n as one; and St. Bennet governed them both,
though he placed in each a superior or abbot, who continued subject to
him, his long journey to Rome and other avocations making this
substitution necessary.[3] In the church of St. Peter at Weremouth he
placed the pictures of the Blessed Virgin, the twelve apostles, the
history of the gospel, and the visions in the revelation of St. John:
that of St. Paul's at Jarrow, he adorned with other pictures, disposed
in such manner as to represent the harmony between the Old and New
Testament, and the conformity of the figures in one to the reality in
the other. Thus Isaac carrying the wood which was to be employed in the
sacrifice of himself, was explained by Jesus Christ carrying his cross,
on which he was to finish his sacrifice; and the brazen serpent was
illustrated by our Saviour's crucifixion. With these pictures, and many
books and relics, St. Bennet brought from Rome in his last voyage, John,
abbot of St. Martin's, precentor in St. Peter's church, whom he
prevailed with pope Agatho to send with him, and whom he placed at
Weremouth to instruct perfectly his monks in the Gregorian notes, and
Roman ceremonies for singing the divine office. Easterwin, a kinsman of
St. Bennet, and formerly an officer in the king's court, before he
became a monk, was chosen abbot before our saint set out for Rome, and
in that station behaved always as the meanest person in the house; for
though he was eminently adorned with all virtues, humility, mildness,
and devotion seemed always the most eminent part of his character. This
holy man died on the 6th of March, when he was but thirty-six years old,
and had been four years abbot, while St. Bennet was absent in the last
journey to Rome. The monks chose in his place St. Sigfrid, a deacon, a
man of equal gravity and meekness, who soon after fell into a lingering
decay, under which he suffered violent pains in his lungs and bowels. He
died four months before our saint. With his advice, two months before
his death, St. Bennet appointed St. Ceolfrid abbot of both his
monasteries, being himself struck with a dead palsy, by which all the
lower parts of his body were without life; he lay sick of this distemper
three years, and for a considerable time was entirely confined to his
bed. During this long illness, not being able to raise his voice to the
usual course of singing the divine office, at every canonical hour he
sent for some of his monks and while they