CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10
THOUGH he brought joy, he found sadness awaiting him: the venerable priest, Eosterwine, whom he had appointed abbot just before he left, together with a great number of monks committed to his charge, had departed this life, stricken down by the plague that was raging everywhere. But there was this consolation – he found that a monk from the same monastery, the deacon Sigfrid, a man who was Eosterwine‘s equal in meekness and piety, had there and then been appointed in his place, having been chosen both by the brethren and by Benedict’s co-abbot, Ceolfrith. Sigfrith was well-grounded in scriptural knowledge, possessed of the highest moral character, endowed with amazing powers of self-denial, but he was severely hampered in protecting his spiritual virtues by physical infirmity, as he struggled to preserve his innocence of heart while suffering from a painful and incurable disease of the lungs.