Rome, was also sent
with him. Age had not impaired Theodore's powers,
either of body or mind. His practical ability was
singularly great, and he was the first Archbishop, as
Bede tells us, to whom the whole church of the
Angles freely accorded their allegiance.^ "Great
stress was naturally laid on his having been sent
directly from Rome, and consecrated by the Pope's
own hands and voice : but this advantage was
enhanced by his own personalit\-, so that, on all
accounts, his arrival forms an epoch."-
Theodore at once commenced a visitation of the
vast tract of country over which his spiritual oversight
extended.
It was not long before he arrived in
Northumbria. Here he found that Chad had for
three years ruled the church of York, as Beda says,
sublimiter. But there were certain matters connected
with his position which Theodore could not overlook.
He told Chad abruptly that his consecration
was not in due form. The lowly-minded bisho])
answered with touching humility both of voice and
manner, " If thou art well assured of that, I will most
willingly resign my charge. I never thought myself
worthy of it. I accepted it in deference to tlie
behest of those who had a right, as I deemed, to
claim my obedience." Theodore was touched and
softened by this utter want of self-assertion. " No,''
' " Manus dare consentiiet." Bede's "Ecclesiastical History,"
iv. p. 2.
* Bright's " Early English Church Histoiy," p. 225.